Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys lose to Atlanta Falcons recap: Mike McCarthy oversees mistakes as Cowboys continue to lose

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The Dallas Cowboy lost again and have reached a new low point on their horrible season. Here is our recap from Sunday’s contest in Atlanta.

The Dallas Cowboys are a really bad football team.

We did not need Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the third in a row suffered by America’s Team, to tell us this. To be honest we did not even need any loss to tell us this.

Inactivity over the course of the offseason continues to rear its ugly head for the Cowboys. They are out-manned, out-though, out-coached and out-everything’d right now. Even when they try to have some semblance of a cunning spirit by going for a fake punt (you’ll read more on that below) they can’t even do that in situations that make proper sense.

The Falcons did just about everything they wanted against the Cowboys and cruised to victory. As has been the case for much of this season, and as I have literally written personally, the fourth quarter was more of a ceremonial and necessary thing than it was any sort of window of competitiveness.

The franchise quarterback being taken out of this game due to injury felt like the official waving of the white flag moment on the day. It does not feel hyperbolic to say that it may as well be the official moment of such kind on the season as a whole as the Cowboys are now officially 3-5 on the season.

What is startling is that the Cowboys are not just bad right now… they are boring. Every game is the same, in the worst kind of way, with the only real surprises coming in the days that surround them regarding quotes from the owner or why the third-string running back is inactive.

Below you will find our recap from Sunday’s game between Dallas and Atlanta as we wrote it in the moment. We have re-sorted it so that it can be read chronologically.

Football season is supposed to be fun. Someone tell the Dallas Cowboys.

1st Quarter

The Dallas Cowboys won the toss once again and would you believe it… deferred!

While the Falcons did pick up an easy first down on the first play after that the Cowboys defense went to work and forced a quick punt. Deferring is smart!

Also of note this was the first time all season that the Cowboys did not allow the opposing team to score points on their first possession.

Early on in their own drive the Cowboys were moving the ball very well. Unfortunately things did stall out a bit, but they converted a Brandon Aubrey field goal from 34 yards out for the game’s first points.

The good vibes quickly dissippated as Atlanta traveled 78 yards on 7 plays, including a perfect 4 for 4 mark from Kirk Cousins, for a touchdown to take the lead. Drake London made quite the grab over Trevon Diggs in the endzone.

KaVontae Turpin had a great return on the kickoff right after, but you will be totally shocked to learn that John Fassel’s special teams group had yet another penalty which negated it.

The poor field position was quickly made worse as Dak Prescott danced too long on second down and absorbed a huge sack. He was taken down again one play later and the Cowboys punted the ball away. You can put that punt on the quarterback.

Atlanta got the ball back obviously and right before the quarter ended kept the possession alive with a fourth down conversion.

2nd Quarter

Right when it looked as if the game was going to get severely out of hand the Dallas Cowboys defense stood tall. Seriously.

Carl Lawson got to Kirk Cousins and forced a fumble!

This was a big boost for the Cowboys as turnovers have been far and few in between this season. To be able to capitalize and score points would have been massive.

That did not happen, though. Dallas reached 4th and 1 and ultimately called a timeout in order to prepare to call a jet sweep to CeeDee Lamb that was denied for a turnover on downs.

Atlanta began to move the ball and got into a touchy spot after a third down penalty made things 3rd and 14. A dump off to Kyle Pitts made it 4th and 3 and Atlanta wanted to go, but Trevon Diggs appeared not fully right. The Cowboys called a timeout to get properly set.

The result was inevitable, though. Touchdown Falcons.

The Cowboys took over and all hope seemed lost or at least on the way towards being lost. Being down 11 points will do that to you.

But the Cowboys went to work and quickly found success. A big reason for that was that Dak Prescott FINALLY ran with the football.

It began to feel like the tide was turning for the Cowboys and if you do not believe me just look at this.

Quite the touchdown between Dak Prescott and Rico Dowdle!

This set the Falcons up for what looked sure to be their last possession of the half and for some time given that Dallas would receiver following intermission. The Cowboys managed to get a stop and force a punt to give them the ball and a little over a minute to work with, although with no timeouts.

Unfortunately the Cowboys were not able to get any points before halftime.

3rd Quarter

One of the more notable things about the second half’s beginning is who was playing left tackle. It was Asim Richards and not rookie Tyler Guyton. Tyler Smith remained at left guard. Shortly after the initial confusion it was reported that Guyton was dealing with a neck strain.

The Cowboys couldn’t make anything happen though and were about to punt it away… until John Fassel’s crew tried to execute a fake. They failed. Badly.

Letting Bryan Anger and not Dak Prescott throw the ball on 4th and 2 seems like quite the choice, but hey. It is Mike McCarthy’s world and we are all just living in it.

As a result of the failed fake the Falcons (say that five time fast) only had to travel 38 yards.

They did so rather easily and found the endzone for a third time.

The next Cowboys possession began with Tyler Guyton back in the fold so at the very least that situation was squared away.

It got down to 4th and 1 and the Cowboys were going to go for it which felt rather obvious given everything to this point. Unfortunately we never saw a play as the Cowboys were called for having 12 men on the field which took out their ability to go for it. Frustrating.

Amazingly though the Cowboys were able to force another Falcons punt which gave them the ball down 11. Hope! That’s what gets you.

Dallas could not get in the endzone, but they did give Brandon Aubrey a shot at a 58-yard field goal as the third quarter expired. He was good and to the fourth we went.

4th Quarter

As the fourth quarter began it did so with extreme question as quarterback Dak Prescott was being tended to. It appeared that his throwing hand was being examined as Cooper Rush warmed up.

While that was going on the Falcons kept moving, particularly because the Cowboys did not appear interested in stopping them. They punched in their fourth touchdown of the day to make the fourth quarter, as has been the case, merely a mandatory requirement.

During the commercial break following this touchdown word circulated that Prescott had been ruled out with a hamstring injury. As FOX came back they showed replay of the moment that Prescott appeared to injure it. That put an end to his day.

As you can imagine that put an end to the day at large and the rest of the game, like many before it this season, was just about running out the clock as fast as possible. Cooper Rush did lead a drive that scored with about 90 seconds remaining. The Cowboys went for two and got it to technically make things more manageable in a literal sense.

But that was it.

 

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