By Kevin Spain, The Times-Picayune

December 19, 2009, 10:30PM

At least when the New Orleans Saints finally did go down, they went down swinging.

After playing poorly for three quarters, the Saints put together a good fourth quarter, scored 14 points and were in striking distance of scoring another seven, but in the end it was too little, too late and the Dallas Cowboys leave the Big Easy with a 24-17 win, keeping their playoff hopes alive and finishing the talk of a Saints undefeated season.

A Drew Brees fumble on a sack with :06 remaining ended the game and the Saints hopes for perfection.

The Saints still have two games to clinch the top seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs if they beat Tampa Bay next Sunday and Minnesota loses one off its next three games, or if the Saints win the next two.

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo was 24-of-32 for 312 yards and a touchdown. He played a great game, leading his team well. Defensively the Saints finished strong after a slow start, but did get fortunate that the Cowboys missed a field goal at the end.

Brees was 29-of-45 for 298 yards and a touchdown. He also had an intereception and a fumble.

Read more of the story here.

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