SCHOOLED IN THE BIG EASY: Dallas Cowboys S Jeff Heath wants to redeem himself after bad Saints game

IRVING — The guys at Pro Football Focus analyzed the tape. And in the end, Jeff Heath’s performance in the Dallas Cowboys blowout loss to New Orleans was as ugly as everybody thought it was after witnessing it. In Week 10, Heath turned in the second-worst game among NFL safeties, according to the website.

“I did have a few bad plays,” said Heath, an undrafted rookie from Saginaw Valley State. “I had a couple of good plays as well. Sometimes, when you have bad plays, those good plays go unnoticed by everyone. But I learned a lot from the film.”

As he reviewed the game he saw that he missed four tackles and allowed five of the six passes thrown his way to be completed for 104 yards and three touchdowns. In other words, Drew Brees produced a perfect passer rating while targeting Heath.

“There were some things in that ballgame and other games that he obviously has to get better at,” head coach Jason Garrett said. “Some of those are the result of him not being in those situations before. Hopefully, he’ll learn from them. There have been some plays down the field where he hasn’t made them a few times in the last few weeks. He’s got to do a better job of that.

“He didn’t tackle as well in this game. He’s tackled very well, both as a team’s player and when playing safety. He didn’t tackle quite as well in this ballgame and we’ll look at the reasons why and hopefully he can learn from the experience.”

Heath, though, may not get the chance to redeem himself as a starter. The Cowboys brought in several safeties for a workout, including Irving native Michael Huff.

“It’s never as bad as you think. It’s never as good as you think,” Heath said. “It’s all fixable, coachable things. I’ve just got to work hard and improve in those areas.”