IRVING, Texas — Yes, the Dallas Cowboys’ 38-17 blowout victory over the New Orleans Saints was satisfying payback to a team that dominated them in recent years.

The Saints had won three of the last four and eight of the last nine in series.

Last year’s 49-17 embarrassing and humiliating loss was something that stuck with the Cowboys more than any other from 2013.

So it all came flushing to the forefront in the aftermath of Sunday’s dominating performance.

“I did, I sure did (have thoughts of last year),” owner Jerry Jones said. “Oh yeah, I did. I didn’t want to think before the game was over, but I had thought about it all week, thought about it in the offseason. That was a rough trip home. I’ve got a lot of friends in Louisiana and there are a lot of Cowboys fans in north Louisiana. That hurt. That was embarrassing to go down there and not do better.

“This is really an important victory to us, because of the respect, because of how we fared against New Orleans over the last eight or nine ballgames. This is one of those that we kind of needed to knock the ghostly cobwebs out of our minds. It doesn’t take much to get me happy. I feel great. I feel happy with where we are.”

It was about that, but it was also so much more.

The victory also was a measuring stick for the Cowboys in terms of where they are as a team and where they possibly can go this season.

“I think you’re always excited,” quarterback Tony Romo said. “Each week in the NFL is different. You go out and lose next week and you lose all the luster and good feelings from this week. I think what you find is that we are consistently doing the same things each week, and in the past we weren’t able to do that.

“When you’re really good … Seattle runs the same defense each week and people have a hard time with it because they are really good. I think once you find your ability to do something consistently, it lets you know that you’re probably going to be able to have it for the rest of the year.”

It was certain confirmation and reaffirmation that their plan for success is headed in the right direction, per coach Jason Garrett.

“We believe in what we do,” Garrett said. “We’re convicted about how we put this team together. How we build this team. The kind of guys we want on this team. The physical nature that we want to play with, we have strong convictions about that.

“You just have to keep going about it the right way. Get the right guys together, go to work every day, do things the right way. We believe the results will come. We’ll continue to work hard.”