ATLANTA — Things are going from bad to much worse for the Dallas Cowboys. Looking to end a two-game losing streak in their matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, they instead suffered a third consecutive loss to fall to 3-5 on the season and with their next two outings being against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Houston Texans.
It's all made more difficult by the possibility of having lost All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott for possibly a game or more with a hamstring injury, an MRI scheduled to determine the severity and prognosis, along with All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb now battling a shoulder injury.
It will be all head coach Mike McCarthy can do to try and keep the season on the rails over the next several weeks.
"Well, we just really have got to keep the focus narrow, and I felt like we were doing that coming into this game," he said following the 27-21 loss to the Falcons. "We need to win a game. I know what everybody wants to talk about, long-term. We have five losses, so I clearly understand where that puts us as far as what it would take, but we've got to get to winning."
The problem is there isn't simply one problem.
A mountain of issues continue to torpedo the Cowboys' efforts, and that includes their own self-inflicted wounds — e.g., missed tackles, penalties, etc. — in a season that is quickly getting away from them as November ramps up.
"We're making too many self-inflicted wounds, and the disappointing part about it is some of the pre-snap penalties are totally unacceptable," McCarthy explained. "We came in here wanting to go no huddle, up-tempo, turbo on the ball type of things. You see in the first series, it was effective, and I wish we got more to it.
"But, you know, we're slowing ourselves down."
And speeding themselves back up will be far easier said than done.
