Cowboys Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb injured in soul-crushing loss to Falcons
Coming into this game against the Falcons, it felt like a major tipping point for the Cowboys. Following a loss to the 49ers, the wheels were starting to fall off, highlighted by Trevon Diggs confronting a reporter outside the locker room following the game.
That seemed to ratchet up with the news on Saturday that Ezekiel Elliott was being made inactive, and did not travel with the team, as discipline for having missed several meetings. Elliott, purportedly a team leader, having this type of issue and not even traveling with the team is far from a good look.
Then came kickoff, and it went the way plenty of games have this year for the Cowboys. The defense forced a punt on the opening drive, and Dak Prescott completed all five of his passes on his opening possession before the Cowboys settled for a field goal. The Falcons then responded with an efficient touchdown drive to go up 7-3.
A little bit later, things started to turn the Cowboysā way. Carl Lawson notched a strip sack and Donovan Wilson recovered the ball. But on the ensuing offensive drive, Rico Dowdle got stuffed on third down after what looked to be a miscommunication between Tyler Guyton and Tyler Smith. Dallas went for it on fourth down and, as Greg Olsen later highlighted on the replay, they were one block away from CeeDee Lamb busting wide open on the jet sweep. On back-to-back plays, the Cowboys shot themselves in the foot with a lack of attention to detail, something that should be the slogan for this season.
The Cowboys had another series of back-breaking miscues right after that. Following the failed fourth-down decision, Atlanta was set up around midfield. A holding penalty backed them up into a third and long, but Kirk Cousins hit Kyle Pitts on a quick pass with room to run. Trevon Diggs came up on Pitts, but instead of attempting a wrap-up tackle he tried to knock Pitts down.
Unsurprisingly, the 6ā6ā, 250-pound tight end was not moved by the 6ā1ā, 195-pound corner and Pitts bounced off him to pick up a few more yards and set up a makeable fourth down for the Falcons. Atlantaās offense hurried up to the line, and Mike McCarthy was forced to take a timeout after Diggs initially walked off the field and then ran back on once he realized the Falcons were going for it. After the timeout, Diggs appeared uncertain where he was supposed to be lined up, and he got easily picked off by the rub route that sprung Darnell Mooney wide open for a 36-yard touchdown.
Once again, details and effort – more specifically, a lack thereof – put the Cowboys in a hole.
The offense seemingly woke up after that and marched down the field, with Prescott navigating a very messy pocket to find Rico Dowdle, who made a juggling catch for the touchdown. Six plays later, the Falcons punted and gifted the Cowboys a golden opportunity.
Thanks to the decision to defer at the start of the game, Dallas would receive the ball to start the third quarter. If they could score a touchdown before halftime and then again coming out of the break, theyād be up by multiple scores and have a very real chance at winning the game.
It didnāt happen. On the second play of the drive, Prescott hit Lamb for a first down. The receiver was slow to get up and favoring his shoulder, but refused to stay down and instead limped over to get lined up for the next play. All in all, they lost 19 seconds of time from when Lamb went down to when the next play was snapped. If Lamb had stayed down to get a medical timeout, the Cowboys wouldāve been assessed a 10 second runoff since they were out of timeouts, but it wouldāve at least stopped the clock with time for Lamb to come off. Assuming they snap the ball quickly once the clock begins running again, they could have ended up with eight extra seconds in total. That would have been enough for a couple more plays, potentially getting in field goal range at least.
Instead, they came away with zero points. To start the third quarter, they went three-and-out and attempted a fake punt. The call to go for it was analytically sound, but Bryan Angerās pass fell incomplete to C.J. Goodwin. Several plays later, the Falcons scored a touchdown to go up 21-10, and things started to get out of hand.
Of course, the biggest fallout from this game came a few series later. It wasnāt noticed at first, but Prescott suffered two injuries on a drive that resulted in a field goal. Officially, Prescott was ruled out with a hamstring injury he suffered during a deep throw to Jalen Brooks, but he was also seen receiving medical attention for a serious cut on his throwing hand.
Cooper Rush finished out the game, and he helped make things close, but the offense was crippled even more by the fact that Lamb continued to take shots to his shoulder. Lamb left the game several times, visibly in pain, but repeatedly waved off trainers and insisted on returning to the game. He technically finished the game, but Lamb was very clearly in pain and struggling to play through it.
Both injuries are as devastating, if not more so, than the loss itself. The odds of making the playoffs after falling to 3-5 are pretty slim – though not impossible, as the Cowboys learned for themselves back in 2018 – but if either Prescott or Lamb misses any time with the injuries they suffered today, the season may as well be over right now.
As for the game itself, Rush had several impressive throws to his credit. Lamb, KaVontae Turpin, and Jalen Tolbert all dropped passes that hit their hands, but Rush scored a touchdown and hit Lamb for a two-point conversion. Despite everything that happened in this game, it came down to an onside kick attempt that likely conjured up some PTSD for Falcons coach Raheem Morris, who was on the sidelines for the watermelon kick game back in 2020.
But Atlanta recovered the onside kick and promptly took a few knees to run out the clock, escaping with a 27-21 win. The game was truly a microcosm of this season for the Cowboys. At various points, they showed an undeniable ability to win the game, but they came up short in too many big moments to actually pull it off. Good teams can usually handle one or two games like that, but Dallas has been coming up short in big moments all year long, and they have a 3-5 record to show for it.
The immediate concern right now is the status of both Prescott and Lamb, but it wonāt move the needle dramatically one way or another. The Cowboys at least have a shot of winning games with those two in, even if the team as a whole is likely to find a way to lose anyway. Without them, though, any hope would be extinguished. But the end result is a lost season and, very likely, a brand new coaching staff.
