After last week’s disappointing loss to the 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys 2024 season is literally in jeopardy.
At 3-4, and riding a two-game losing streak, the Cowboys cannot afford too many more losses if they even want to make the playoffs. They are already two losses behind the Commanders and Eagles in the NFC East.
A loss today to the Falcons in Atlanta wouldn’t be the final nail in Dallas’ coffin.
But with Philadelphia, Houston, and the suddenly strong Commanders all coming up over the next three weeks, it could be a mortal blow.
Including the Falcons, the next four opponents currently hold a combined record of 22-9. That is not good news.
What might be is that the Cowboys haven’t lost three straight games since the 2020 season when Dak Prescott went down with a season-ending injury.
So, how does Dallas avoid their first three-game losing streak in four years?
Pound The Rock
The Dallas Cowboys haven’t run the ball well this year. At all.
As a team, they have fewer combined rushing yards (519) than the top 11 running backs in the league have posted so far.
The one time the Cowboys running game looked solid was in the second half of the win against the Steelers.
That came after Tyler Guyton departed with an injury. That moved Tyler Smith to left tackle and brought in T.J. Bass at right guard.
The Cowboys haven’t had more than 60 yards rushing in a game since.
It might be time to bench Guyton and pound the ball at the Falcons.
Especially as Prescott is back to forcing his passes into tight coverage. Prescott had two interceptions against San Francisco. He probably should have had three.
He threw right into a pack of three 49ers defenders standing between him and his intended receiver.
If Dallas wants to start winning these games, they need to take the ball out of Prescott’s hands. For that, they need an offensive line that can open holes for the backs to run in.
Here’s hoping Dalvin Cook has a breakout game today against a Falcons’ defense that has yielded over 100 yards rushing in all eight of their games this year.
The Defense Needs To Stand Up
The Cowboys defense has a lot of missing pieces. They might get two or three of them back.
If Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland, and rookie Caelen Carson can return to the starting lineup that would help Dallas shore up a leaky defense.
Right now, they can’t stop the run, even when they commit to loading up the box. Against the 49ers they yielded 223 yards and two touchdowns.
The majority of that damage came from the Niners third string running back.
Mike Zimmer was hoping to force Brock Purdy to beat his defense. But that strategy failed with the inability to stop the run.
Not that Purdy didn’t gash the defense anyway. Even missing some starters, Purdy hit for 260 yards.
George Kittle ran through the secondary at will with 128 yards and a touchdown on six catches.
Today, Dallas faces a two-headed running monster in Bijan Robinson (542 yards) and Tyler Allgeier (352 yards). Stopping them will be priority one.
Unfortunately, that leaves Kirk Cousins and his receivers, Drake London (525 yards), Darnell Mooney (506), Kyle Pitts (419), and Ray-Ray McCloud (277).
Robinson has also accounted for 238 yards and a touchdown as a receiver.
The Falcons will come into today’s contest with more weapons in the passing game than the 49ers had.
Dallas will certainly need a much better effort from their secondary than they got last week.
The Prediction
Sorry gang. Atlanta 31, Dallas 20.
All Time Against The Falcons
Dallas is 19-11 all time against the Falcons, dating back to their very first meeting in 1966, a 47-14 win by the Cowboys in Atlanta.
The Cowboys won the first five meetings before the Falcons earned a 17-10 win in 1976, also in Georgia. Dallas is 2-0 against Atlanta in the playoffs.
However, the Cowboys are just 8-7 against the Falcons when playing in Atlanta.
Dallas has won the last three meetings while Atlanta’s last win was back in 2017, a 27-7 rout, which was the only time Prescott has lost to the Falcons so far.
The Cowboys won the last game between the two teams, 43-3, back in 2021 at AT&T Stadium.
Week 9 History
Dallas is 30-31 all-time in Week 9 games. They lost one game to the 1982 strike and have had two bye weeks fall on the ninth week.
However, they are 20-18 when those games were played on the road.
The Cowboys are 1-2 all-time against the Falcons in Week 9 contests, all three games being played in Georgia, as is today’s game.
While Dallas enters today’s game with an all-time record of 565-417-6, the ninth and 17th weeks of the season are the only two weeks that the Cowboys have an overall losing record.
Aikman A Week 9 Road Warrior
Troy Aikman’s career ran from 1989 through the 2000 season.
During those 12 years, he played only one Week 9 game at home – his final one in 2000, a loss to Jacksonville at Texas Stadium.
The previous 11 Week 9 games during Aikman’s career were all played on the road. Dallas went 7-4 during that stretch.
Speaking Of Streaks
The Cowboys longest streak of consecutive seasons with a Week 9 home game is three, which happened on three different occasions: 1970-72, 1976-78, and 2013-15.
The Cowboys longest win streak of Week 9 games is 6: 1971-76. The longest losing streak is 4, done three times: 1960-63, 1985-88, and 1999-2002.
They have lost their last three Week 9 games overall in 2020, 2021, and last year to the Eagles. Dallas had a bye week that fell on the ninth week of their schedule in 2023.
ALL-TIME WEEK 9 RECORDS VS. OPPONENTS
(Sorted by total games played)
- EAGLES (7-4)
- GIANTS (5-4)
- CARDINALS (2-5)
- COMMANDERS (3-1)
- STEELERS (1-3)
- FALCONS (1-2)
- VIKINGS (1-2)
- 49ERS (1-2)
- LIONS (0-3)
- BENGALS (1-1)
- BROWNS (1-0)
- CHIEFS (1-0)
- COLTS (1-0)
- DOLPHINS (1-0)
- PATRIOTS (1-0)
- SAINTS (1-0)
- SEAHAWKS (1-0)
- BRONCOS (0-1)
- JETS (0-1)
- JAGUARS (0-1)
- PACKERS (0-1)
- TITANS (0-1)