The Dallas Cowboys earned defeated no longer. Despite fighting to the bitter end, they fell to the New Orleans Saints 12-10 Sunday night. This of course is just one loss. How the Cowboys respond from here on out will likely determine where the end up finishing when all is said and done.
This game was pretty much a mirror image to what took place last year when these two teams squared off. The Cowboys were able to win that contest 13-10, but luck just wasn't on their side this time around. If the ball would've bounced their way a few more times they could have possibly left New Orleans still defeated. Unfortunately, that just didn't happen.
But without further do, here is this week's edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. As always, please for free to use the comment section to voice and of your thoughts and opinions on this topic.
The Good
I had a hard time deciding what to put in this category due to how close the game was Sunday night between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. Ultimately though I decided to go with Defensive End Robert Quinn as the good for the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. He is exactly what they need to playing opposite DeMarcus Lawrence.
Robert Quinn is not only relentless when he's on the field, but his ability to bend and capture the edge without losing speed when rushing the quarterback is really impressive. It's just been two games since returning from his suspension, but he's proving to be well worth the six-round draft pick Dallas gave up to acquire him from Miami. Teams are going to have to account for him from now on and that should create more favorable matchups for other players along the defensive line.
The Bad
I had no problem figuring out what I was going to go with here in the bad category. To me, the bad for the Dallas Cowboys last night against New Orleans Saints was all of the mental mistakes. No, I'm not talking about blown assignments or anything like that. I'm talking about all of the penalties, missed opportunities, and turnovers… of which there were plenty.
The Dallas Cowboys continue to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to penalties. They've done it all season and it's growing really tiresome to say the least. But, that's not all. They can't afford to turn the ball over like they did against the Saints and they have to capitalize on the opportunities when they present themselves. If they want to end up where we all hope they do, the Super Bowl, they have to clean up all of these mental mistakes.
The Ugly
In all fairness, this meeting between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints was a pretty ugly game all around. That's to be expected the way these two teams played each of the last year. Both teams had their fair share of penalties that hurt their ball clubs, but in the end the ugly for the Cowboys had to be their inability to ever really get anything going offensively. Unfortunately, this likely cost them the victory.
I personally wasn't expecting a shoot out kind of a contest between these two teams, although both offenses have that kind of firepower at their disposal. This was pretty much the kind of game I was expecting, but I was really hoping Dallas would be a little more productive on the offensive side of the ball. They just couldn't manage to get anything going in the running or passing game. The Saints defense deserves a lot of credit for that.
