"DAK ATTACK": Can Saints Defense Slow Down Rapidly-Rising Cowboys Quarterback?
After "saving" their 2019 NFL Season with a critically-important victory on the road against the Seattle Seahawks this past weekend, the New Orleans Saints don't get much of a chance to breathe any easier; as they now return home to the Superdome to face another one of their despised NFC rivals: the undefeated (3-0) Dallas Cowboys.
The (2-1) Saints — who have regained sole possession of 1st place in the NFC South Division — will host those hated Cowboys in a nationally-televised contest on NBC Sunday Night Football; against a Dallas team that leads the NFC East Division and will be seeking their first (4-0) start since the 2007 NFL Season.
The Cowboys and Saints have gone head-to-head a grand total of 29 times in their series history; and last faced off against each other in Dallas last year on the next weekend following Thanksgiving (Nov. 29, 2018). The Cowboys beat the heavily-favored (7.5-points) Saints in that similarly-scheduled "prime-time" match-up at AT&T Stadium; in a game in which Dallas emerged victorious over the Black and Gold by a score of 13-10.
The Saints will be seeking to win their 2nd straight game this Sunday behind back-up #2 QB Teddy Bridgewater; who rallied New Orleans to its win over Seattle with a steady-but-solid performance in place of injured Saints starting QB and team living legend Drew Brees.
Brees is expected to still miss at least the next 5 games while he recovers from surgery for a torn-thumb ligament that he suffered a week ago on the road in Southern California against the Los Angeles Rams.
But in order to so, the Saints will first be tasked with yet another difficult challenge: which is for the defense to try to at least slow down an impressive Cowboys offense led by rapidly-rising young NFL superstar and starting 3rd year QB Dak Prescott.
(Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News)
The Cowboys' 4th Round "steal" in the 2016 NFL Draft three years ago from Mississippi State University, Prescott leads an impressive and high-powered offensive attack that will roll into New Orleans having produced more than 400 yards and 30 points in their franchise record last four consecutive games; a statistic which dates back to last year's 2018 regular-season finale.
In their dominant performance this past Sunday. Prescott and company overcame a slow start against the lowly (0-3) Miami Dolphins and put things on "cruise control" as they coasted to an easy 30-14 victory' although it's unlikely that they will have that same sort of success against a Saints defense coming off its best performance thus far in their own impressive win over Seattle.
Although the New Orleans defense hasn’t exactly been dominant through their first three games. they certainly plan on giving the Cowboys a much tougher time than the one that Dallas was easily able to handle against a woeful Miami team this past Sunday.
For the Saints, that means having to stop Prescott; who now in his 4th NFL season is considered to be one of the best young quarterbacks in the entire sport of Pro Football; and is rumored to be seeking a new contract extension (believed to be worth a whopping $40 million per season) that would make him the NFL's highest-paid signal-caller.
.(Ashley Landis / Dallas Morning News)
After their first 3 games, Prescott and the Dallas offense have scored only four fewer points than the League-leading Kansas City Chiefs; and as noted by Dallas Morning News beat writer David Moore: the Cowboys have outscored their opponents 35-10 in the third quarter this season. That allowed the Cowboys to take a 25-point lead into the final period against the New York Giants in their season opener two weeks ago; and it also helped to create an 18-point cushion for their offense against Miami.
As a direct result; the Cowboys are off to their best start in the past 11 years, and they haven't seriously been threatened late in games because Prescott and the offense are "taking care of business" every week, particularly in the 3rd quarter.
"Our ability to process what's keeping us back and then getting it fixed and seeing that transfer over to success, it doesn't always happen within games,'' starting Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said in an interview with Moore after their win over the Dolphins. "I think we've done a good job of that.''
During that same time, Prescott has been absolutely nothing short of sensational; as the 26-year old Sulphur, Louisiana native and one of the League's most talented young passers has gone 22 of 22 (and that's NOT a misprint) for 384 yards with three touchdown passes during that period specifically. Additionally, the has run 8 yards for another touchdown as well.
For the season through the first 3 games: Prescott has completed 70-out-of-92 passes for 920 yards with 9 TD's and 2 interceptions; and a passer rating of 91.4. along with a completion percentage of 74.5%.
(Photo by Getty Images)
And as Moore observes in his article: the young man who has often been criticized in recent times for not throwing the ball downfield accurately enough, now has completions of 20, 22, 25, 33, 45 and 62 yards all to his credit; with every one of them having occurred in the 3rd quarter of games this season.
"First of all, that's a crazy stat,'' Witten said about Prescott's third-quarter completion percentage. "To think he hasn't had an incompletion. I think it starts with him.''
For the Saints defense, that will mean also slowing down Prescott's two primary weapons on offense: Cowboys #1 WR Amari Cooper; who has been Prescott's primary target. Cooper has hauled in a total of 16 receptions for 238 yards and 4 TD's already through 3 games; but he's also caught six passes for 118 yards and two of Prescott's touchdown passes in those very same 3rd quarters of games.
And then of course there's All-Pro RB Ezekiel Elliot; who has been the Cowboys offense's most productive player up to this point. On the season, Elliot has rushed for 289 yards thus far on 55 carries in their first three games; but has carried the ball 11 times for 61 of those yards during the 3rd Quarter.
However as Moore notes: Elliot hasn't been the offensive focal point in that period this season.
Instead, it's been the rapidly-rising young NFL superstar QB in Prescott.
"You have to adapt as the game is unfolding,'' Witten said in his interview with Moore. "I think our staff has done a good job of that. (And) I think it speaks a lot to the quarterback and everybody else.''
It definitely speaks to the Saints defense slowing down Prescott at the very least; after they've dealt previously with 3 other QB's thus far with varying results: QB's Deshaun Watson (in the win over Houston). Jared Goff (in the loss to Los Angeles), and Russell Wilson (in this past Sunday's win at Seattle).
Photo by Ian Halperin/UPI | License Photo
But none of those players mentioned above have been as "red hot"as Prescott has been; and it will require another Herculean-effort by the entire Saints defensive unit to emerge victorious this Sunday Night at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
As of this very moment, the Saints have deftly managed to stay afloat in Brees' absence for one week into the period of expected time that he will remain out of the starting line-up, while his throwing hand / thumb ligament heals up well enough to resume playing.
