NFL Recap (Dallas-New Orleans)
Posted: Sun December 6, 1998 at 7:48 p.m. EST
NEW ORLEANS 22, DALLAS 3
NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- The fired-up New Orleans Saints saved
their best performance of the season for coach Mike Ditka's old team.
Kerry Collins
fired two touchdown passes, including an 89-yarder to Andre Hastings, Doug Brien booted a pair
of 53-yard field goals and the defense dominated throughout in a 22-3
drubbing of the Dallas
Cowboys.
"They (the defense) really took it to them and gave us good field
position, kept them out of the end zone," said Collins. "To be able to
stymie them like we did makes our job a lot easier. We definitely did feed
off their intensity."
Ditka won two Super Bowls with the Cowboys, one as a player and one as
an assistant coach. The win kept alive the playoff hopes of the Saints,
who beat the Cowboys for the first time in nine years. Dallas was held to
its lowest point total since a 24-0 shutout to Philadelphia on September
15th, 1991.
Ditka pulled a page out of his past, shutting down the Saints with a
4-3 defense he and Buddy Ryan made famous during their days with the Chicago Bears.
"We were going to try and do something in the mode of what I had done
in the past," Ditka explained. "I think we've got the personnel to do it.
It's not something you can do every play, but if we've got the personnel to
do it, we're going to keep going after people and be as aggressive as we
can."
Collins, who improved to 2-2 since being named starter, gave the
Saints all the offense they needed in a 17-point second quarter. He tossed
a four-yard TD pass to Aaron Craver 7:06 into the
period, then connected with Hastings just over six minutes later. Hastings
made the reception on a crossing pattern at the 25, got behind the Dallas
defense and raced untouched into the end zone.
"Coming into the game today, I called my mom," Hastings said. "She
said you're going to score today. She kind of predicted it and I was happy
for that. We tried to take what was given to us early in the game."
"It was a big play," added Collins, who was 16-of-28 for 239 yards
with an interception. "It was just four guys up the field and Andre got a
good release and fought man-to-man (coverage). Really, in a situation like
that, all you want to do is give him a chance and Andre made a good
adjustment to the ball."
New Orleans (6-7) won for just the third time in its last 10 games,
but tied Arizona for the final NFC wild card spot. The Cardinals dropped to
6-7 with a 23-19 loss to the New York Giants.
The Saints allowed only eight yards rushing, their best effort since
giving up a franchise-low two yards against New England on November 30th,
1986. Dallas' Emmitt
Smith carried 15 times for six yards, the fourth-lowest total of his
10-year career.
"The Saints came out and played very good and did everything they
needed to do," said Smith. "In nine years, I've never seen anything like
this. I don't know if the Saints played the run that well or we just played
that poorly."
The Saints have allowed 31 points per game in their seven losses, but
only 8.8 in their six victories. New Orleans has not allowed a touchdown in
the Superdome since a 31-0 loss to San Francisco in Week Six, giving up
just one field goal in each of its last three home contests.
"It was a sorry display of offense out there," said Dallas coach Chan
Gailey. "We've got a lot of work to do to get ourselves back to where we
think we've got a chance to go compete in the playoffs."
Dallas (8-5) suffered its second straight loss and missed an
opportunity to clinch a playoff spot. The Cowboys started the day with a
two-game lead over the Cardinals in the NFC East, but the Saints played
like the team closing in on a division title.
The Saints' defense set the tone early, recording a safety when
Dallas' Troy Aikman was
called for intentional grounding in the end zone just 55 seconds into the
game. Aikman completed 16-of-33 for 192 yards.
"It is not easy when you go out and play like this," said Aikman. "You
have to learn something from this. I don't think we took the Saints
lightly. I felt coming into this ballgame it was going to be a tough
ballgame."
Dallas got its only points on Richie Cunningham's
33-yard field goal with 1:13 left in the first quarter, but Collins burned
the Cowboys' banged-up secondary in the second period.
Dallas played without starting cornerbacks Deion Sanders and Kevin Smith and New
Orleans took advantage, grabbing a 9-3 lead on Collins' TD toss to Craver.
The Saints drove 97 yards in just three plays, increasing their advantage
to 16-3 on Hastings' TD reception.
The Cowboys were forced to punt and Collins drove the Saints into
field-goal range in the final minute. Brien booted a 53-yarder as time
expired, giving the Saints a 19-3 halftime lead, then converted his second
53-yarder 6:19 into the third quarter.
A pass interference penalty gave Dallas a 1st-and-goal on the 1 in the
final three minutes, but the Cowboys could not get into the end zone.
Smith had a chance for his 124th rushing touchdown, which would have
broken the all-time record he shares with Marcus Allen, but picked up only
one yard on fourth down from the 2.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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