Saints’ Murphy eager to build maiden TD vs. Cowboys

Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who missed last week’s game with a shoulder injury, and Brandon Weeden, in his encore start this season, are the wild cards in this matchup. Payton said Brees has responded to treatment and his rehab has gone well.

Brees was inactive for last Sunday’s game at the Carolina Panthers with a bruised rotator cuff.

Witten, no longer the vertical threat Olsen presents, is an expert at getting free for the kind of throws over the middle that keep the chains moving. McCoy attempted to play through the injury in Buffalo’s 41-14 win over the Dolphins but ran for just 16 yards on 11 carries.

October 26, 2014; New Orleans, LA, United States of America; New Orleans Saints fans celebrate in the stands during the third quarter of a game against the Green Bay Packers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Brees was not the only Saints player to participate fully in Friday practice. If Brees does start as planned, he’ll return to a club that is 0-3 and in desperate need of a victory.

The Saints followed with a 51-yard field goal shortly after the injury to tie the game at 10 apiece.

In recent years, the Saints have owned the Cowboys, winning eight of the last ten match-ups between the two teams; in their first five games against the Cowboys Payton, Brees, and Co. averaged 34.4 points per game. “No I wouldn’t do that, but like I said I feel really good about Sunday”. This is a good 40 yards per game less than they averaged last season.

But it is not enough and so many times you see opposing defenders racing into the backfield right as the running back is touching the ball.

Dallas defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli isn’t looking for a turnaround from a unit that crumbled against Atlanta after a strong start the first two weeks of the season.

That includes me, who despite my futile attempts to remain “unbiased” (the karma and sworn duty of all professional writers and journalists world-wide), have allowed my childhood love and unbridled passion for Saints football to rise to the surface on more than one occasion. Whatever New Orleans decides, the Saints have to find a way to fix their tight end problem, an issue their defenders seem quietly confident has been addressed.

ROAD WARRIORS: Dallas’ last road loss in the regular season was December. 9, 2013, at Chicago (45-28).

The good news for the Jaguars is that they’ll fare much better against the losing team from last season’s AFC Championship game than they did against the winning team from that game.