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IRVING – When it finally came to an end Sunday night, Texas Stadium was half empty with mostly Saints fans remaining. The boos had turned to chants of "Deuce," for New Orleans running back Deuce McAllister.

Thanks to Seattle's loss earlier in the day, the Cowboys entered Sunday with a chance to make its claim as the second-best team in the conference. But after their embarrassing 42-17 loss to New Orleans, the questions have returned.

The four-game winning streak seemed so five minutes ago. The Super Bowl talk was so passé.

	Saints 42, Cowboys 17
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At 8-5, the Cowboys have little time to feel bad for themselves, with a trip to Atlanta coming Saturday. The Cowboys still lead the NFC East, but their margin was sliced to a game over the New York Giants and Philadelphia.

After answering challenges at Carolina, against Indianapolis and at the New York Giants, the Cowboys appeared to be past this sort of experience.

"I will be worried about our confidence a little bit, I'm sure," coach Bill Parcells said. "We've got a road game here and another contender to play this weekend and another contender after that. So we'll see what we can do."

Sean Payton, Parcells' assistant head coach for three years, finally called off his team with three minutes remaining and the Saints leading by 25. He had Drew Brees take a knee four times from inside the Cowboys' 10, turning the ball over on downs.

When Payton's face was shown on the video boards, the New Orleans fans let out a loud cheer and his team doused him with a victory bath made famous by Parcells. Their coach had done something Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin could not do: He beat the mentor in his first try.

This was the third-worst loss in the Parcells era. Only Philadelphia – 36-10, Dec. 7, 2003; 49-21, Nov. 15, 2004 – had beaten Parcells' Cowboys worse than the Saints.

With a kickoff temperature of 48 degrees, Sunday's game hardly resembled the steamy night in Shreveport, La., when the Cowboys put a 30-7 whipping on the Saints in the preseason. At that time, New Orleans looked a team destined to lose more than its share of games when they really counted.

Instead, the Saints are now in position to secure the first-round bye in the playoffs that the Cowboys desperately wanted.

And they did it with stunning precision on offense such as the Cowboys had not seen all season – not since Terrell Owens was in Eagles uniform. Philadelphia pinned a 49-21 loss on a Cowboys team that finished 6-10 in 2004.

The 2006 version of the Cowboys was not supposed to look like the 2004 version, but it did Sunday.

"Not in a million years" did nose tackle Jason Ferguson think a performance like Sunday was possible. "But it's any given Sunday."

Brees became the fifth quarterback to throw at least five touchdown passes against the Cowboys and the first since Minnesota's Daunte Culpepper opened the 2004 season with five.

Reggie Bush, the second overall pick in April's NFL draft, had 160 total yards (125 receiving, 37 rushing, minus-2 returns) and dazzled the crowd with a zig-zagging 61-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.

"They countered everything we did," linebacker Bradie James said.

For the first time as a starter, Tony Romo lost his Texas Stadium magic. On Thanksgiving, he tied a team record with five touchdown throws against Tampa Bay, but his lone scoring throw Sunday was a gift after Fred Thomas let a sure interception deflect off his hands and into Owens' for a 34-yard score.

Romo completed 16 of 33 passes for 249 yards. He was sacked twice, was intercepted twice and threw one touchdown pass. For the second straight game, his passer rating did not crack 60 (58.8).

VERNON BRYANT / DMN Reggie Bush holds up the ball as he makes his way into the end zone.

"When we win, it's good, and when we lose, it's bad," Romo said. "So it's bad."

And things had started so well for the Cowboys. DeMarcus Ware had a 7-yard sack on the first drive of the game, and the Cowboys would need just two plays to take a 7-0 lead when Julius Jones ripped off the fifth-longest rush in team history, scoring on a 77-yard gain.

But that would be the highlight of the evening.

Mike Karney, who did not score a touchdown in the first 43 games of his career, scored three Sunday. Jamal Jones, who had two catches for 12 yards on the season, caught a 27-yard touchdown pass with 44 seconds left in the second quarter to cap a 95-yard drive.

Adding to the insult was an onside kick pulled off by former Cowboy Billy Cundiff with the score 35-17 and 5:02 left in the third quarter. The Saints quickly turned that into a 42-yard touchdown catch by Devery Henderson.

The game was over. The questions returned.

"I'd like to apologize to everybody," James said. "We had stars on our helmets, but we didn't show up."

E-mail tarcher@dallasnews.com