Dallas City News

The Dallas Cowboys will try to get back to .500 when they travel east to face the NFC South-leading Atlanta Falcons. New head coach Raheem Morris is trying to keep a good thing going as the Falcons haven’t had a winning season since 2017 when Adrian Clayborn was wreaking havoc (okay, not really, but he did have one big game against some team, but we’ll leave that at that).

While one team is trending up, another is going in the wrong direction as the Cowboys are trying to end a two-game skid. Here are five things to watch when the Cowboys play the Falcons on Sunday.

1. An old friend

Usually, when the Cowboys went up against Kirk Cousins good things followed. The veteran quarterback spent six years in Washington and then six years in Minnesota, but regardless of where he was playing, he always had a difficult time with Dallas. Cousins is 2-9 against the Cowboys in his career, with those nine losses being the most by any opponent he’s faced. And he’s lost seven of his last eight games against the Cowboys. In the past, they’ve had Cousins number.

But that was then. Cousins is having a solid season with his new team and he is coming off a game where he threw four touchdown passes against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Cowboys’ defense has struggled this season and has given up 7.2 net yards per passing attempt, which is fourth-worst in the NFL. Cousins would like nothing more than to dish out a little payback to a team that has owned him for most of his career.

2. Stopping Bijan is priority one

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Cowboys’ run defense hasn’t been good this year. They’ve allowed the most total rushing yards and the most yards per attempt this season. Four times this season they have surrendered 180 or more yards on the ground, including giving up 223 yards last week in San Fran when everyone was running loose.

Last year’s eighth-overall pick Bijan Robinson has been a steady force in the Falcons’ rushing attack. He’s a three-down back who offers help as a receiver. His 790 total scrimmage yards are fourth-best in the league this year. As they try to do in every contest, the Cowboys must show that they can stop the run and if Robinson gets in a groove it could be a long day for the Cowboys’ run defense.

3. Ain’t that the Pitts

Last week, the Cowboys had no answer for 49ers tight end George Kittle as he finished with six catches for 128 yards and a touchdown. It was his best game of the season. Speaking of season highs, Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts is also coming off his best performance of the year with 91 receiving yards last week, including two touchdowns. Pitts isn’t a big volume guy, but he makes the most of his catches. His 14.4 yards per reception is the most by any tight end this season with at least 20 catches.

The Cowboys secondary is in disarray. Part of it is injuries to their corners, and part of it is ineffective safety play. It’s possible we could see changes as they look for ways to limit the damage. In the meantime, they draw an athletic pass-catching tight end so don’t be surprised if Pitts comes away with some big plays on Sunday.

4. Time to operate

Dak Prescott has faced some of the league’s top edge rushers over their first seven games this season, but now they’ll finally get a little break. The Falcons’ defense has the lowest pressure rate in the league and has recorded a league-low six sacks.

This is great news for an offensive line working through some stuff. Having a game where Prescott can get into a bit of rhythm would be such a welcoming sight and this could be a get-right game. With more time, Dak will be looking to deal, and he’s due for a big game.

5. A few new wrinkles

The Cowboys have been very bad getting started with a fresh set of downs as they have a league-low 32.5% success rate on first downs. A big reason for that is their poor rushing success rate on first down which is also a league-low 22.8% (data courtesy of NextGenStats). In fact, it’s the second-lowest first-down rushing success rate by any team in eight years. Ouch!

Mike McCarthy and Brian Schottenheimer must get with the program and stop forcing things they are not good at. Expect a lot more first-down passing and a few new wrinkles in the offensive game plan. Everyone has been patiently waiting for this Cowboys offense to break out of their funk and get rolling again, and this could be the game where it happens.