3 nightmare scenarios in Cowboys must-win game against the Falcons

Week 9 is suddenly a huge game for the Dallas Cowboys as they get through the toughest stretches of the schedule. Coming off back-to-back losses to Detroit and San Francisco with a bye sandwiched in between, this week’s matchup with the Atlanta Falcons season saver written all over it.

There are a few nightmare scenarios out there that could make this post-Halloween battle just as scary as the holiday that proceeds it.

Falling behind early (again)

Unfortunately, this has almost become the norm we’ve come to expect from Dallas, especially when playing teams on equal or higher levels than them. Name a loss this season and it likely involved the Cowboys falling behind at some point if not right out of the gates.

Dallas led San Francisco 10-6 at halftime last week only to allow 21 unanswered third-quarter points. They fell behind huge to Detroit the game before that but could not make a late rally to get back in it. The Cowboys cannot continue to make this mistake and think they’ll come out on top.

This week against Atlanta, Dallas should look to get out in front early, which is the position best suited for them. Trailing a team like the Falcons with Kirk Cousins slinging the ball to their weapons would be a tough hill to climb again should they find themselves in a hole.

Another multiple-turnover game for Dak Prescott

An understatement if there ever was one. These multiple-turnover games have got to stop for Dak Prescott. He’s thrown two interceptions in four games this year, and surprisingly, the Cowboys have only lost three of those. Prescott had two interceptions in the win over Pittsburgh, however, but he was bailed out by the Steelers’ offense being more inept than Dallas’ at the time.

Even when the Cowboys lose, Dak tends to get enough stat padding time in so it doesn’t seem like he’s had such a bad game. But once you sit down and watch what he’s done this season you can see he’s having a down year. Prescott had a huge campaign last year leading the league in touchdown passes with 236.

So far this season Prescott has reverted to how he played two years ago when he led the NFL in INTs with 15. At the rate, Dak’s going he could equal that 2022 total or surpass it if he isn’t careful. When an offense struggles, taking care of the ball becomes so much more important. If you aren’t cashing in TDs at will, your defense is in for plenty of long days because the offense can’t get the job done.

“I’ve got to be better. Simple as that,” Prescott said. “But you’re never going to knock my confidence. The majority of it is decision, so I go back and I guess a couple years ago, risk vs. reward. That’s something just watching the film this week, it’s just heavy on my mind.”

“You can't dwell on it,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer stated. “We trust Dak. Dak's going to make way more good decisions than bad decisions. You've got to go play the game.”

Kirk Cousins comes out on fire to light up Dallas

Atlanta’s big offseason free agent signing is coming off his second four TD game of 2024. Both games came in wins over Tampa Bay so the Falcons will be looking to continue that hot streak this week at home against the Cowboys. Dallas will need to get to Cousins early in this game to get him rattled. If he’s able to sit back, settle in and pick apart the defense it could be another blowout on the way for Big D.

Cousins gets a bit of a bad wrap around the league for not coming through in big-game situations over the years but he’s a good quarterback and can light up a defense at a moment’s notice. If the Cowboys are going to keep pace in this game, they’ve got to get pressure on Cousins and make him speed up his process in the pocket. Dallas’ defense needs to make him uncomfortable early otherwise 3-5 is on the horizon.

“You go back and talk about turnovers and things like that, well, a lot of those things come from pressure on the quarterback,’’ Zimmer said. “We haven’t been getting much of those. Hits on the quarterback is typically what gets you turnovers. Sometimes, tipped balls. We haven’t been getting very many of those, either.’’

“He’s [Kirk Cousins] an experienced quarterback so you want to make him uncomfortable, with hits and sacks — especially on third downs,” says Cowboys linebacker and former Vikings teammate of Cousins, Eric Kendricks.