Jaylon Smith says Cowboys’ defense ‘prepared for every scenario’ in win vs. Saints

The New Orleans Saints’ offense isn’t simply loaded with high-powered, explosive talent. It also beats opponents with creative scheming.

The Dallas Cowboys’ defense was well aware of that, and as it demonstrated in Thursday night’s 13-10 victory against the Saints, it was ready for whatever the Saints were going to throw — or run — their way.

‘In the run game, they really run a lot of basic stuff; they just dress it up differently’

“They do a lot of tricky stuff, where they move a lot of guys around,” linebacker Jaylon Smith told Bruce Murray and Mark Dominic on the SiriusXM NFL Blog. “(Quarterback) Drew (Brees) has shown, for the past 10 to 15 years, he has a hell of an arm. When he gets in a rhythm, they click on all cylinders.”

The Cowboys managed to limit Drew Brees to a mere 127 passing yards and a touchdown throw, with one interception.

“But in the run game, they really run a lot of basic stuff; they just dress it up differently and it can confuse your opponent. … But we were prepared for every scenario.”

‘What makes us an elite defense is we run the ball’

The Cowboys managed to limit Brees to a mere 127 passing yards and a touchdown throw, with one interception. They also held the Saints to 65 rushing yards on 19 carries and an average of 3.4 yards per rush.

“What makes us an elite defense is we run to the ball,” Smith said. “We swarm and we really care for one another. So, we were able to put that on display on a really big stage.”

‘We kind of started all of this with our last four games last year’

Smith believes the Cowboys’ defense has been performing at a high level since the end of the 2017 season.

“We kind of started all of this with our last four games last year; (it’s) when we really came together and we started to build a special unit and that last game we played, versus the Eagles, we shut them out. It was a game that meant nothing to them, they were already headed to the playoffs and all that good stuff, their starters didn’t play the entire game and all of that. But for us it meant so much, because it was a game where we knew we weren’t going to the playoffs. But the tenacity and the will that we played with has just kind of led to where we are today.”

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