The Dallas Cowboys are now on a three-game losing streak after falling to the Falcons 27-21. They outgained the Falcons 378-310, won the time of possession, and won the turnover battle. Yet, they came up short in a game that Dak Prescott was unable to finish and CeeDee Lamb played through some serious pain. Let’s hand out some grades after this one.
Quarterbacks
In a cruel twist of fate, the football gods let fans finally glimpse Dak Prescott looking like himself before taking him away with a hamstring injury. The Cowboys came out firing through the air, and Prescott was in a rhythm early. He completed 75% of his passes for 133 yards, including a touchdown pass to Rico Dowdle. Prescott also used his legs more after discussing it earlier in the week, scrambling three times and picking up 30 yards.
When Cooper Rush came in, things took a step back. That said, Rush was not entirely bad. He had several really well-placed balls that ultimately got dropped, and the offense found its groove after the first series with Rush. All in all, he completed 52% of his passes but amassed 115 yards and a touchdown. Rush wasn’t revolutionary or anything, but he played the way he typically has: good enough to keep things going, but not good enough to put the team on his back.
Grade: B+
Running backs
After all the drama surrounding Ezekiel Elliott settled in, the game kicked off and the Cowboys served up yet another blatant reminder that Rico Dowdle is, and always has been, the best running back on the roster in 2024.
Dowdle tallied 75 yards on just 12 carries and added another 32 yards on five receptions, including the juggling touchdown catch. He also had five carries that went for 10+ yards, which matches the season long total of the rest of this offense. Dalvin Cook once again saw action, but had just two carries for eight yards. This is clearly the Dowdle show.
Grade: A
Pass catchers
CeeDee Lamb deserves all the praise in the world for battling through this game despite very clearly being in immense pain. The star receiver has earned plenty of criticism this year for his perceived lack of toughness, but he fought through repeated hits to his injured shoulder and still managed to finish with 47 yards on eight catches.
Outside of his gutsy performance, there wasn’t much to love about these pass catchers. Dowdle was a positive and Jalen Brooks had a really impressive sideline grab, but there were several drops throughout – especially once Rush came in – that could’ve really turned this game around.
Grade: C+
Offensive line
The Falcons came into this game dead last in pressure rate and sacks, with just six sacks through eight games. They sacked Prescott three times in this one and consistently got pressure on both him and Rush. In total, they had eight quarterback hits in the game. The offensive line was getting beat left and right and up the middle.
The offensive line was also responsible for five of the team’s nine penalties in this game, with all of them being pre-snap penalties. They were able to open up some holes in the run game, but the line was a net liability in this game.
Grade: D
Run defense
It’s really hard to judge this defense too harshly right now, so this grade comes on a curve. In that spirit, Mike Zimmer’s unit had a pretty good day, all things considered. Bijan Robinson had plenty of good runs, but he was held to just 86 yards on 19 carries.
All in all, Dallas gave up just 3.3 yards per carry to the Falcons, a run-heavy team that’s been one of the more efficient rushing offenses in the NFL. This wasn’t the type of performance you can point to and say “now that’s how you stop the run” but it was more than enough for a defensive line that’s this banged up.
Grade: C
Pass rush
Sticking with the same curve for this grade, the pass rush showed up in this one. The Falcons don’t give up pressure that often, and Kirk Cousins has a pretty quick trigger, but Zimmer was very methodical with his blitz usage to create some optimal pressure situations.
Carl Lawson, in particular, had himself a game with two sacks and a forced fumble. The Cowboys had a handful of pressures that didn’t result in a sack too, which still forced Cousins to throw off balance and kill some plays early. Cousins hasn’t been under duress much this year, but this beleaguered pass rush made his life a little more difficult on Sunday.
Grade: B-
Coverage
For all the good that the pass rush did in this game, the secondary canceled it all out. Cousins routinely found open receivers even when under pressure, and he completed 79.2% of his passes.
Trevon Diggs had two particularly rough sequences when Drake London Moss’d him for the Falcons’ first touchdown and later when he ran right into a designed pick play that sprung Darnell Mooney for an easy touchdown. Elsewhere, Caelen Carson finally returned from injury only to be targeted early and often with resounding success for Atlanta.
Grade: D
Special teams
Not many notes here, as the special teams unit remains very strong. Brandon Aubrey was perfect yet again, drilling two field goals with ease. KaVontae Turpin had some solid returns too, though he was a couple toes away from breaking a huge touchdown.
The reason for the “poor” grade, relative to this unit’s standards, comes down to the fake punt. The call itself was certainly questionable, but the execution wasn’t all that much better. Bryan Anger didn’t make a great throw, and C.J. Goodwin didn’t exactly fight to come back to the football. Given that the turnover on downs resulted in quick points for the Falcons, that was enough of a fail to knock the grade down.
Grade: B+
Coaching
This will be an unpopular opinion, but I was pretty satisfied with the coaching in this game. Was it perfect? Certainly not. But the Cowboys were at an emotional low after last week, and they easily could’ve come out here and gotten blown out by a really hot Falcons team.
Instead, they played relatively well and very easily could’ve won this game were it not for some mistakes here and there. The offensive game plan was working, for the most part, and McCarthy adapted when Prescott went out. Zimmer’s game plan was similarly effective, and provided ample opportunity for the team to win. There were just enough mental mistakes to blow it in the end, which comes back to coaching, but there were things to like here.
Grade: B
