ARLINGTON, Texas — Drew Brees and the Saints won’t go to the playoffs in their season without suspended coach Sean Payton. The Cowboys again need help to get there.
Playing near Payton’s home in a Dallas suburb, Brees threw for 446 yards and three touchdowns and led a drive to Garrett Hartley’s winning 20-yard field goal in overtime, and the Saints took the Cowboys’ playoff fate out of their hands with a 34-31 overtime victory yesterday.
The Saints, who started 0-4 after being stunned by the yearlong Bountygate ban for Payton, lost their faint playoff hopes when the Vikings beat the Texans, and had to hold off a two-touchdown rally in the final 3:35 from the Cowboys.
Tony Romo had 416 yards passing and four TDs, including a 19-yarder to Miles Austin with 15 seconds left in regulation to send the game to OT.
Cowboys tight end Jason Witten had two catches in OT, breaking Tony Gonzalez’s NFL season record of 102 catches for a tight end set in 2004. Witten has 103.
“We’re never going to let anyone tell us we’re not playing for something,” Brees said. “We knew there were a lot of things that had to happen. We wanted to worry about the things we could control. What would have been worse is if Minnesota had lost and we had lost.”
After New Orleans forced a punt on the first possession of OT, Brees moved the Saints to the Cowboys 33. He completed a pass to Marques Colston, who took a couple of steps before Morris Claiborne stripped the ball, sending it rolling about 20 yards to the Dallas 2.
Jimmy Graham, who said he dislocated a finger on a 26-yard catch to start the drive, won a scrum with Dallas’ Eric Frampton, and the completion that started the bizarre play was held up on review, clearing the way for Hartley’s kick.
“I looked at the replay and I knew there was a fumble,” Claiborne said. “I was looking at it saying, ‘Please, let the pass be incomplete.’ ”
The Giants’ loss to the Ravens gave the Cowboys, who play at Washington in next week’s finale, a chance to make the playoffs as NFC East champions. Their chances of making the postseason as a wild card are remote.