NFL Winners and Losers: Cowboys crushed at home by Saints, and here comes the panic

Someone must have told the Dallas Cowboys that Sunday was a playoff game.

Usually the Cowboys are good in the regular season and disappointing in the playoffs. That’s why their Week 2 no-show against the New Orleans Saints was shocking. Dallas was favored and gave up 35 points before halftime, tying a team record for most points allowed in the first half.

The Saints have looked quite good on offense through two weeks, though the first game came against the inept Carolina Panthers. Nobody assumed, after the Cowboys blasted the Cleveland Browns last week, that the Saints would go up and down the field on them. New Orleans had 310 yards in the first half. The Cowboys didn’t have much fight in the second half as they faded away meekly in a 44-19 loss.

Alvin Kamara had a huge day and the Dallas Cowboys were blown out at home by the New Orleans Saints. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)

Something that didn’t seemed to be a problem for the Cowboys in the opener but didn’t look good on Sunday was losing defensive coordinator Dan Quinn this past offseason. Quinn did marvelous work in Dallas before the Washington Commanders hired him to be their head coach. The Cowboys gave up big plays everywhere, including a 70-yard deep pass from Derek Carr to Rashid Shaheed and a 57-yard touchdown catch to Alvin Kamara, one of the three touchdowns he had in the first half. Kamara added a fourth touchdown in the second half. He probably could have gotten one or two more if the Cowboys would have given the Saints much reason to stay aggressive on offense deep into the second half. The Cowboys’ defense looked out of sorts, which rarely happened under Quinn (at least until the postseason).

For all of the concern about the Cowboys over the offseason, they didn’t lose any big stars. They did lose depth, and that seemed to be an issue Sunday. Everything went wrong, especially on defense.

It’s hard to know what to make of the Cowboys so far. They were fantastic in a dominant Week 1 win. Maybe Week 2…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-15 20:27:01

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