New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara (41) celebrates his first quarter touchdown run with teammate center Erik McCoy (78) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 15 in Arlington, Texas.Jeffrey McWhorter/The Associated Press
Alvin Kamara scored four touchdowns, including a 57-yarder on a screen pass, and the New Orleans Saints ended Dallas’s 16-game home winning streak in the regular season with a 44-19 victory over the Cowboys on Sunday.
Derek Carr threw for 243 yards and two TDs to go along with a one-yard sneak for a score, and the Saints (2-0) got touchdowns on their first six drives a week after setting a franchise record by starting the season with points on nine consecutive possessions in a 47-10 rout of Carolina.
It was actually the second straight loss at AT&T Stadium for the Cowboys (1-1) after their 48-32 wild-card shocker against Green Bay last January.
A week after holding Cleveland to 54 yards and one first down before halftime in a 33-17 victory, Dallas gave up two TD passes longer than that before the break – Rashid Shaheed’s 70-yarder, a career long, on a perfect deep throw and Kamara’s catch-and-run that started behind the line of scrimmage.
The Saints kicked four field goals in offensive co-ordinator Klint Kubiak’s sparkling debut as their play-caller. There was no settling for three while taking control against Dallas.
Score one for the 37-year-old son of former NFL coach Gary Kubiak in his second game over 68-year-old defensive co-ordinator Mike Zimmer in his second game since returning to the Cowboys.
New Orleans finished with 432 yards and scored at least 40 points in consecutive games for the first time since 2018 when coach Sean Payton was calling the plays for quarterback Drew Brees.
Carr was 11 of 16 but lost his perfect passer rating early in the fourth quarter when he was intercepted by Donovan Wilson with the Saints leading 41-19.
Kamara, who had 180 scrimmage yards (115 rushing), capped an opening 80-yard drive with a five-yard run, and Carr hit Shaheed in stride between safeties Wilson and Malik Hooker on the first play after the first of Brandon Aubrey’s four field goals for Dallas. Shaheed had 96 yards receiving.
The long TD from Kamara, who had his career high with six TDs against Minnesota in 2020 when Zimmer was head coach of the Vikings, came after the Cowboys settled for three again.
Dallas tried to keep up when CeeDee Lamb ducked out of a tackle and ran the rest of the way on a 65-yard score, but Prescott had the first of his two interceptions on the next series.
Jalen Brooks slipped coming out of a route and Paulson Adebo weaved his way for 47 yards on the return, setting up Carr’s sneak for a 35-13 lead.
Prescott was 27 of 39 for 293 yards in his first game since signing the US$240-million, four-year contract with a record US$231-million guaranteed. He agreed to the deal hours before beating the Browns last weekend.