None of it mattered because Dallas couldn't run or stop the run. New Orleans piled up 169 rushing yards to the Cowboys' 91, scored 3 times on the ground, and got 46 yards on just 4 carries from Audric Estime — production the Saints badly needed with Alvin Kamara sidelined by a knee injury suffered in a joint practice with this same Cowboys team earlier in camp. Phil Mafah matched Estime's yardage total for Dallas but needed 12 carries to get there, the kind of stat line that raises more questions than it answers about the Cowboys' backup backfield battle.
Jordan Hudson gave Dallas its one explosive-play answer, going up for 4 catches and 97 yards including a touchdown, while Ronnie Bell quietly moved the chains for New Orleans with 6 grabs for 65 yards. Dallas was favored heading into the 7:00 PM CT kickoff and looking to cap a perfect exhibition slate; instead it's the Saints erasing an 0-2 preseason with a 27-24 win that came down to which team's backups looked more finished.
Context matters here more than the final score. Both rosters cut to 53 on Sunday, and this game was always about jobs, not standings — New Orleans had already said as much, with its actual starters sitting the whole night. Howell's tape should help his case against Milton even in a loss, and Estime's role in an injury-thinned Saints backfield now looks a lot more real than it did a week ago.
The records tell two very different preseason stories walking into results like this: Dallas arrived unbeaten in exhibition play, New Orleans arrived winless. Both marks get thrown out with the pads now — the games that actually count are three weeks away, and everything that happened Friday night gets filtered entirely through what it means for 53-man decisions, not what it means for either team's record.
That injury picture is the real hangover from this one for both teams. Kamara's timeline looms over New Orleans' backfield plans, and Dallas heads into cutdown day still sorting out questionable tags at tackle and linebacker. Preseason finales rarely change many outcomes, but this one gave both front offices one more data point on exactly the battles they needed answered before Sunday.