Following a blowout loss to the Broncos, the Dallas Cowboys got back on track with a convincing 43-3 victory over the Atlanta Falcons earlier today. After having won six straight games, the Cowboys were being heralded as the team to beat in the NFC. That was before last weeks’ loss to the Broncos put an unceremonious end to that streak. The loss left many fans with a deep sense of concern about the legitimacy of the Cowboys claim to NFC superiority. Cowboys Nation were anxiously awaiting this Falcons game to see how the team would respond after getting “punched in the mouth”, as Dak Prescott described it, by Denver. Well, the team responded and responded well. They may silenced any doubters with a dominating performance in all three phases of the game versus Atlanta. CeeDee Lamb and Ezekiel Elliott each scored two touchdowns; Nahshon Wright recovered a blocked punt for a score a week after his mistake cost the Cowboys a blocked punt recovery against the Broncos, and the Cowboys offense and defense bounced back from their worst performance of the season.
Plenty of the things that went wrong for the Cowboys in the loss to Denver a week ago went right against the Falcons to help the NFC East leaders get back on track. Offensive execution was among those things. Dallas (7-2) looked much more like the NFL’s No. 1 offense with Dak Prescott throwing two TD passes to Lamb and Elliott finishing off two drives that were both kept alive by fourth-down conversions. Last week the Broncos defense stifled the Cowboys on their early fourth down attempts. This week it was the Cowboys who stifled Atlanta on fourth down early, sucking the wind out of the visiting Falcons. Credit to Mike McCarthy for not being discouraged by last weeks failure’s on fourth down and being consistent in his aggressive approach. Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense rewarded McCarthy for his faith in them on fourth down by not only converting, but by getting huge plays in the passing game to both CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup on those conversions. That gave the Cowboys momentum which turned into a sequence of events that led to the highest-scoring quarter in franchise history (29 points in the second) and Dallas’ biggest halftime lead (36-3) since 1971. The Cowboys closed out the first half with Dorance Armstrong‘s one-armed block of Dustin Colquitt‘s punt which was recovered by Nashon Wright in the end zone with 37 seconds left on the clock. Wright redeemed himself for touching the ball past the line of scrimmage after a blocked punt last week which allowed the Broncos to recover the ball and retain possession. With the Cowboys firmly in the driver seat, McCarthy kept his foot on the gas and showed no mercy towards his opponent. The Atlanta Falcons (4-5) had 12 men on the field for the extra point after the blocked punt recovery for a touchdown, so the Cowboys went for the 2-point conversion from the 1 and Elliott plunged across the goal line for a third time in the half.
Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan had a difficult day in Dallas. He led the Falcons to the Dallas 20 yard line in just four plays on their very first possession but they had to settle for a field goal. Ryan never advanced the Falcons offense that deep into Cowboys territory again. He threw two interceptions ( including Trevon Diggs‘ NFL-leading eighth) and was pulled before the end of the third quarter with Atlanta down 43-3. Josh Rosen entered the game for Atlanta and threw yet another interception to the Cowboys. The Cowboys defense came out with a vengeance after a soft performance against the Broncos. No doubt, the Cowboys defense wanted to come out and perform for former Falcons head coach and current Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn in his first game against his former team. They did not disappoint. Despite playing without their best pass rusher Randy Gregory, the Cowboys defense generated a ton of pressure and stood their ground in the run game. Dorance Armstrong, Micah Parsons, and Jourdan Lewis were standouts on the defensive side of the ball.
The Cowboys offense needed a bounce back performance after a terrible showing against Denver and that is what they delivered. Dak Prescott bounced back in a big way after his worst game of the season last week and possibly the worst game of his professional career. He was 24 of 31 for 296 yards with a fourth-down rushing TD before sitting in the fourth quarter. Dak far outperformed his opponent Matt Ryan who finished with a 21.4 passer rating after going 9 of 21 for a measly 117 yards. CeeDee Lamb also stood out after a tough go last week. He came through despite battling an arm contusion that came from an early incompletion. Lamb had all 94 of his receiving yards at halftime, the most before the break for the second-year player.
Next week the Cowboys will travel to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in what will be a great game featuring two storied franchises with amazing offences . The Chiefs have not looked like the unstoppable team that appeared in back to back Super Bowls for most of this season but they still carry a certain pedigree. In addition to having a talented team, the Kansas City home crowd is one of the loudest in the entire NFL making it a challenging place to go and win. If the Cowboys can come away with a victory in Kansas City, it should put any doubters to rest who still feel that this team is not a legitimate contender.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
**All Data and statistics obtained and verified from ;https://www.pro-football-reference.com/