America’s Team defeats Saints 20-10

1st Quarter: 

The Saints, fresh off their Super Bowl XLIV victory headed down to Irving Texas to show America's team that they are part of America too.  Drew Brees and company started out fast.  On the second play from scrimmage Brees hit Jeremy Shockey for a 29 yard catch to put the ball on the Cowboy 42.  On the following play he hit Marques Colston for 23 additional yards and just like that they were inside the Red Zone in 3 plays.  This had the look of a long afternoon for Big D, but just like the blink of an eye things changed.  Brees went to the draw play figuring Dallas would be looking pass.  That was not the case.  Mike Bell was stuffed and fell forward for a 1 yard gain, but a 15 yard Unnecessary Roughness penalty on Jonathan Stinchcomb pushed them back to the Saint 37.  An incomplete pass led to a 3rd and 24.  A reverse to Colston was snuffed out by Ken Hamlin and they were facing 4th and 23 from the 36.  A coffin corner kick by Thomas Morstead pinned the Cowboys on their 2, where they gained a grand total of 2 yards and were forced to punt back to the Saints took over in excellent field position on Dallas' 47.  Pierre Thomas gained 4 yards on an inside hand off.  Brees then went play action, but Dallas did not bite.  Jay Ratliff hurried Brees who was in the process of switching targets.  Instead of Devery Henderson getting the ball it wound up firmly in the hands of Terence Newman for the INT.  After a blocking in the back penalty on the run back Dallas took over on their own 22.  The Saints setup to key Marion Barber and Tony Romo countered it with a medium toss to TE Jason Witten, who busted a few tackles before getting knocked out of bounds on the Saint 20 by Pierson Prioleau for a gain of 54 yards.  3 plays late Romo hit Terrell Owens (T.O.) for a 9 yard slant for a 1st and goal from the 3.  After a few miscues and some great Saint defensive calls Romo face a 3rd and goal from the 2.  He dropped back to pass, but Flozell Adams missed his block and Charles Grant flushed Romo right into the outstretched arms of a blitzing Jonathan Vilma for a 7 yard loss on the sack.  Nick Folk came on to nail a 26 yard chip shot to break the scoreless tie and make it 3-0 Dallas.  By the end of the quarter the Saints were again driving deep into Cowboy territory.  The big play being a 29 yarder that Brees threaded the needle to get to Lance Moore.

2nd Quarter: 

Facing 2nd and 4 from the Cowboy 21 Reggie Bush broke free for a quick 1st down on the Cowboy 15.  After a holding penalty Brees hit Bush with a screen that gained 13 yards to make it 2nd and 7 from the 12.  On the following play Brees found Robert Meachem in the back of the end zone for a 12 yard TD score.  After the XP the Saints had a 7-3 lead with 13:20 left in the 2nd.  Back to back "3 and outs" slowed down the pace and looked to turn the game into a battle of field position.  With 9:38 left in the half the Cowboys began deep in their own territory on their own 4.  Vilma headed in on the blitz and Romo called the perfect dump off play to Julius Jones for 27 yards to the 33.  Facing a 3rd and 1 from their own 42 Romo followed Andre Gurode on a QB sneak that netted the key 1st down.  The drive stalled at midfield, but it served the purpose of shifting the battle of field position over to Dallas.  Facing a 3rd and 14 from their own 16 the Saints relied on Brees to dig them out of the hole.  His 24 yard toss to Devery Henderson did just that.  A string of great Dallas defensive plays and penalties hurt the Saints, who faced a crucial 3rd and 29 from their 31.  Dallas called an all out blitz and Brees threw one up for grabs in the general vicinity of Henderson, which was picked off by Jacques Reeves, who returned it to the Saint 42 with 2:23 left to go in the half.  New Orleans was keying Barber for the run, so Romo hit TO for a quick 10.  Dallas did not have to burn a time out, because Tracy Porter, who tackled TO was injured on the play.  Dallas could not advance the ball any further and settled for a 47 yarder by Nick Folk to make it 7-6, which is how the half ended.

