Saint Drubbings Day

Drew Brees passed for 392 yards and four touchdowns as the New Orleans Saints overpowered the Dallas Cowboys 49-17 Sunday night at the Superdome.

Brees completed 34 of 41 passes, including touchdowns to Marques Colston, rookie Kenny Stills, Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas. The Saints made an NFL record 40 first downs and finished with 626 total yards, the most ever allowed in Cowboys history.

For Dallas, linebacker Sean injured his left hamstring in the second quarter and did not returned. Linebacker Justin Durant also injured his hamstring. Pro Bowler DeMarcus Ware returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games with a quadricep injury, but tackle Jason Hatcher (neck) did not play.

Dallas (5-5) has a bye next week then play at the New York Giants on Nov. 24.

The Saints took the opening kickoff, got two first downs and moved to midfield, but had to punt.

Dallas was forced to punt after three plays, but got a break when Darren Sproles fumbled and Dwayne Harris recovered for Dallas at the Saints’ 22.

A false start on third down derailed the possession and Dan Bailey’s 37-yard field goal gave the Cowboys a 3-0 lead .at the 8:14 mark.

The Saints answered with an 80-yard, nine-play drive with Brees throwing a 22-yard touchdown to Colston to give New Orleans a 7-3 lead with 3:23 to go in the quarter. The Saints used four runs and five passes to cover the distance in 4 minutes, 51 seconds.

Harris returned the ensuing kickoff 34 yards before being pushed out of bounds and running into the Saints’ Cameron Jordan on the sideline. Harris stayed down for several minutes before walking off the field to the team’s locker room. He injured his nick and shoulder on the play. ury.

Starting at its own 28, Dallas started a run-centric scoring march behind DeMarco Murray before the first quarter ended. Murray had eight carries for 59 yards, including a 35 yarder, in the first quarter.

On the second play of the second quarter, Murray scored on a 7-yard sweep around left end to put Dallas back on top 10-7. The drive covered 72 yards in eight plays. Six of the eight plays were runs by Murray.

The Saints answered again with a 16-play drive that ended with Brees throwing a 1-yard swing-pass touchdown to Pierre Thomas to make it 14-10 at the 5:09 mark.

Dallas had to punt after three plays and the Saints took over at their own 48.

They moved to the Dallas 3, keyed by a third-and-12 conversion pass to Lance Moore and later a facemask penalty on Orlando Scandrick, where Sproles scored on a third-down run to push the Saints’ lead to 21-10.

With 1:32 to go, Dallas took over. Four plays later, they punted.

With 53 seconds to go, New Orleans took over. Six plays later, they scored.

Brees threw a 28-yard screen pass to Sproles, who darted through the secondary for a touchdown and a 28-10 halftime lead.

Dallas punted away its first possession of the second half.

After New Orleans drove to the Cowboys’ 29, Garrett Hartley missed a 37-yard field goal try wide right.

After another Dallas punt, the Saints drove 92 yards for another score. This time Ingram scored on a 4-yard run as the Saints took total control of the game at 35-10. Dallas was flagged three times on the drive.

Dallas finally showed some life on offense, driving 79 yards for a touchdown. Tony Romo threw a 21-yard touchdown to rookie Terrance Williams. The key play was a 44-yard catch by Dez Bryant to make it 35-17.

Dallas followed with an onside kick that Cameron Lawrence recovered at the cowboys’ 48.

Dallas couldn’t turned the recovery into points and had to punt.

After using long drives to score most of the night, the Saints went to the big play. Brees threw a 52-yard touchdown to rookie Kenny Stills and the lead grew to 42-17 with 12:43 still left to play.

New Orleans closed the game with a 78-yard, all-run drive with Pierre Thomas’ 1-yard touchdown run to make it 49-17 with 5:39 left.