Saints hold off Cowboys late for 27-24 win in preseason Week 3

The New Orleans Saints finished their preseason Week 3 trip to Dallas with a 27-24 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was the Saints’ first victory of the preseason, and it came in a late, game-ending moment that belonged to special teams.

According to the Saints’ game recap, the turning point arrived late in the fourth quarter when newly acquired kicker Daniel Carlson connected on a 53-yard field goal with 1:55 left. That kick gave New Orleans the lead and, from there, the Saints were able to survive Dallas’s final push to secure the one-point victory.

The win matters most in preseason terms because it adds a clean “finish” to a stretch of exhibition games that teams use to evaluate depth. For New Orleans, ending preseason on a high note gives coaches and players a tangible result to carry into the final adjustments that lead into the regular-season roster decisions.

For Dallas, the one-score outcome still fits the preseason profile of a game decided by execution under pressure. Even in a setting where rotations are expected to turn over frequently, late drives and special-teams production tend to separate teams, and the Cowboys ultimately came up short on the decisive swing of the final two minutes.

Carlson’s late kick also highlights why teams value reliability at kicker, particularly in a preseason environment where long-range attempts can arrive quickly when a game compresses toward a final possession. A 53-yard attempt with under two minutes to play is the kind of scenario coaches watch closely because it reflects both leg strength and nerves.

What to watch next for both franchises is how this result shapes the way they prioritize reps in the remaining preseason window. For New Orleans, the fact that a new kicker was able to deliver late provides continuity heading into the next evaluation phase. For Dallas, the narrow loss can still be useful if it leads to sharper execution on the specific elements that decided the final margin.

In the immediate aftermath, the scoreline alone does not settle any regular-season storyline, but the sequence does. A preseason win decided by a late field goal can create momentum, while also serving as a reminder that depth and special teams remain central to every exhibition game, especially on the road.