Dallas Cowboys: Nobody steps up; other takeaways

1. Poor defensive backfield play

Oct 4, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints running back C.J. Spiller (28) breaks the tackle of Dallas Cowboys strong safety Barry Church (42) to score the game-winning 80-yard touchdown in overtime at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints won 26-20. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

If there was ever proof how important Sean Lee is to the Dallas Cowboys defense, Sunday night was the perfect example. Once Lee was injured and taken out of the game with a concussion, the unit never looked the same.

There was very little pass rush, and the defensive backfield was laughable in the second half, allowing Drew Brees to do whatever he wanted, especially in the overtime period with a game-winning, 80-yard touchdown pass to backup running back C.J. Spiller.

Brees was off a week headed into this game, but it looked like he didn’t miss a beat, and the Cowboys helped with that assessment of his play. Brees finished 33-of-41 for two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Three Saints players had over 50 yards receiving, and six had at least 25 yards receiving. The defense of the Cowboys allowed New Orleans to convert 46 percent of their third downs (compare to the Cowboys converting 3-of-12 third downs).

The Saints were 6-of-13 on third down, and if you include sacks, the Saints passed for 7.6 yards per completion in their win over the Cowboys. In all, the Cowboys allowed 438 net yards, an average of 6.3 yards per offensive play by New Orleans.

Ben Stockwell of Pro Football Focus maybe said it best:

"“You could only describe this as a vintage performance from the Dallas secondary in the sense that it sparked recollections of the bad old days of 2013.”"

The final drive of regulation, and the overtime drive by the Cowboys defense, was some of the worst play I’ve seen from this unit in recent years. On the last play of the game, as Cris Collinsworth said, Damien Wilson (a rookie backup linebacker) was lost. To be honest, on those last two drives he wasn’t the only one, and at this point of the season, that’s dumbfounding. Again, nobody stepped up when needed the most.

There was little pass rush when it really mattered late in the game by the defensive line. They looked beat in the second half, forced zero turnovers, and in my opinion looked sloppy. Plus, there is the case of too many missed tackles to mention. To put it simply … it was a tough night for the Cowboys.

The defense has a lot of blame to go around. Two big pass rushers return next week, but for Week 4, there is a lot to be fixed, and if it isn’t corrected or patched up in some form, Week 5 against Tom Brady and the Patriots will make their effort against the Saints look like a success.

Next: No 100-yard rusher after 4 weeks