Stopping Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence was a key to victory for the New Orleans Saints against the Dallas Cowboys. Their ability to rush the passer is the defense’s greatest strength, yet Derek Carr didn’t see much pressure on Sunday.
Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning did a good job winning that matchup in the pass and run game. Part of stopping the Cowboys unit was running the football. Dennis Allen looked at the diminished impact of Lawrence and Parsons and felt “part of it was we were able to run the football.”
Alvin Kamara caught a touchdown, but his 115 rushing yards were equally as effective in slowing down the pass rush.
“When you’re able to run the ball and you’re able to put yourself in manageable situations, you’re not having to get into a dropback passing mode where they can unleash their pass rush,” Allen explained.
That’s exactly what they did. The Saints only faced third down on eight occasions in this game. Just four of them were longer than 4 yards. One was a kneel-down and another was when the Saints were running out the clock and keeping the ball on the ground.
This means New Orleans only faced two third downs of more than 4 yards. The Saints were rarely in must-pass situations, and it kept the Cowboys’ best assets from getting active.
