The Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons will go head to head on Sunday as the Cowboys try to bounce back from last week’s debacle against Denver. The Cowboys were flying high heading into the Denver game having won 6 straight but the Broncos knocked them back to earth with a convincing victory. Many consider this a must win game for the Cowboys as they try to right the ship following a lacklustre performance a week ago.
It will not be easy for the Cowboys to get back on track as they will be without Tyron Smith again this week and they will also be without stud defensive end Randy Gregory, who strained his calf in practice this week. These calf injuries have gotten to the point where Cowboys fans are wondering what the team trainers are doing wrong. Dak Prescott was forced to miss a game with a calf strain and Michael Gallup is only now returning from the same injury which he suffered in week 1. The absence of Tyron Smith is obviously concerning given the poor performance by his replacement Terence Steele. Steele had been doing a commendable job filling in at right tackle but struggled badly with the switch to the left side. The irony is not lost for Cowboys fans that Sunday’s opponent is the Atlanta Falcons. The same Atlanta Falcons that exploited Tyron Smith’s absence in a forgettable 2017 game that made Chaz Green and Adrian Clayborn household names for Cowboys fans, both in a very bad way; But dealing with the loss of Tyron Smith was expected coming into this game, the unexpected loss of Randy Gregory may be even more impactful for the Cowboys. Gregory has been by far the teams best pass rusher and there will be a lot more pressure on the rest of the Cowboys defensive line to show up and prove themselves on Sunday. Up until last week, the Cowboys defense had benefited from getting timely turnovers and playing with a lead. Last week they were dominated and exposed particularly in the run game. The defense has given up 24 pts and 371.5 yards of total offense per contest this season. They rank near the bottom of the NFL against the pass at 270.5 yars per game but 10th best against the run by limiting opponents to 101 rush yards per game. Obviously those numbers are skewed because the Cowboys have enjoyed playing with the lead more often than not. Those numbers could change drastically if they Cowboys perform like they did last week against the Broncos. How they perform in the coming weeks will truly gauge how much the Cowboys defense has actually improved from last season.
The defense will certainly be under a lot of pressure to perform after a rough showing against Denver but the Cowboys high powered offense may be under even more pressure. The normally explosive offense was nearly shut out last week but managed to score 16 pts in garbage time with game well in hand. Dak Prescott finished the game 19-39 passing for 232 yards, 2 touchdown passes to Malik Turner, and one interception. Those mediocre numbers were significantly inflated by the final two drives in garbage time. Dak Prescott had one of the worst performances of his career last week, especially in the first half where he completed just 5 passes for 75 yards. Some attribute Dak’s poor performance to rust after coming off of the bye week and missing an additional game with his calf injury. Other’s believe that the consistent pressure generated by the Bronco’s against Terence Steele flustered Dak and impacted his performance. Some simply chalk it up to a random bad day at the office for #4. Whatever the cause, Prescott will need to perform a lot better in week 10 against the Falcons to give the Cowboys a chance to compete. Prescott is having a stellar season overall. He has completed 69.4% of his passes for 2045 yards, and 18 touchdown’s to 5 interceptions but he has stumbled of late, throwing at least one pick in each of his last three contests.
The Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons contest is a crucial one for Dallas at this point in the season. Coming off a blowout loss to the Broncos, the Cowboys could remove all doubt with a bounce back performance. Alternatively, a second consecutive loss could mark the beginning of an epic collapse for the Cowboys. Clearly there seems to be a blueprint out there to stop the Cowboys, even though the team refuses to admit that publicly. Teams may look to load up the box to stop the run while defending aggressively against the Cowboys receivers. On offense, opponents may look to establish the run. The Cowboys current injuries woes seemingly leave them vulnerable for that type of game plan because they are less well equipped to make teams pay for using that type of blueprint. For the Cowboys to overcome this type of challenge, first and foremost the offensive line needs to bounce back, particularly Terence Steele. Perhaps a full week of practice and some minor adjustments will result in drastic improvements there. Dak needs to play a lot better and I have every reason to believe that what we saw last week was an anomaly. The same goes for the wide receivers. I expect them to make the plays we are accustomed to seeing them make and the return of Michael Gallup should provide a huge boost in that department. Defensively, the Cowboys need to clean up the run defense by simply being more physical. Part of the reason the Broncos ran all over the Cowboys with a second string offensive line was the frequency of missed tackles. These are all easily correctable issues and after being humbled a week ago, the Cowboys offense will come back with a vengeance against the Falcons.
FINAL PREDICTION: DALLAS COWBOYS 37 ATLANTA FALCONS 21
