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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff WriterSep 15, 2024, 07:40 PM ET
- Todd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010. You can follow him on Twitter at @toddarcher.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Some 245 days later, not much looked different for the Dallas Cowboys in a game that mattered.
The last time the Cowboys played at AT&T Stadium before Sunday’s 44-19 loss to the New Orleans Saints was the humiliating 48-32 defeat to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round.
Statistically, Sunday was worse — although a Week 2 loss does not have the same importance of a season-ending playoff loss. But this was the second-worst home-opening loss since Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989; the worst was 41-14 to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2000.
From Jones to coach Mike McCarthy to the players, nobody wanted to talk much about what happened against the Packers despite the connection.
Trevon Diggs, who missed the playoff game because of a knee injury, summed up Sunday’s performance in one word: “Unacceptable.”
Same as the loss to the Packers.
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Jones swore he was not having flashbacks as he watched the Saints move up and down the field like the Packers did.
“We’ve got so much ahead of us,” Jones said. We’ve got seasons — seasons almost ahead of us before we get to the playoffs. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got a lot of good players that can do the work. I’m confident we’ll get it done. We’ll learn from this.”
Of the Cowboys 22 starters against the Saints, six did not play against the Packers. Of the 48 players dressed Sunday, 19 were not in uniform against the Packers. The Cowboys have a new defensive coordinator in Mike Zimmer, who brought changes to a scheme run by Dan Quinn, now the head coach of the Washington Commanders.
But the results were familiar.
The Packers ran out to a 27-7 halftime lead. The Saints had a 35-16 lead after two quarters. It tied for the most points allowed in the first half by the Cowboys in their history. The last time came in 2004, leading to a 49-21 loss to the Eagles. Zimmer was the Cowboys’ coordinator then, too.
New Orleans put up 290 yards in the first half, or 60 more than the Cowboys allowed in their Week 1 win against the Cleveland Browns. The Packers put up 217 first-half yards in the playoff game. The Packers had 13 first downs. The Saints had 12. The Packers missed on one third-down conversion in the first two quarters. The Saints did not miss one of their three.
The Packers led 27-0 after a Darnell Savage interception return for a touchdown off Dak Prescott with 1:50 left in the half. The Saints used a Paulson Adebo interception of Prescott (thanks to a receiver Jalen Brooks‘ slip) to set up Derek Carr’s 1-yard touchdown run with 39 seconds left in the first half for a 22-point advantage.
“I’m not comparing last year to this year,” said Prescott, who had his first multi-interception game since a Week 5 loss last year at the San Francisco 49ers. “We’re talking two completely different teams, honestly … There’s no way to even go back and compare that. Maybe because we got beat, got away from us fast and we were here at home. But completely different and separate and I wouldn’t waste my time if I was y’all trying to compare those two.”
Sunday’s loss ended a 16-game regular-season win streak at AT&T Stadium, which had been the second-longest in team history. Saints running back Alvin Kamara became the fifth player to score four touchdowns in a game against the Cowboys and the first since 1994.
New Orleans scored touchdowns on their first six possessions, making most of the second half a formality. Much like the second half of the Packers’ loss in January.
“I don’t think the last time we played here has anything to do with it,” McCarthy said. “I understand the convenience of the criticism, and obviously I’m on the other side of it. We’ve had changes on defense. You know, some of the changes we’ve made, was to put the emphasis on the run defense. It was not evident today.”
The Packers ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries. The Saints ran 39 times for 190 yards (115 from Kamara) and four touchdowns.
“At the end of the day, I just believe we got outplayed,” edge rusher Micah Parsons said. “Whoever played on that field, everyone didn’t play to 100%. That’s just me being accountable and saying the truth. We all got to play better.”
The Baltimore Ravens, 0-2 to start the season but with last year’s MVP in quarterback Lamar Jackson, come to AT&T Stadium on Sunday.
“Now, we just simply have to reset,” Prescott said. “We’ve got to respond. We’re not going undefeated. Wooo. It hasn’t been done in 50 years. It’s about getting back to it and finding a way to respond, to put the best team on the field next week.”
