NFL Highlights: Saints Get An Extra Helping Of Turkey, Defeat Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints were looking for an extra helping of victory in addition to their Thanksgiving meal on November 25th.
Unfortunately, the Saints got the dessert and the Cowboys were left washing the dishes.
In a game full of turnovers and two comebacks, New Orleans emerged victorious over Dallas with a 30-27 final score.
But the Cowboys have been playing so well under their new head coach Jason Garrett, you say. What happened?
Granted, the Cowboys had been down by 17 points twice in the game, and were actually in the lead before an unfortunate accident.
No, not an injury, more like a surprise attack. Roy Williams was the victim.
As Williams was running his heart out towards the end zone, you could almost hear his brain thinking “Come on, faster, faster, you can do it! Just hold onto the ball!” However, with over 93,000 fans at Cowboys Stadium, Malcolm Jenkins couldn’t hear Williams’
determination. Theoretically, of course.
Williams even switched the ball from his left hand to his right to keep a defender away from it.
But Jenkins changed everything.
Or maybe he could hear Williams thinking “Just hold onto the ball!” He just had other plans on his mind.
Jenkins snatched the ball out of Williams’ hands at the 11 yard line with so much force that it went flying towards his own stomach.
"He didn't see me from the blind side," Jenkins said. "A bad play turned good for us. Not only ripped it out, it just kind of fell in my stomach."
After the forced fumble, New Orleans QB Drew Brees drove his team 89 yards to score the TD that put the Saints ahead again with less than two minutes left in the game.
"I lost the ballgame," Williams said. "I let my teammates down. I need to fall down. We run the clock down and win the game. I was trying to make a play and they did a good job. It's late in the game. That's the nail in the coffin. We had the momentum going
our way. We were there. That was a W. I get tackled, we get in the end zone and we win. I fall down and we win."
You didn’t fall though, Roy, get over it. But the party wasn’t over yet.
After the Saints’ TD, the Cowboys were at the 59 yard line with 25 seconds left on the clock. Since they didn’t have enough time to score a TD, they decided to send kicker David Buehler in to make a field goal that would have tied the game. However, his
kick went wide to the left, resulting in the loss.
Saints’ head coach Sean Payton was in the middle of calling a timeout, but reanalyzed the situation and decided to forget it. A timeout would have given the Cowboys another chance at the kick, and Payton was lucky that the officials didn’t see it.
"The play that Malcolm Jenkins makes late is an effort play, a heart play and it's one of those plays that really inspires everyone on the team," Payton said. "It was a gut-check win."
And a rather gut wrenching defeat for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys were 2-0 under Garrett and were playing like the Super Bowl champions that they are. However, they made many mistakes that made them look more like ex-coach Wade Phillips’ team, tauntingly called a “cupcake team.”
The Saints have won their last four games and five of their last six.
The Saints were ahead by 17 in the first quarter, 17-0. In the second quarter, ahead by 14. In the third, ahead by only three. In the beginning of the fourth, they were behind by four!
What happened to the Saints? Did they fall asleep after having too much turkey? Or were the Cowboys just getting into the game?
"I think we demonstrated again what we've done the last few weeks -- battle and fight," Garrett said. "There were a lot of things to be proud of. Guys played with a lot of passion, energy and enthusiasm. ... But you've got to get the bottom line right. We
didn't get it done."
That’s true, Mr. Garrett, you didn’t get it done, but your team did put up a splendid fight. Can anyone believe that these are the same Cowboys who were 1-7 just three weeks ago?
Well, nothing else you can do about it. What’s done is done and New Orleans has won its first Thanksgiving game.
Their next game will be against the Bengals, while Dallas will play Indianapolis in Week 13.
Stay tuned!
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