Where to Watch Cowboys vs. Falcons: NFL Kickoff Time, Live Stream, Odds, Spread, Prediction for NFC Showdown

FRISCO, Texas — The 2024 season couldn’t play out more differently heading into Week 9 for the Dallas Cowboys (3-4), losers of two games in a row, and the Atlanta Falcons (5-3 ), winners of three of their last matches. four and in first place in the NFC South.

Remarks from players on both teams make this juxtaposition incredibly clear. It’s sunshine and rainbows in Atlanta.

“Just the confidence in what the guys have now and just the vibe around the building,” Falcons running back Bijan Robinson said. told CBS Sports this week. “Obviously there have been some changes with… Coach [Raheem] Morris being there, with [offensive coordinator] Zac [Robinson] be there. We had the quarterback change (to Kirk Cousins) and just a lot of new pieces added to the team. It’s been great for us, but I think we come in knowing that every game is a championship game. …I know for me individually, the confidence level increased a lot from year one to year two. I’m super excited to share this with my teammates. »

And now in Dallas…

“I have to be better. It’s as simple as that,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said. said when asked if he had eight interceptions in seven games. “Take it as it is, look at these plays on their own, look at the others that probably could have gone or could have gone a different way. But you’ll never shake my confidence in them, the majority is decision making, so I come back to… risk versus reward That’s something that just watching the movie this week, it’s just a heavy concern for me. I said, get out. from the picket, make other plays happen when you assess that risk You know, when I have the ball in my hands, what matters is not just this play, it’s the team, the. game, his momentum and you just have to be better.”

Can the visiting Cowboys overcome injuries, youth and an ineffective start to pull off an upset victory on the road? Or will the host Falcons and their much-improved offense propel them to another doubleheader? Let’s take a closer look at this match and predict a winner.

Cowboys vs. Falcons where to watch

Date: Sunday October 27 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta,)
Channel: FOX | Flow: fubo (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports app
Odds: Falcons -3, O/U 52.0 (via Caesars Sportsbook)

When the Cowboys have the ball

Dallas’ offense in 2024 is a far cry from what its 2023 offense looked like. The Cowboys led the entire NFL in offensive scoring (29.9 points per game), with Prescott leading the league in passing touchdowns (36) and 2023 first-team All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, leading the NFL in receptions (135) en route to a third straight 12-5 season. The start to 2024 hasn’t been as explosive, with the Cowboys averaging 21.4 points per game (22nd in the league) amid a 3-4 start to the season.

This drop is understandable since the offensive environment is significantly different. Dallas is starting two rookies at arguably the two most crucial positions on the offensive line: first-round left tackle Tyler Guyton, who primarily played right tackle at Oklahoma, and third-round center Cooper Beebe, who didn’t take a play at center in a single game at Kansas State.

Growing difficulties in pre-snap communication and the team’s choice to run its running game with veteran undrafted free agent Rico Dowdle and past versions of Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook allowed the Cowboys to owning the worst running game in the league, averaging 74.1 rushing yards per game. The inability to have even a slightly threatening running game and initial inexperience are the main reasons Prescott has struggled thus far. He recorded just 10 passing touchdowns to eight interceptions, his most interceptions through seven games in his career. Prescott ranks bottom 10 in the NFL in completion percentage (63.7%, 22nd in the NFL), touchdown-to-interception ratio (10-8, 24th) and passer rating (84.5 , 24th) this season.

His chemistry with Lamb has improved after an uncomfortable start to the season in which there were several instances where he and his primary target were not on the same page, with Lamb running a route in one direction and the pass from Prescott into another. The early issues can certainly be attributed to Lamb holding out during the offseason before receiving his new contract at the end of August, after training camp. Dallas’ dynamic duo regained their chemistry in Week 8 against the San Francisco 49ers in a 30-24 loss that came much closer after Prescott hit Lamb for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He finished with 146 receiving yards and those two touchdowns along with 13 catches on 17 targets.

“Yeah, I found CeeDee,” Prescott said, thinking back to Lamb’s escape to the Bay Area. “He did a good job of opening up, running all his routes hard, no matter where he was, if he was the right one or if he was behind on a concept. He loved his intentionality in He kind of said something like that said to me during the game, halfway through the game, like ‘Yeah, we’re back.’ And that was before, I think, his two touchdowns, so just him playing with that confidence, communicating that, it gives me a lot of confidence.

“We found our rhythm, we got our rhythm back, and I was definitely getting open and getting the ball, so I feel like that goes hand in hand and I plan to continue to do it,” Lamb said.

