The Sports Xchange

METAIRIE, La. — After three gut-wrenching losses to start the season, things couldn’t have turned out any better than they did for the New Orleans Saints in a Week 4 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night.

Quarterback Drew Brees returned to the lineup after missing one game because of a bruised rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder and reported no problems with his arm on Monday after the Saints’ 26-20 overtime victory.

On top of winning and having their field leader back, the Saints welcomed three defensive starters back in cornerback Keenan Lewis, free safety Jairus Byrd and weak-side linebacker Dannell Ellerbe — who were all sidelined for the team’s first three losses.

While having those three veteran defenders back, at least for a partial workload, was critical for the Saints, Brees’ performance brought a sigh of relief from anxious fans. Even though he started slowly, he completed 33 of 41 attempts for 359 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Brees had a passer rating of 119.4.

Better news for the Saints came Monday morning when Brees, who threw an 80-yard game-ending touchdown pass to running back C.J. Spiller, reported no ill effects from the shoulder injury he suffered two weeks earlier.

“I think aside from your normal soreness after a game, I think (Brees) is fine,” Payton said during his day-after-game teleconference.

Payton noted the short passing game he used was more to avoid the pressure the Cowboys were bringing with their front seven than it was about Brees’ shoulder. Two of Dallas’ three sacks in the game came in the first half.

“The first half, a lot of it was the pressure,” Payton said. “We struggled blocking them. As a result, there were some throwaways … some balls that didn’t get down the field.”

As for the defense, Payton was pleased when Byrd got 37 snaps, while Ellerbe and Lewis had 19 and 18, respectively, as they were worked into the lineup — primarily in the nickel package.

“All those guys did some good things; I thought Jairus did some real good things,” Payton said of Byrd, who was credited with four tackles and offered good run support. “So it will be good to build off of that.”

–Brees surpassed a couple of significant passing milestones in his team’s 26-20 overtime victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night.

In the first quarter, Brees recorded the 5,000th completion of his 15-year career when he tossed a 3-yard scoring pass to tight end Josh Hill. Brees became only the third player with 5,000 completions, joining Brett Favre and Peyton Manning in that select list.

Then, on an 80-yard pass play to running back C.J. Spiller in overtime that gave the Saints the win, Brees became only the fifth player with 400 career touchdown passes — joining Favre, Manning, Dan Marino and Tom Brady.

Brees said he rarely thinks about numbers during a game, but had heard some whispers on the sideline that he had gotten within one of the 400-touchdown mark on Hill’s score. That meant No. 400 could win a game the previously-winless Saints desperately needed.

“This rarely happens, but I did think to myself, maybe God intended No. 400 to be the one that wins this game,” Brees said he thought as the Saints prepared for overtime. “Thanks to C.J. Spiller, that happened.”

In return, Spiller made sure his first touchdown as a member of the Saints got to its rightful owner.

“This is your ball, brother,” Spiller told Brees while delivering the milestone ball to his quarterback. “You deserve it.”

–Saints right guard Jahri Evans, who missed a second game in a row Sunday night with a knee injury, could be out for several more games.

NBC reported during its telecast that Evans, a four-time All-Pro who’s earned six consecutive Pro Bowl invites, had an arthroscopic procedure on his knee.

Saints head coach Sean Payton confirmed Monday that Evans, who hasn’t been spotted at practice recently, had his knee scoped “a week and a half ago.”

It’s not known when Evans, who was replaced in the starting lineup the last two weeks by former practice squad player Senio Kelemete, will return.

REPORT CARD VS. COWBOYS

–PASSING OFFENSE: A. All things considered, it was a pretty good night for the Saints. Drew Brees didn’t make a lot of downfield throws because of his bruised rotator cuff, but play-caller Sean Payton took what the Cowboys gave his team. Brees wasn’t sharp early, but he still completed 17 of 20 attempts for 115 yards with one touchdown. One problem was protection as he was sacked twice. That improved in the second half and overtime and he finished 33-of-41 for 359 yards with two TDs — including the game-winning 80-yard strike to C.J. Spiller — and no interceptions. Brees was sacked only once in the second half and finished with a passer rating of 119.4. Willie Snead caught six balls for 89 yards, while Spiller had five receptions for 99 yards.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: B. The Saints were more committed to the running game in the second half, which helped relieve some of the pressure Brees felt in the first half from the Cowboys’ front seven. After rushing for only 34 yards on six attempts in the first two quarters, the Saints ran it 19 times for 69 yards in the second half and finished the night with 103 yards on 25 carries and a 4.1 average. Mark Ingram picked up a game-high 77 yards and a 4.5 average on 17 carries with a long of 15, while Khiry Robinson and Spiller added 16 and 10 yards, respectively. Robinson had a 1-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

–PASS DEFENSE: C. This could have been worse if not for three sacks of Brandon Weeden, simply because the secondary had six of the eight penalties marked off against the Saints. There were two holding calls, two illegal hands to the face and one pass interference infraction as well as a facemask against the defensive backs. On the bright side, the Saints had cornerback Keenan Lewis and free safety Jairus Byrd on the field for the first time this season, which helped even though Weeden hit on 16 of 26 attempts for 246 yards with a touchdown. One of Weeden’s completions was a 67-yarder to Brice Butler, who beat Brandon Browner, that led to a field goal. The Saints also had loose coverage on tight end Jason Witten, who caught a 28-yard pass on the drive to a late game-tying touchdown. But Witten had only three other receptions for 29 yards.

–RUN DEFENSE: B. The Saints gave up a 14-yard run to Joseph Randle on the Cowboys’ first play of the game and were hit for a 45-yard burst by Lance Dunbar on the next snap. But they settled down after that, allowing 59 yards on just two plays and gave up 56 yards on the Cowboys’ next 26 rushing yards in their overtime win. Dunbar had 54 yards on three carries before being injured on the second-half kickoff and Darren McFadden and Randle finished with 31 and 26 yards, respectively. But McFadden and Randle needed 21 carries to get those 57 yards, which allowed the Saints to hold the Cowboys to 115 yards and a 4.1 average. Randle did have a 1-yard TD run in the second quarter.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: C. Punter Thomas Morstead averaged 41.0 gross yards and 41.0 net yards on three punts before leaving the game in the second half with a right quadriceps injury. Kicker Zach Hocker came on and had a 43-yard punt in pinning the Cowboys back to their 9-yard line late in the contest. But Hocker hit the left upright with a 30-yard game-winning field-goal attempt with just seconds to play, which forced an overtime session. Hocker did make field goals of 29 and 51 yards. Marcus Murphy averaged 11.3 yards on three punt returns with a long of 20 and also returned a kickoff 34 yards. The Cowboys had no punt returns and averaged just 20.0 yards on two kickoff returns.

–COACHING: A. Sean Payton kept his offense on the attack even though Drew Brees looked a little tentative early in the game because of his bruised rotator cuff, which could’ve been the reason for a couple of awkward-looking throws. Payton used a game plan featuring short passes with a few intermediate throws mixed in to keep the Cowboys on their heels, which helped Brees amass 359 passing yards with two TDs and no interceptions.