Three biggest takeaways from each game

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Eric Edholm's insights:

1. The Gritty Falcons lost two key players, but outscored the Cowboys. The Falcons lost two of their more indispensable players, wide receiver Drake London (hip) and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett (Achilles tendon strain), but were still too much for the Cowboys as Atlanta recorded its fifth win in six games. London caught the game's first touchdown pass with a great fade, but left the game after about 10 minutes and never returned. They leaned heavily on it Bijan Robinson early, he went to him 13 times in the first 18 offensive games. He responded with 145 yards of offense and was one of the Falcons' biggest offensive producers Darnell Mooneywho caught five passes for 88 yards and a score Kirk Cousins seemed to catch Dallas' defensive slumber. Jarrett left the game late in the third half, but the Falcons defense had three sacks (as a team they only had six) and even had two sacks in a row in the first half.
2. Prescott's injury, the Cowboys' problems on third and fourth downs were costly. Dak Prescott left the game early in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury and was forced to retire Cooper Rush with the Cowboys trailing, 27-13. Prescott also appeared to be dealing with a hand injury. He had a relatively effective day, completing 18 of 24 passes for 133 yards and running three times for 33 yards, but the Cowboys converted just 3 of 13 third downs (including 1 on their first 9) and were 0 for 3 on fourth downs. The Cowboys previously called a timeout CeeDee Lamb was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 end, leading to a Falcons touchdown and a 14-3 lead. Then Mike McCarthy called for a fake punt from the Dallas 38-yard line. Bryan rage (no completions since 2014) failed to connect CJ Goodwin (two career goals), and once again Atlanta capitalized, this time by a 21-10 lead. On their next possession, the Cowboys appeared to be ready again on fourth down with less than a yard to go, but they were stopped for 12 men in the scrum (Dalvin Cook appeared to be No. 12) and ended up punting. With Prescott sidelined and Lamb slowed late by a shoulder injury, the game was all but over.
3. Falcons can still keep things in order defensively. Atlanta held the Cowboys to 13 points in the first 58 minutes of the game, but still had some issues defensively. Despite more pass rush pressure than in other recent games and a strong performance on third and fourth downs, the Falcons were once again poor against the run, allowing the NFL's worst rushing attack to total 137 yards on the ground. That's on par with the 132.6 yards average the Falcons gave up at the start, but Dallas averaged 6.5 yards per carry and lost only one attempt. The Cowboys averaged less than 80 rushing yards per game and had a long run of 13 early in the game, but they had five runs of more than 10 yards by three different players. The Falcons also watched as Rush replaced the injured Prescott and led the Cowboys with an 86-yard TD drive (and a two-point conversion) in the final five minutes to tie the game at one point. It's hard to argue with the Falcons' recent team success, but they once again kept things too close for comfort and there were some deficiencies on defense.

Insight into next-gen stats for Cowboys-Falcons (via NFL Pro): Falcons LB Kaden Ellis set season highs in tackles (13), defensive stops (nine), pass rushes (15) and pressures (five) and recorded his first sack of the season. Ellis leads the Falcons in pressures this season (19), although he ranks ninth on the team in total passes (68). He also leads all off-ball linebackers in pressures this season, 13 of which have gone to the line of scrimmage (nearly twice as many as any other off-ball linebacker).

NFL Research: The Cowboys had four drives that ended in a turnover on downs, which were Dallas' most in a game since at least 1993.