ATLANTA, GA – The Dallas Cowboys keep their playoff hopes alive with a win against the Atlanta Falcons on the road 22-19, as time expired with Brett Maher’s 42-yard field goal attempt. With the Cowboys’ win today and the Redskins loss to the Texans, if Dallas can continue their winning streak on Thanksgiving after a quick turn around, they will hold first place in the NFC East.
Dallas’ defense started off with a perfect start against Atlanta’s offense with pressure by DeMarcus Lawrence on Matt Ryan. Lawrence had great speed and push off the edge to get to Ryan for a sack and put the Cowboys’ offense back on the field for a chance to score early in the game. He finished with 1.5 sacks, after a combined sack with Tyrone Crawford. Randy Gregory recorded a sack with great speed off the edge to run down Ryan to make the stop and turn it into a third and long situation for Atlanta in the second quarter.
The offense got off to a decent start with aggressive deep downfield passes and Zack Martin opened up holes for Ezekiel Elliott to pass through, resulting in a 34-yard gain by Zeke to put the Cowboys inside the 20. Xavier Su’a-Filo made an impact in the interior of the o-line to help set up first and goal. Unfortunately, the Cowboys were not able to cash-in on the opportunity with Cole Beasley’s costly dropped ball in the end zone, to force the Cowboys to kick a FG. Brett Maher made the 21-yarder to put Dallas up 3-0, but it should have been seven points.
The Cowboys’ ground game was dominant in the third quarter feeding the ball to Ezekiel Elliott, one play being a 48-yard gain by Elliott to march the Cowboys down the field and put them inside the 30. Dallas again had to settle for a FG. Maher made a 50-yarder to tie the game at 6-6. Elliott amassed 23 carries for 122 yards, one touchdown, and an average of 5.3 yards per carry. He also led the team in receiving with seven receptions for 79 yards and an average of 11.3 yards after the catch. Elliott had a dominant performance opening up the passing and running game with patience on the field as Zack Martin provided holes for the running back to pass through.
The momentum shifted to the Cowboys early in the fourth quarter with their first trip to the end zone with Dak Prescott’s four-yard TD rush on a zone read and cut inside. Maher missed the extra point to put the team up 12-9. Rookie linebacker Leighton Vander Esch had a huge interception on a run pass option during the defense’s next series of plays, to quickly put the offense back on the field with a chance to extend the lead with back-to-back scores. Dallas was able to capitalize on the opportunity with a 23-yard TD rush by the star of the game: Ezekiel Elliott. The Cowboys led 19-9, but the lead was short lived. The Falcons came right back with a FG by Matt Bryant and an amazing TD catch by Julio Jones on a 34-yard pass by Matt Ryan. Jones was able to beat Chidobe Awuzie on man-to-man coverage in the end zone, to make it a 19-19 game. A big first down by Beasley put the Cowboys in field goal range with three seconds left in the ballgame and Maher made the game winning 42-yarder as time expired. After a rough start to the season, the Cowboys are back in the division with a two-game winning streak on the road and a head-to-head with the Redskins on Thursday to potentially put them in the lead of the NFC East. Many discarded the Cowboys, but they are proving their season is not over! They put up a fight in the fourth quarter and Prescott led the team down the field finishing 22 of 32 for 208 yards in passing yards and a four-yard TD rush. The team has to quickly re-group and get ready for Thursday’s must-win game.
