Patriots set record with 17th 10-win season

The New England defense came up big again on Sunday, holding the potent Dallas Cowboys offense without a touchdown for the first time this NFL season in a rain-swept 13-9 triumph.Tom Brady and the Patriots notched their 18th straight regular-season victory at their Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, improving to 10-1 for the season.With their 17th straight season of 10 wins they set a record, eclipsing the 16 10-win seasons put together by the San Francisco 49ers from 1983-98. Brady was without two key offensive contributors in injured Mohamed Sanu and concussed Phillip Dorsett. He threw first-quarter touchdown to rookie N’Keal Harry and Nick Folk kicked two field goals for the rest of the Patriots’ points.“It was a hard-fought win,” said Brady, who praised the contribution of young receivers Harry and Jakobi Meyers – who had four catches in the game. “Proud of those two,” Brady said. “They’re making improvements and it’s great to see. They both came through with some big plays for us.”Brett Maher booted three field goals for Dallas, who entered the contest ranked number one in yards per game and fourth in points per game. The Cowboys were driving late but saw quarterback Dak Prescott’s apparent 20-yard completion to Amari Cooper on a fourth and 11 play reversed on replay review. Cooper finished the game without a catch for the first time as a Cowboy.Prescott said stout Patriots defense and the abysmal weather made things tough but added: “None of that stuff matters.“They made fewer mistakes than we did. They made a little bit more plays than we did and that was the difference in the game.”The New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks survived some sloppy play to improve to 9-2. Wil Lutz’s last-gasp field goal lifted the Saints to a 34-31 victory over the Carolina Panthers and a commanding four-game lead in the NFC South division.Saints quarterback Drew Brees completed 30 of 39 passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns, guiding New Orleans on the game-winning drive from their own 14-yard line with less than two minutes to play after Carolina kicker Joey Slye missed a potential game-winner from 28 yards.Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas had 10 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown, including a 24-yard catch on the game-winning field goal drive. But 12 penalties cost the Saints 123 yards and the Panthers were often able to capitalise. Defensive end Cameron Jordan was charged with a personal foul with 3:26 to play in the first half, swinging his arm at Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen after the whistle when Allen had already been sacked.The Panthers got a fresh set of downs and put together a touchdown drive to end the half as Carolina rallied from 14-0 to trail by two at the break. Allen threw for three touchdowns without a turnover and Christian McCaffrey finished with 133 yards from scrimmage and two scores. “It wasn’t our best game, it wasn’t (Carolina’s) best game, and quite honestly it wasn’t New York’s best game,” Saints coach Sean Payton said in a dig at the NFL’s officiating review crew. But Saints quarterback Drew Brees wasn’t in the mood to quibble. “We’ll take ‘em however we can get ‘em,” said Brees, who acknowledged that the Saints suffered from “some mistakes that we made on both sides of the ball.”