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Eric Edholm’s takeaways:

1. Gritty Falcons lost two key players but out gunned Cowboys. The Falcons lost two of their more indispensable players, wide receiver Drake London (hip) and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett (Achilles strain), but were still too much for the Cowboys as Atlanta recorded its fifth win in six games. London caught the game’s opening touchdown pass on a gorgeous fade but left the game about 10 minutes in and never returned. They leaned heavily on Bijan Robinson early, going to him 13 times in the first 18 offensive plays. He responded with 145 yards from scrimmage and was one of the Falcons’ biggest offensive producers, along with Darnell Mooney, who caught five passes for 88 yards and a score when Kirk Cousins appeared to catch Dallas’ defense napping. Jarrett left late in the third, but the Falcons’ defense had three sacks (they had only six as a team coming in) and even had back-to-back sacks in the first half. 
2. Prescott injury, Cowboys’ third- and fourth-down struggles were costly. Dak Prescott left the game in the early fourth quarter with a hamstring injury, giving way to 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 only 3 of 13 third downs (including 1 for their first 9) and were 0 for 3 on fourth downs. The Cowboys called timeout prior to CeeDee Lamb being stuffed on a fourth-and-1 end around, which led to a Falcons touchdown and a 14-3 lead. Then Mike McCarthy called for a fake punt from the Dallas 38-yard line. Bryan Anger (no completions since 2014) couldn’t hook up with C.J. Goodwin (two career targets), and once more Atlanta capitalized, this time for a 21-10 edge. On their next possession, the Cowboys appeared ready to go for it again on fourth and less than a yard to go, but they were flagged for 12 men in the huddle (Dalvin Cook appeared to be No. 12) and ended up punting. Once Prescott was ruled out and Lamb was slowed by a shoulder injury late, the game was all but over.
3. Falcons still can clean things up defensively. Atlanta held the Cowboys to 13 points for the game’s first 58 minutes but still had some issues defensively. Even with more pass-rush pressure than in other recent games and a strong showing on third and fourth downs, the Falcons were bad against the run again, allowing the NFL’s worst rushing attack to total 137 yards on the ground. That’s in line with the 132.6-yard average the Falcons had surrendered coming in, but Dallas averaged 6.5 yards per run and had only one attempt go for a loss. The Cowboys had been averaging less than 80 rushing yards per game and had a long run of 13 coming into the game, but they had five runs of 10-plus yards by three different players. The Falcons also watched as Rush replaced an injured Prescott and led the Cowboys on an 86-yard TD drive (and two-point conversion) in the final five minutes to make it a one-score game. It’s hard to argue with the Falcons’ recent team success, but they once again kept things too close for comfort with some breakdowns defensively.

Next Gen Stats Insight 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) despite ranking ninth on the team in total pass rushes (68). He also leads all off-ball linebackers in pressures this season, 13 of which have come walked up to the line of scrimmage (nearly twice as many as any other off-ball linebacker).

NFL Research: The Cowboys had four drives end in a turnover on downs, which was the most by Dallas in a game since at least 1993.