ARLINGTON, Texas — Drew Brees and the historic New Orleans Saints offense came crashing back down to earth Thursday night as their 10-game win streak was snapped by the Dallas Cowboys in a 13-10 slugfest.
Forget “Jerry World.” This was more like “Bizarro World.”
Brees, who is having one of the best quarterback seasons in NFL history, completed just 18 of 28 passes for 127 yards, one touchdown and a stunning interception with 2 minutes, 8 seconds remaining when the Saints were still trailing just 13-10.
And the Saints, who were averaging an NFL-best 37.2 points per game, gained only 176 total yards while falling to 10-2 on the season — a half-game behind the Los Angeles Rams in a tight NFC race.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, won their fourth consecutive game to climb to 7-5 on the season by manhandling the Saints all night (as Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence colorfully suggested they would try to do earlier this week).
Brees started the game 0-for-4 for the first time in his 18-year career. And it never really got better than that. The Saints’ only touchdown of the night came on a drive when the Cowboys were assessed with 41 penalty yards, including roughing the punter.
Brees was sacked twice Thursday after being sacked a total of two times over his previous six games. His interception (by Dallas cornerback Jourdan Lewis) was especially uncharacteristic — thrown well behind running back Alvin Kamara while the Saints were backed up deep in their own territory. The Cowboys were able to kneel out the clock to seal the game after that.
The Saints gained only 59 yards in the first half while being shut out 13-0 — which was their lowest yardage total in a first half since 2001, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. And it snapped their league-leading streak of 71 games without being shut out in the first half.
The Saints were especially hot over the past four weeks, averaging 44 points per game, before Thursday’s big flop in Big D.
Ironically, this was the second-longest win streak in Saints history — and the other one, when they started 13-0 in 2009, was also snapped by the Cowboys. The Saints bounced back to win the only Super Bowl in franchise history that season.