New Orleans Saints vs Dallas Cowboys Match Player Stats On Sep 28, 2014

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 28, 2014

Cowboys 38, Saints 17: Tony Romo threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns as Dallas bolted to a 24-point halftime lead en route to dismantling visiting New Orleans.

DeMarco Murray rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns as the Cowboys (3-1) notched their third straight win and avenged a humbling 49-17 loss to the Saints last season. Romo finished 22-for-29 and tossed a pair of first-half scoring passes to Terrance Williams, who had six catches for 77 yards to help Dallas halt a three-game skid against New Orleans.

Drew Brees completed 32-of-44 for 340 yards with two touchdowns and one interception but couldn't get his team into the end zone until early in the fourth quarter - after Dallas had built a 31-3 cushion. Jimmy Graham had eight catches for 86 yards and a TD for the Saints (1-3), who have dropped six straight road games.

Romo was 7-for-7 on the opening drive, capping it with a 6-yard scoring pass to Williams, and marched the Cowboys 77 yards before connecting on a 23-yard strike to Williams with 19 seconds left in the half for a 24-0 edge. Dallas also got a 51-yard field goal from Dan Bailey and turned an interception by Justin Durant into a 15-yard run around right end by Murray in the opening 30 minutes.

Murray broke loose for a 28-yard TD run with 6:42 left in the third to give the Cowboys a seemingly insurmountable 31-3 edge, but Brees rallied the Saints with a pair of scoring passes to tight ends Josh Hill and Graham in a span of less than four minutes to cut the deficit to 31-17 with 9:49 to play. New Orleans got the ball back, but Dallas snuffed out a fake punt attempt to stem the comeback.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Murray became the fourth back in NFL history to open a season with four games of 100 yards and at least one TD, joining Hall of Famers Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson and Emmitt Smith. He's also the second Dallas player (Smith, 1995) to amass more than 500 yards rushing over the first four games. ... Saints RB Khiry Robinson rushed for 87 yards on eight carries while WR Marques Colston had five catches for 50 yards, halting a string of three straight 100-yard games against Dallas. ... Cowboys CB Mo Claiborne (knee), who left the team for one day earlier in the week after losing his starting job, and LB Bruce Carter (quadriceps) exited with injuries while Saints LT Terron Armstead sustained a concussion.