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New Orleans Saints ready for another tough test from Dallas Cowboys
Written by Brian Allee-Walsh, NewOrleans.Com's Saints Beat | Monday, 14 December 2009 19:39 | Saints News

With each historical victory, regardless of the degree of difficulty, the 13-0 New Orleans Saints take one monster step up the NFL ladder of success. With that in mind, know the Black and Gold just moved into rarefied air.

Since the NFL went to a 14-game format in 1961, six teams have opened a season 13-0 _ the 2009 Saints, 2009 Indianapolis Colts, the 2007 New England Patriots, the 2005 Colts, the 1998 Denver Broncos and the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

The ’05 Colts, Broncos and Dolphins went on to win the Super Bowl.

The fates of the Saints and Colts, who established an NFL record Sunday by beating Denver 28-16 for their 22nd consecutive regular-season victory, are still to be determined.

“Just to think how each game comes down to a play here, a play there,’’ Saints quarterback Drew Brees said Monday. “So to think that for 22 straight games for the Colts or 13 straight games in our case, you just happen to be the team that makes that play … it’s such a fine line between winning and losing.

“Obviously, you’re doing something right when you can string wins together like that.’’

Though pushed to the brink of losing on the road the past two weeks by the Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins, the Saints are doing enough right things to continue their pursuit of perfection.

The latest clutch performance came Sunday at the Georgia Dome when middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma stopped running back Jason Snelling one yard shy of a first down with 1:18 remaining to preserve a too-close-for-comfort 26-23 victory and sweep the division series from the Dirty Birds.

That came on the heels of an equally difficult 33-30 win in overtime against the Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., a game in which the Saints had to overcome 10-point deficits on three occasions.

“Washington is a very good team but they’re out of the playoff hunt,’’ Brees said. “So what becomes their biggest game of the season? Well, it’s beating the Saints, so we know we’re going to get their absolute best game. It might be their biggest game of the season at that point.

“What’s important to me is we’re making the plays in crunch time or at the end of the game when we’re called upon to make them and we’re making them. In Washington, when we were given an opportunity in the end to win it, we did. Against Atlanta, we were given the opportunity on defense to win that game at the end, and we did. That’s what I see.’’

The enigmatic Dallas Cowboys provide the next challenge, sharing center stage with the Black and Gold at 7:20 p.m. Saturday night at the Superdome in a game that will be aired on the NFL Network and simulcast on ABC26-TV.

Make no mistake, the ‘Boys are rocky and reeling after back-to-back losses to the New York Giants (31-24) and San Diego Chargers (20-17) that have left them 8-5 and trailing the division-leading Philadelphia Eagles (9-4) by one game in the NFC East.

Additionally, Jerry Jones’ Cowboys are battling a despicable December demon, having lost six of their last seven games in the 12th month dating to Week 17 of the 2007 season. It gets worse if you throw in a playoff loss in January 2008.

It becomes downright embarrassing if you go all the way back to the 1996 season, the last time the Cowboys won a playoff game. Counting a loss to Carolina in the divisional round of the playoffs in January 1997, the Cowboys are 19-42 in all games played in the months of December and January.

Yet, Brees isn’t fooled for one minute by the Cowboys’ spate of late season collapses.

“It’s never easy,’’ he said. “You’re not going to beat everybody by three touchdowns. The more that we win, the more that we get the absolute best games from the other teams we play.

“We’ve looked at that game on the schedule for a long time. We were hoping that we’d be in a position that we are now going into it, which is 13-0. They’re fighting for a playoff spot and still kind of fighting for a division championship themselves. They have a lot to play for; we have a lot to play for. It should be a great game.’’

The Saints can secure homefield advantage in the NFC with a win against the Cowboys and a loss by the Minnesota Vikings (11-2), who visit the Carolina Panthers at 7:20 p.m. Sunday. The national oddsmakers currently favor the Saints and Vikings to take their battle for homefield into Christmas week.

“I feel that despite what the odds might say every game is a huge game, especially when we remain undefeated and we know we’re getting every team’s best game,’’ Brees said. “They’re all going to be close. Certainly there might be ones that, whether it’s Monday night football or in this case Saturday night football on the NFL Network, the fact is they’re all a challenge.’’

So far, the Saints have been up to all 13 of them.

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Budsdrinker

Incorrect about 05 Colts. Yes they started 13-0 but they lost in the divisional round to the Steelers. It was the 06 Colts that won the superbowl in which they played in the wildcard round that started 9-0 but finished 13-3.