The Saints entered the game in BIG "D" Thursday night with a 10-1 record and a 10 game winning streak. The Cowboys entered the game with a record of 6-5 thanks to a win over Washington a week earlier on Thanksgiving day. For the past several weeks sports writers in Louisiana were taking a lot of time talking about Brees personal records, the Saints prolific offense and a Super Bowl appearance.
But the Dallas Cowboys was one of the few Saints opponents who knew how to play defense and were not about to let the Saints receivers run wild where they and Brees could play catch like they do with so many other teams. They had a smart enough defensive coach who knew his defense had to play the receivers tight and that is what they did so effectively. The results were no prolific Brees and receivers that had problems with the Cowboy defensive backs playing them tight. It's not what they are use to.
The game with Dallas exposed what this writer has said all along. The Saints offense is just an average offense when they play a well coached team who knows how to play defense. The game offered more evidence that the NFL has too many bad teams that are poorly coached and can not compete. The Saints have beaten only 4 teams with winning records at this point in the season and their next opponent has a losing record.
Sports writers and sport shows, especially those in New Orleans continue to report apple polishing reports on the Saints and their shows are more about entertainment than a proper evaluation of the team. Why did they start talking prematurely about the Saints holding the bye over the Rams 4 weeks ago? Now the Dallas game changed all of that and with 4 games left to play it could change again.
Offensive records will continue to be broken with all the terrible teams in the NFL. The Dallas game and the fact that more than half of the NFL teams are non-competitive, should promote a more objective review by sports writers. But this writer sees no such change in the New Orleans sports writers reporting. The hype and Brees personal records will continue to lead their parade.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
