The Dallas Cowboys lost their game and, at least for now, their quarterback.
The Week 9 blows were the two latest of a dysfunctional season in the last year of head coach Mike McCarthy’s contract.
Consistent pre-snap penalties, injuries and missed tackles by the Cowboys characterized a day in which the Atlanta Falcons controlled the game.
Prescott was ruled out with 11:40 to play and the Cowboys down 14 points.
He was officially ruled out with a hamstring injury, Prescott’s throwing hand also swelling with a wound at the base of his pinky after a day in which he scrambled more than he had all season.
By the time the Falcons completed their 27-21 win, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was also questionable to return with a shoulder injury.
Lamb had injured his right shoulder in the first half, and his grimaces deepened in the fourth quarter after he fell on the shoulder while diving for an end zone pass he couldn’t quite haul in.
The Cowboys fell to 3-5 while the Falcons improved to 6-3, maintaining their hold atop the NFC South.
Before the injury bug bit Dallas, the Cowboys played a frustrating game outside of one improbable play.
The Cowboys struggled after taking a 3-0 lead, the Falcons burning them twice on fourth down including for a 36-yard touchdown on fourth-and-3 as Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins faced his former head coach in Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.
Even when the Cowboys defense did hold, complementary football waned.
Veteran rusher Carl Lawson strip-sacked Cousins on his first of two first-half sacks and Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson recovered the fumble. But Dallas’ offense couldn’t capitalize. Facing fourth-and-1 from Atlanta’s 44-yard line, Prescott flipped the ball to Lamb, whom the Falcons stopped three yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Tensions began to mount for a Cowboys team that will now go more than a month between wins. Broadcast pans to the sideline showed McCarthy cursing, rolling his eyes and slamming his tablet to the ground after the play he called backfired.
Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs’ emotions were similarly on his sleeve after Darnell Mooney scored the wide-open 36-yard touchdown while Diggs appeared tangled among other defenders.
But Dallas found an unlikely spark before halftime. Despite a delay-of-game penalty setting up second-and-15, Prescott scrambled for just the 10th time this season.
The 22 yards Prescott picked up marked the longest rush of the season for a Cowboys team that ranks last in the league in rushing. Dallas also traveled to Atlanta without veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott, whom the team left in Dallas after Elliott reportedly missed multiple meetings. Prescott extended the play for 7.08 seconds, per Next Gen Stats, before finding running back Rico Dowdle on a play that Dowdle would first bobble and then catch on his back.
Tempers settled some, but Dallas’ issues were far from over.
The Cowboys opened the second half with a pre-snap penalty, and struggled again on fourth down when punter Bryan Anger attempted a pass on a punt fake to C.J. Goodwin, who fell.
Five plays later, exploiting the Cowboys’ struggle to manage pre-snap motions, Cousins found Ray-Ray McCloud for an 11-yard touchdown.
The Falcons wouldn’t cede the lead they’d carried since midway through the first quarter.
A touchdown from Cowboys backup quarterback Cooper Rush to Jalen Tolbert narrowed the deficit to six points with under two minutes to play, but the Falcons defended an on-side kick attempt to secure their win.
Cousins continued his strong first season in Atlanta, completing 19 of 24 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns. Bijan Robinson led Atlanta skill players with 145 yards from scrimmage, though four Falcons other than him scored: Mooney, McCloud, running back Tyler Allgeier and receiver Drake London, who also left the game with a hip injury.