NFL
By: Greg Rector
Atlanta Falcons (4-4) vs Dallas Cowboys (6-2) 1 PM November 14th
The warnings I give every week in my previews about the Cowboys all came true against the Denver Broncos. Beaten in every phase of the game, and hopefully humbled by it. The players from Ceedee Lamb who said they didn’t practice well all week, to Dak Prescott who said the Cowboys were a little too high on themselves were the sentiments after the game. I have said often they cannot allow that to happen, yet there it was in full view against a Broncos team that came out after trading their star defensive player and smacked around an anemic Cowboys offense, while an undermanned Denver offense (3 backup linemen) pushed around the Cowboys defense. Even a blocked punt ended up not favoring the Cowboys. Lessons learned hopefully. I’m sure the main haters on FS1 and ESPN are gleefully tearing apart the Dallas Cowboys, since I don’t give them the time of day, I’ll just say they deserve the derision. The Cowboys fall to 6 and 2 in a week where so many upsets occurred, they fall right in line with The Rams, Raiders, Saints, and Bills as upset victims. Lesson learned hopefully and now it’s time to get back to business. Let’s look ahead to the Atlanta Falcons game.
Falcons Offense vs Dallas Defense
Outside of Micah Parsons (10 tackles 2,5 sacks 3 TFL), the Cowboys’ defense was smoked by Denver. They best come out a whole lot more focused against a solid veteran quarterback in Matt Ryan. Despite not having his best receiver (Calvin Ridley) Ryan did have the most overlooked dual threat in the league in Cordarelle Patterson, who made every big play needed for the Falcons to beat the Saints in a thriller. After struggling early in the season the Falcons have worked their butts off and sit at 4-4. The Falcons have the 25th ranked offense, but have been getting big plays and just going about their business. The Cowboys will need to contain Patterson and rookie tight end, Kyle Pitts. What cannot happen is a repeat of the emergence of the 2020 run defense for Dallas, giving up 190 yards rushing to the Broncos was simply brutal and very costly. While Parsons had a good day coming off the edge against Denver it came at a big price, when the Broncos saw him coming they ran the ball and Javonte Williams bulldozed the Cowboys. I counted 12 missed tackles by Dallas on Williams alone. That’s simply horrific. The Cowboys didn’t have an answer for Tim Patrick and they better find one for Pitts this week. The Cowboys must get back to basics this week. As I was looking at this game yesterday this was going to be the week I felt they would have the letdown. Well, that letdown happened against Denver instead. Trevon Diggs was beaten often by Denver receivers. There’s a time to go for the ball and times to cover, seemed he picked the wrong way all game long. It happens corner is simply the most volatile position in football. When things go wrong you get roasted. With the speed of Patterson and Pitts, the Cowboys will need to match that. I imagine the defense will be in a rather foul mood this week, and I say good. Defenses should always be playing with a chip on their shoulder and that was missing in a big way against Denver. because of the missed tackles and the poor coverage they spent way too much time on the field. Denver ran 73 plays, yikes!!!
Cowboys Offense vs Falcons Defense
Murphy’s Law was the story of the day for the Dallas Cowboys offense against Denver. Elliott had an early knee contusion and was pretty ineffective all day. Dropped passes by Cooper, Lamb, and Schultz. Dak Prescott never found a rhythm leading to only having the ball for only 18:30. This was a massive letdown for what had been the league’s leading offense in yardage and many other categories. The late 16 points were simply flattering for the scoreboard and it feeds the haters their favorite Prescott narrative that he does his damage in garbage time. The other problem was once again electing to go for it on 4th down twice early on in the game. Sorry, but those calls were simply horrible from McCarthy and Kelen Moore. They went 0-4 overall on the 4th downs. It gave the Broncos momentum and they took advantage of both early failed attempts. The Falcons defense ranks one spot lower than their defense at 26th in the league. The air of overconfidence surrounding this Dallas offense was shattered against the Broncos. I say good. Time for everyone to realize the expression “Any Given Sunday,” exists because of factors like being overconfident. The Cowboys must get back to what makes them successful, run the ball effectively with Elliott and Pollard, and then take advantage of the one-on-one coverages when teams load up the box to stop the two backs. The absence of Tyron Smith was also very evident. Hopefully, his ankle is better after a week of rest.
Intangibles and Predictions
As I said earlier I thought this might be the game the Cowboys would take an opponent too lightly and lose to an opponent that should have no business being even close to them. The Falcons are winning games by hook or by crook. There are no real superstars, they’re simply finding ways to get the job done. Numbers sometimes don’t tell the full story. Bottom half rankings in both offense and defense usually add up to a losing record. Well at 4-4 the Falcons are defying that currently. After getting their rear ends handed to them the Cowboys must get back to executing on both sides of the football. They should be angry, they should be humble going into this game. More than once I’ve written that they haven’t proven anything yet and if they want to be in the mix for being a legitimate contender the focus best return in a hurry. If they allow the Falcons to hang around in this game they could once again find themselves walking off the field at AT&T Stadium with a loss. If they get back to being the week two through eight Cowboys, then the Cowboys will defeat Atlanta. I think the latter happens, they will be much better against the Falcons, I will go with a bounceback game here and take the Cowboys 31- 21.
As always you can find me on Twitter @GregCowboys
