The Dallas Cowboys will be coming off a tough loss and will be traveling on the road for the second consecutive week. This matchup won’t be nearly as contentious as last week’s game, but there are reasons to hate the Week 9 meeting with the Atlanta Falcons.
In the last two games between the teams, the Cowboys have put a couple of 40-burgers on the scoreboard, but this is a different year. Mike McCarthy’s team needs a win by any means necessary, and they’ll gladly take a miracle win like they had in the 2020 season. Those matchups were both at home, but the Cowboys have had a tougher time winning at Atlanta, going 8-7 over the span of 58 years. While at home, Dallas has an 11-4 record over the Falcons.
The Falcons have won four of their last five games and are in first place in the NFC South. Here are three other reasons to hate the Week 9 opponent for the Cowboys.
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The Falcons don’t have a top-10 rushing attack, but they do have one of the best one-two punches in the league. Led by former Texas Longhorns running back Bijan Robinson, the offenses runs for over 120 yards a game. Robinson is tops on the Falcons in rushing yards with 546, which is good for ninth in the league, and averages 4.7 yards per carry. The second-year RB is also third on the team in receptions with 31, so he’s a dual-threat player out of the backfield.
Tyler Allgeier is the backup in name only, but he’s capable of doing damage, and he gets plenty of opportunities to run the ball as RB1B. With 5.2 ypc, two rushing scores and 23 first-down runs (compared to Robinson’s 27), despite almost half the carries proves there’s little drop off drop from Robinson to Allgeier when the latter enters.
The Robinson-Allgeier combination is second in the league for any backfield tandem, with 898 yards on the ground. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery with the Detroit Lions are the only duo rushing for more yards, and that one-two punch ran all over the Cowboys.
It’s an elite duo the Cowboys must hate to see, and they’ll be difficult to slow down in Week 9.
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It’s not just the running game thriving with the Falcons’ offense, the passing attack is one of the best in the NFL as well. Quarterback Kirk Cousins is the driving force behind a passing game that ranks sixth in the league in yards a game, while Cousins is third in passing yards. His 14 passing touchdowns is good for fifth in the league.
The receiving options at Cousins’ disposal fuel the aerial attack, which includes two early first-round picks in the lineup. Wide receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts were both top 10 selections, and they’re finally making a big impact in the Falcons’ passing game.
London is tied for fourth in the league in receptions with 48, is 14th in yards with 525, and has five scores.
Pitts started slow but is starting to break out in year four. In his last four games, Pitts has 21 of his 29 catches, 314 of his 419 receiving yards, and two of his three touchdowns. The Falcons have figured out how to use the gifted TE, and he’s igniting an offense that has scored 29 ppg over their last five outings. That’s almost five more points a game than they average on the season.
Both London and Pitts are finally playing up to their draft status, and the Falcons also have a solid number three option in the passing game with Darnell Mooney. The free agent acquisition is second on the Falcons in catches, targets, yards and receiving touchdowns in what is heading toward a career year.
The Falcons have had the weapons, but it took signing Cousins in the offseason to make the passing game go, and it has blossomed under the new QB and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. It’s a dangerous passing game the Cowboys will hate facing.
It isn’t a great defense, but the Falcons do have one of the best trios in the game in cornerback A.J. Terrell and safeties Jessie Bates and Justin Simmons. The Cowboys’ offense has faced some good secondaries this season, but none have a trio as good as Atlanta’s three, who have accounted for five of their defenses seven interceptions on the year.
Terrell is among the top corners in the league and QBs often look to throw away from him. When they don’t, Terrell is usually around to break it up, or pick it off, as he did last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield in a stellar outing. The first-round pick in 2020 has just one All-Pro to his name, but he’s an elite CB who can shut down one side of the field.
The veteran safeties combine to form perhaps the best tandem in the league, with a total of six All-Pro nods between the duo. Bates signed with the Falcons last year, and Simmons was a quality add late in free agency this past offseason. Simmons was considered to be getting past his prime at 30-years old, but he and the 27-year-old Bates have turned around the safety position for the Falcons.
They can be thrown on, the Falcons are allowing 215.5 yards a game through the air, but the Cowboys need to be aware of where the big three are at all times when they pass the ball.
Read all the best Cowboys coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and Cowboys Wire.
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