When the Dallas Cowboys (7-5) lost to the Tennessee Titans four weeks ago, the franchise faced a crossroads. With their proverbial back against the wall, the Cowboys decided to fight, playing their best football of the season over the last month.

Thursday night against the New Orleans Saints (10-2), the Cowboys -led by its suffocating defense - were able to beat a team that was better, on paper, in nearly every facet. Yet, on the field, it was the Cowboys who had the edge, as its defense made things difficult for the Saints and the offense dominated time of possession, racking up long drives even if they didn't lead to many points.

The Cowboys were able to get the better of the Saints in areas where New Orleans had been dominant this season. The Saints defense was billed as the best run defense in football, but Dallas was able to accumulate 100 yards on the ground. The Saints offense was averaging a league-leading 37.2 points per game coming in but were held to just 10 points Thursday night. Moreover, the Cowboys held the Saints to 176 total yards, a franchise low since Sean Payton became head coach.

Despite losing the turnover battle, the Cowboys were able to escape with a 13-10 victory over a team that many thought was the best in the NFL. The Cowboys proved to not only be a playoff contender but a team that can make some real noise in the postseason.

With that being said, let's take a look at a few things we gleaned from Dallas' impressive victory.

Cowboys are stacked at CB

The Cowboys held Drew Brees, who was averaging 285 passing yards per game, to 18 of 28 passing for 127 yards, a touchdown and an interception. It was a phenomenal group effort from the secondary. Xavier Woods continued to play well in coverage while Jeff Heath continues to be a solid contributor for the Cowboys defense, but it was the cornerbacks who really stood out.

Outside of a couple penalties in the third quarter, Byron Jones was his usual self in coverage, providing little space for the Saints receivers in their routes and condensing Brees' throwing windows throughout the game. He followed Michael Thomas around the formation intermittently and held up well.

Chidobe Awuzie followed up his best performance of the season against Washington with another positive performance against the Saints. Awuzie showed off his patience in press coverage and continued the trend of getting his hands on the ball, as he added another pass break-up to his total.

Outside of the touchdown where Keith Kirkland got away with offensive pass interference, Anthony Brown was fantastic against New Orleans. Playing mostly from the slot, Brown was sticky in coverage, tied for the team lead (with Byron Jones) in pass deflections against the Saints with two. On top of that, Brown showed off his blitzing ability, as he brought down Brees for a crucial fourth-quarter sack.

Finally, Jourdan Lewis, who was matched up one-on-one with Alvin Kamara throughout the night, continued to do the most with the opportunities he was given. Everyone will (rightfully) focus on the game-winning interception, but Lewis was playing well way before that, notably bringing down Alvin Kamara short of the sticks on a third-down pass in the second quarter.

Coming into the game, Michael Thomas had 86 catches for 1,080 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 7.8 catches and 98 receiving yards per game. Byron Jones and the rest of the Cowboys secondary were able to hold him to just five catches for 40 yards.

Defensive backs coach Kris Richard deserves a ton of credit for playing to the strengths of his personnel and putting his players in positions to succeed. The secondary has been noticeably better in coverage and run support. As a whole, the cornerbacks were patient in press and physical at the top of routes, which led to them yielding little separation throughout the game.

The entire Cowboys defense played outstanding against New Orleans, but it was Dallas' stacked stable of cornerbacks who impressed most.

Michael Gallup is blossoming into a great deep threat for Cowboys offense

The Cowboys offense looked great in the first half before mostly sputtering in the second, scoring zero points in the second half after putting 13 on the board in the first. Despite the offense's inconsistency, it's becoming apparent that Michael Gallup is blossoming into a dangerous deep threat for the Cowboys offense:

On his 40-yard reception that set the Cowboys up to get their first points of the game, Gallup did an excellent job of keeping himself clean of contact throughout the route, which eliminated Eli Apple's ability to slow down the pace of Gallup's route, allowing him to create separation while the ball was in the air to make the grab.

It may look simple, but little things such as clearing contact during a route are what separate the good from the great receivers. Gallup isn't great yet, but he's showcasing some of the traits that great receivers have.

Gallup wasn't done getting open on vertical concepts, as he toasted Apple again on a double move midway through the fourth quarter:

Prescott just missed Gallup, but it was a great example of Gallup's continued development into becoming Dallas' biggest deep threat. Gallup did a masterful job of disguising his stutter-and-go route, as he mimicked a lazy stop route, giving Apple the impression he may be able to jump the pass. The trick paid off, as Apple broke on the stop route, allowing Gallup to create a ton of separation on the 'go' portion of his stutter-and-go route.

An accurate throw likely would have resulted in a game-sealing touchdown; however, the ball was just out of Gallup's reach, as Dallas frustratingly missed on yet another deep play opportunity.

Missed throw aside, Gallup is turning into a field-stretching threat who will force defenses to respect Dallas' deep passing game, which should move the opposing safeties back and open up the intermediate portion of the field for Amari Cooper, Cole Beasley and the rest of Dallas weapons.

The addition of Cooper has allowed the Cowboys to deploy Gallup in a way that best fits his skill set, and it's starting the pay off for the Cowboys.

Cowboys must play with better discipline

It didn't come back to haunt them, but the Cowboys can't allow themselves to be as sloppy in critical situations as they were Thursday night. Dallas continually robbed itself of widening their lead over the Saints with costly penalties and bad turnovers.

Randy Gregory had two costly penalties that could have given the Saints life. A roughing the punter penalty gave the Saints a fresh set of downs after the Dallas defense had just forced the Saints to punt. On top of that, an iffy neutral zone infraction penalty robbed the Cowboys of a potentially game-clinching sack-fumble, which was recovered by Dallas.

On top of those costly penalties, Prescott missed a wide-open Gallup for a would-be touchdown and got lazy with the ball during his throwing motion, which allowed Cameron Jordan, who beat La'el Collins with a powerful rip move, to knock the ball free and recover the fumble, giving the Saints offense the ball back down by three with over two minutes remaining.

The Cowboys were lucky to get away with the sloppy play Thursday night, but they cannot make a habit of that, as the better teams will make them pay more often than not.

It will be up to Jason Garrett and the Cowboys coaching staff to iron out the Cowboys sloppy play moving forward, as it almost ruined an elite performance from the defense.

Twitter: @JohnOwning