No Mercy for Saints By John Melchiorre After the most complete and dominating victory of the Jason Garrett era, the Cowboys find themselves tied atop the NFC East at 3-1 with the rival Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys played Sunday night at AT&T Stadium like a team on a mission. That’s what a 49-17 drubbing in their previous meeting with the Saints down in the big easy will do for you. In that game the Cowboys defense gave up a team record 625 yards while allowing an NFL record 40 1st downs. On this night however it was the Saints on the receiving end as the Cowboys built a commanding 24-0 half time lead and never looked back. They dismantled New Orleans sending them on their way with a demoralizing 38-17 loss taking a 1-3 record with them. Despite a short lived onslaught by New Orleans in the 4th quarter the Cowboys defense predicted early on to be the Achilles heel of this team was relentless while the offense under coordinator Scott Linehan was efficient, aggressive and well balanced. Demarco Murray behind a young offensive line the Cowboys invested so much in scored 2 touchdowns and rushed for 149 yards on 24 carries. He leads the NFL in rushing with 534 yards and is on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s 30-year old NFL record of 2,105 rushing yards. In the history of the NFL only four running backs have opened the season with four consecutive games with at least 100 yards rushing. Emmit Smith was the last to do it in 1995. You can now add Demarco Murray to that list. When asked about Murray Romo said "I think he is better than a good back. I think he is a great back." Tony Romo who is starting to look healthier each week was equally as good completing 22 of 29 passes to eight different receivers for 262 yards resulting in three touchdowns with no interceptions. He was sacked only once and scrambled for a career long 21 yard run in the third quarter. After the game Romo said “This is a different football team and mentally we know that.” And there you have it. For what seems like forever there has been a mental funk hovering over this franchise like a house guest who’s overstayed their welcome. Sooner or later they have to go. Well for the Cowboys that time may have finally arrived. They seem to have a direction, a plan, and the coaches and players to finally carry it out. Now they just have to go and do it. Stay tuned. .