The New Orleans Saints' offensive game tape from last Sunday’s 38-17 loss at Dallas was slightly more encouraging than the defensive review.

I was surprised to realize just how sharp quarterback Drew Brees was out of the gates, officially completing his first seven passes. And he made some of his best downfield throws of the season as the game went on, though he became a little more hit-and-miss once the Saints were forced to throw.

But a little bit of everything else went wrong throughout the game, especially the run-blocking, which was easily the worst it’s been all season. Throw in Brees’ tipped-pass interception, fumbles by Jimmy Graham and Travaris Cadet, dropped passes by Graham and Colston and inconsistent pass protection, as well, and you’ve got the ingredients for a blowout loss.

Here are more observations after watching the tape:

Run down: Khiry Robinson had two great runs of 62 and 11 yards in the second half. And Pierre Thomas had a meaningless 8-yard run as time expired in the first half. Other than that, the Saints’ running backs combined for a total of 17 yards on their other nine carries.

Much like last year’s run struggles, it was usually a case of one block being missed on each stalled run and it was a different culprit almost every time. Replacement left tackle Bryce Harris was flagged for holding once and got blown back on another negative run. Guards Ben Grubbs and Jahri Evans, center Jonathan Goodwin and receivers Brandin Cooks and Kenny Stills also either missed a block or got pushed back at the line one time each.

Robinson deserves a ton of credit for both of his big runs. He showed great vision to find a path inside of an Evans block and then outside of a block by receiver Marques Colston to spring free for the 62-yarder. Right tackle Zach Strief, Goodwin and Cooks all had good blocks on that play as well.

Brees mostly good: Surprisingly, I thought this was one of Brees’ best performances of the season -- or at least similar to the other three this year, where he was mostly sharp with a few lulls thrown in. He officially completed 14 of his first 18 passes for 159 yards with one interception (his first two throws were dropped by Graham and Colston, but they were nullified by penalties).

Brees’ 46-yard pass to Stills in the third quarter was his best play of the season. He stepped up to avoid pressure coming from end Anthony Spencer against tight end Benjamin Watson and fired a gorgeous pass 42 yards in the air, hitting Stills in stride between cornerback Brandon Carr and safety Barry Church.

Brees also threw TD passes on short throws to Graham and tight end Josh Hill during a second-half rally, fired some other nice downfield strikes to Stills and Colston and turned some negatives into positives with dump-offs under pressure to Graham and Robinson.

Obviously, though, Brees was far from perfect. The interception wasn’t egregious, with linebacker Bruce Carter making a great play to leap and tip the ball in the air. But it was extremely costly when the Saints were still just trailing 10-0. And Brees threw a couple of other balls into tight spaces that could have been picked as well.

Later in the game, Brees had a couple downfield throws that either slightly overshot or undershot the target. But I strongly disagree with the notion that there’s anything wrong with his arm strength based on this performance.

Dropping the ball: Graham’s fumble came at the end of a catch-and-run, when linebacker Rolando McClain got down low to make the hit and wound up putting his helmet right on the ball. Graham was trying to protect it as he crouched to brace for contact, but it obviously wasn’t secure enough. Cadet’s fumble came as he was about to hit the ground while linebacker Justin Durant got his arm in the perfect spot.

Graham and Colston each had blatant drops early in the game and were bailed out by penalties. Later Colston had another drop. And Graham and Colston each had a ball stripped as they tried to secure it -- both were close to being fumbles as well but were ruled incomplete.

Pass protection: This was hit-and-miss. The Saints were actually great at picking up blitzes, even when they only had five blockers. Brees was 6 of 7, including a touchdown, when blitzed. And the only incompletion was a Colston drop.

The Saints were more inconsistent against Dallas’ four-man rush, though. Harris allowed pressure at least twice, Grubbs at least twice and Evans and Goodwin at least once.

Worth noting: The The Saints’ fake punt in the fourth quarter was a total failure, with punter Thomas Morstead being sacked -- and even worse considering Dallas had only 10 men on the field. … Carter made one of the most unique and impressive tackles I’ve ever seen against Robinson, grabbing hold of his toes and not letting go as he brought him down. … The Saints were penalized for 12 men on the field late in the game on a formation that had Cooks lined up deep in the backfield. I’m sure that only added to their frustration. … Another wide receiver screen pass to Cooks was snuffed out as defenses have clearly been on the lookout for them.