America’s newest favorite team routs the Cowboys, 42, 17

Bill Parcells had plenty of time on the sideline to fret about the Dallas Cowboys’ dismal performance and being outcoached by his former assistant.

After a 42-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints, Parcells was surprisingly calm. While certainly disgusted after standing mostly with his arms crossed through a scoreless fourth quarter Sunday night in a fast-emptying Texas Stadium, the coach was past ranting and raving.

“Like I said, this game is a humbling game. This could happen to anybody,” Parcells said. “We couldn’t really do anything, but I give them credit for that.”

By them, he had to really mean first-year Saints coach Sean Payton.

Payton was calm as well, refusing to boast about the lopsided outcome and downplaying any significance of knowledge about the Cowboys he might have garnered the past three seasons while on Parcells’ staff.

“After 12 weeks, it’s all there. All their tendencies are on computer or film,” Payton said. “A lot of things have changed since I’ve been here.”

Payton insisted he wasn’t trying to prove anything in his first game against Parcells, who used to teasingly refer to him as “Dennis the Menace.”

But Payton sure was a pain to Parcells with his play-calling, including a reverse on a fourth-and-1 and four touchdowns from two players who had never scored before. There was even an onside kick when the Saints already had an 18-point lead.

“I could tell it was very special for him,” said Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who was 26-of-38 for 384 yards. “He didn’t put a lot of added pressure on us this week. He just went on with his business. But I could see in the gleam in his eye at the end of the game. … I could tell it meant a lot.”

The onside kick worked, like pretty much everything else for the Saints (9-4), who took over sole possession of the second-best record in the NFC.

They have a two-game lead in the NFC South with three games to play.

“I have a ton of respect for Bill and all he’s accomplished in Dallas,” said Payton, who shared only a quick handshake with Parcells at midfield after the game. “This was two good 8-4 teams playing a big game. It wasn’t me competing against Bill. It was about the teams, not the head coaches.”

The Cowboys (8-5) had won four straight games and five of six. They still have a one-game lead over the New York Giants and Philadelphia in the NFC East.

Mike Karney was mainly a blocking fullback without a touchdown in his first 43 career games for the Saints, but finally carried a ball into the end zone n three times, on two receiving TDs and a running score.

Jamal Jones’ 27-yard TD catch in the final minute of the first half was the first of his career, and only the third catch in his 10 games over two seasons.

A week after his four-TD game, Reggie Bush turned a screen pass into a 61-yard score, breaking loose of one tackler and weaving through several others.

“We definitely came into this game prepared, studied hard and we knew what their tendencies were,” linebacker Akin Ayodele said. “They changed it up a little bit.”

Tony Romo had the worst game of his budding career: 16-of-33 for 249 yards, with two interceptions and a fluke 34-yard TD to Terrell Owens on what would have been another pickoff if cornerback Fred Thomas wasn’t wearing a cast. It was only Romo’s second loss since replacing Drew Bledsoe as the starter seven games ago.

“I don’t think any confidence is lost at all,” Owens said. “We just played bad and they played very, very well, they’re a talented team. … If you’re going to have this type of game, this is the best time to have it.”

Things were so bad that Parcells drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty for throwing a red challenge flag inside the final two minutes of the first half, when only the officials can review plays.

While Jones’ 27-yard catch was ruled an incompletion after the booth review, the penalty against Parcells put the ball at the 27. Jones’ TD came on the next play.

“One of my coaches upstairs says challenge it and you have your instincts you know that you try to fight,” Parcells said. “But I take the blame for it.”

Payton’s only challenge resulted in the third TD for Karney, initially marked out of bounds at the 1 after he dived to the end zone and slid the ball across the pylon while being tackled. The call was reversed to a TD after the review.

The Saints then caught Dallas off-guard with the onside kick, and four plays later Devery Henderson caught a 42-yard TD pass, rolling on the ground the final 2 yards into the end zone after making a leaping catch and falling down without being touched by a defender.

Notes:@ The Cowboys led 7-0 after Julius Jones’ 77-yard TD run on their second offensive play. He had 109 yards by halftime, and finished with 116. His 993 yards match his career best. … New Orleans had consecutive 21-point quarters, their only three-TD quarters this season, against a Dallas defense that hadn’t allowed more than 22 points in his last six games. … Already the NFL leader in yards passing, Brees topped 4,000 for the first time in his career.