Prescott will have to navigate one of the most star-studded secondaries in the entire league when Dallas travels to Atlanta to take on the 5-3 Falcons, the current leaders of the NFC South division. They have Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates III, Pro Football Focus’ 10th-highest coverage safety (73.8 coverage grade) and two-time Pro Bowl safety Justin Simmons, whose 31 career interceptions are the most more numerous in the NFL since he and Prescott entered. the NFL in 2016.

Lamb is also preparing to face another first-round pick in the 2020 draft, Falcons cornerback AJ Terrell, although he did not face him in their previous two meetings. Terrell lined up against Lamb on five of his 60 routes in those two games, according to NFL Pro Insights. Lamb rushed for 200 yards and two touchdowns with catches on 12 of 16 targets in those matchups. Atlanta had him lining up at left cornerback on 85% or more of his snaps in those two games, but in 2024 he’s been more versatile in his fifth NFL season with a snap of nearly 50-50 in both right corners (51.1). %) and left corner (48.7%), according to NFL Pro Insights. The variety in the 26-year-old’s game has yielded good results early this season: Terrell’s 54.1 passer rating as the primary defender in coverage is ninth-best in the NFL among 60 players with at least 35 passes thrown.

When the Falcons have the ball

Atlanta’s offense has reached new heights under new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, who spent five years as an assistant on Sean McVay’s Los Angeles Rams coaching staff. Running back Bijan Robinson has already had six games with at least 100 scrimmage yards in 2024, which ties him for second in the NFL, with only Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (six) having more of such matches so far this season. Robinson has just five such performances in 2023. Wide receiver Drake London has already recorded a career-high five receiving touchdowns and is counting in 2024 after having just six receiving scores combined in 2022 and 2023. On Sunday, tight end Kyle Pitts recorded 91 receiving yards and two touchdowns on four catches in the win over Tampa Bay, marking his first career game with multiple touchdown receptions. His three receiving touchdowns have already tied a career high, and his receiving touchdowns of 36 and 49 yards for the Buccaneers in Week 8 make Pitts the first Falcon with multiple receiving touchdowns of 35 yards or more since he retired, a four-time Pro Bowl receiver. Roddy White did it in 2012. Pitts is also the first Atlanta tight end to accomplish this feat.

PPG	18.9 (26th)	24.3 (12th)
Total YPG	334.3 (17th)	371.6 (7th)
Drive score percentage (rate of drives ending in TD or FG)	50.6% (1st)	43.2% (9th)
Skip YPG	207.3 (22nd)	250.9 (6th)
Red zone TD percentage	46.8% (29th)	52% (22nd)
Authorized dismissal rate	7% (20th)	5.2% (7th)
Passing mark	80.5 (27th)	97.6 (13th)
Movement rate	56.4% (7th)	65.3% (5th)
Expected Offensive Points Added/Game	-0.09 (26th)	0.06 (7th)

The Cowboys defense has built a reputation as an elite defense thanks to its ability to generate takeaways. During Dallas’ three straight 12-win seasons from 2021-23, they led the NFL in takeaways (93), interceptions (59) and quarterback pressure rate (41.4%). . The Cowboys’ stats plunged in 2024 without three-time All-Pro rusher Micah Parsons (sidelined since Week 4) and without 2023 NFL interceptions leader DaRon Bland (out since the end of camp). training with a stress fracture in the foot). ). Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs (calf) is officially questionable. Dallas’ five takeaways in 2024 are tied for fifth in the NFL, while the defense is slightly below average (17th in the league) in quarterback pressure rate (34.8%). .

The lack of takeaways can be attributed to injuries and roster attrition during Jerry Jones’ “all in” offseason, but the focus is on the new Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s defense is much less geared toward splash playswhich include points to remember, as Dan Quinn’s program for the period 2021-2023. Dallas played man coverage at the third-highest rate in the NFL from 2021-2023 (33.8%), but in 2024 that figure has dropped to 26.3%, about mid-pack – 15th of the league.

Through eight games, Robinson ranks fourth in the entire league in scrimmage yards (784) and fourth in receiving yards (238) among running backs. Dallas is the second-worst rushing defense in the NFL (154.6 rushing yards per game allowed), just a few decimal places ahead of the 1-7 Carolina Panthers, and it struggles specifically against what Robinson excels at: runs under center. Robinson had a 57.6 percent success rate on runs under center this season, the highest rate among 36 running backs with at least 30 such runs, according to NFL Pro Insights. The Cowboys have allowed the most touchdowns on runs under center (11) and are giving up the second-highest success rate (49.3%) against runs under center in the NFL this season.

Prediction

Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins ​​helps lead Atlanta to victory against Zimmer, his former head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, with plenty of help from Robinson and his high-flying young playmakers, as the Cowboys just can’t keep up.

Take: Falcons 31, Cowboys 20