3rd Quarter: 

Dallas got the ball to start the 2nd half, but after a quick first down that got them near midfield they were forced to punt.  3 plays later the Saints booted the ball back to Dallas.  Dallas decided to one up the Saints and they went 3 and out as well.  At this point not a lot was going on.  On 2nd and 8 from his own 25 Brees countered Dallas' run blitz with a long crossing pattern toss to Marques Colston who raced 57 yards to the Cowboy 18 before being caught from behind by Anthony Henry.  Pierre Thomas busted up the middle for 11 more yards to the Cowboy 7, but the drive ended there.  John Carney came on and hit a 21 yard chip shot to make it 10-6 with 6:40 left to go in the 3rd.  Thomas Morstead booted the kickoff to the 2 and Tyson Thompson took off and followed his blockers 72 yards down to the Saint 26.  Romo hit his favorite target Witten in stride for 15 quick yards on 1st down.  Barber gobbled up 5 yards against a run defense to get down to the 6.  The Saints had too many men on the field so the officials marked it off half the distance to the goal line to make it 3rd and 2 from the 4.  New Orleans loaded up for the run and Romo once again found his "boy" Jason Witten in the flat.  Witten easily walked in to the end zone to give Dallas their first lead of the day (13-10) with 3:49 left in the 3rd.  After a short drive to nowhere the Saints punted and Dallas began moving the ball.  The final play of the 3rd quarter Romo hit Barber with a flare pass against a blitz and gained 26 yards to put the ball on the Saint 19.

4th Quarter:  The Saints guessed that Barber would get the ball and put everyone up on the line.  Romo called T.O's number and hit the enigmatic wide out on the 13 in stride.  T.O. walked into the end zone to make it 19-10 with the extra point pending (Folk made it).  Down by 10 Brees went to the air and moved the team past midfield, then tragedy struck again for the SB MVP.  Robert Meachem was slow in cutting on his route and Brees' errant pass wound up in the mitts of Mr. Horsecollar himself, Roy Williams.  This was New Orleans' 3rd turnover of the game.  At this point Romo wasn't going to play it close to the vest like the Saints thought he would.  After a delay of game penalty he faced first and 15 from his 33 when New Orleans again jammed the line looking for Julius Jones to run.  Romo faked the handoff to Jones and lofted one perfectly into T.O's hands for a 32 yard gain to the Saint 35.  The drive stalled and Folk missed a 47 yarder.  Brees immediately rallied the troops and began driving downfield.  A few plays later they were on the Cowboy 34 when he hit Devery Henderson on the 16.  As he turned upfield Henderson forgot to take the ball with him and Roy Williams became Johnny on the spot when he pounced on the pigskin for the fumble recovery and New Orleans 4th turnover of the game.  Dallas got a little conservative and faced a key 3rd and 4 from their own 22.  New Orleans thought run, but Romo thought medium pass to Miles Austin for 12 yards.  Romo thought right.  A new set of downs meant the ability to milk the clock further, which is exactly what happened.  A stellar Matt McBriar punt pinned the Saints deep in their own territory (13 yard line) with 6:11 left to go.  A "3 and out" forced a punt which didn't go far and allowed Dallas to start at midfield.  Romo decided to throw an ill advised pass to backup Tight End Anthony Fasano.  The pass was tipped and wound up in Darren Sharper's hands, who returned it 23 yards.  With 4:31 left to play the Saints were down by 10 with the ball on their own 41.  Brees began moving the team at will.  From the Cowboy 37 he hit Colston for a 27 yard strike down to the Coyboy 10.  Poised to make it a one score game Brees tried to go back to the well (Colston) one more time and was picked off for the 3rd time today.  Ken Hamlin jumped the route and advanced the ball 17 yards.  This just might have been the final nail in the proverbial coffin.  Dallas went 3 and out and New Orleans got the ball back and drove down to Dallas' 35 where they faced a 4th and 9 with 1:15 left to go.  Dallas coach Weinrib sent everyone on a blitz and Brees narrowly missed Shockey with a ball thrown a hair behind him.  Romo and company ran out the clock to defeat the Saints 20-10.