The New Orleans Saints will head to Arlington to face the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Week 3 of the 2026 NFL preseason. To break it down, David Halprin of Blogging The Boys joins us to preview this weekend’s matchup.
NJ: At this point, everyone knows the joint practice between New Orleans and Dallas was chippy as all get out. Before that joint practice and since then, the Saints haven’t really had any issues with scuffles. Has that kind of intensity and physicality been a consistent theme throughout the Cowboys’ offseason?
DH: I would say the intensity has been there through training camp, a certain amount of energy, but we haven’t had the scuffles we saw in that joint practice. Christian Parker is our new defensive coordinator and he has brought a swagger back to the defensive side of the ball, and that has led to some trash-talking during practices as a very poor Cowboys defense from 2025 gets a complete makeover. Brian Schottenheimer is also a high-energy coach so there has been some friendly banter and interplay between the offense and defense, but only OLB Donovan Ezeiruaku, who was thrown out of the Saints practice, was also told to leave a practice earlier in training camp for a similar fighting problem. That appeared to be a very isolated incident because we never saw much else like that until the joint practice. I don’t know what happened during the joint practice, but the fighting seemed out of the ordinary for how the Cowboys had conducted most of their practices.
NJ: Which Dallas position battle or group of players has the most to gain from the additional preseason reps against New Orleans?
DH: The Cowboys are sorting out quite a few position battles. One of the ones that has been watched a lot is who will be RB2 behind Javonte Williams. Jaydon Blue, Malik Davis, Phil Mafah and Israel Abanikanda are all fighting for reps, with Davis in the driver’s seat right now. The Cowboys are also closely looking at their depth at cornerback as they have a cluster of players all trying to get attention. This one may end up needing some outside help once cutdown day happens. There was a good battle at QB2 going on, but many feel like Joe Milton III has locked that up with a couple of excellent performances in preseason. There is also some competition going on along the backup offensive line.
NJ: What are you hoping to learn about the Cowboys from Friday’s matchup against the Saints, and what did you learn from training camp and the first two preseason games that you’d like to see the team build on?
DH: For most of the offseason, training camp and preseason, Cowboys fans have been eyeing the changes on defense and hoping they make the team better. Last year, the defense was horrible and totally scuttled the season. First-time defensive coordinator Christian Parker has changed the scheme and has overhauled much of the personnel on that side of the ball. So far, it looks like it is working as the defense has played much better. The continuation of that is what Cowboys fans need to see. We know our offense is powerful and can score points, last year they were great. It is all down to the defense if we are going to have success in 2026.
NJ: Who is one Cowboys player you think Saints fans should keep an eye on Friday—someone who may not be receiving much national attention but could make a strong impression?
DH: Wide receiver Camden Brown went undrafted as a rookie. He only had one strong college season in his senior year after he transferred, and wasn’t really on our radar after the Cowboys signed him. In training camp, he exploded. He just kept making plays and catching the attention of everybody. Then in the first preseason game he had two spectacular touchdown catches, and in the last game he added a 69-yard catch-and-run pass completion. He has come out of nowhere to the brink of making the roster. If he shines again on Friday, the Cowboys will have to keep him on the roster, it would be criminal negligence not to.
NJ: According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Cowboys (-126) are currently 2.5-point favorites over the Saints (+108) in Sunday’s matchup; what is your final score prediction?
DH: Predicting scores for preseason games feels like a losing proposition all around because you never know who will play for how long, and what the coaches want to look at that might not be the best strategy for winning the game. But since you asked, I’ll go with Cowboys 24 Saints 13.
Thank you again to David Halprin for joining us to preview this week’s matchup! You can check out the rest of his work here.
