Coming into this game against the Falcons, it felt like a pivotal turning point for the Cowboys. After a loss to the 49ers, the wheels began to fall off, which was evident when Trevon Diggs confronted a reporter outside the locker room after the game.

That appeared to intensify when it was announced Saturday that Ezekiel Elliott had been made inactive and not traveling with the team as a disciplinary measure for missing several meetings. The fact that Elliott, supposedly a team leader, has such a problem and doesn't even travel with the team doesn't look good at all.

Then kickoff came and it went like many Cowboys games this year. The defense forced a punt on the first drive and Dak Prescott completed all five of his passes on his first possession before the Cowboys settled for a field goal. The Falcons then responded with an efficient touchdown drive to take a 7-3 lead.

Soon after, things started to turn the Cowboys' way. Carl Lawson scored on a strip sack and Donovan Wilson recovered the ball. But on the ensuing offensive drive, Rico Dowdle was pinched on third down after what appeared to be a miscommunication between Tyler Guyton and Tyler Smith. Dallas tried it in the fourth and, as Greg Olsen pointed out later in the replay, was just a block away from CeeDee Lamb going wide open on the jet sweep. On consecutive plays, the Cowboys shot themselves in the foot with a lack of attention to detail, which should be the theme of the season.

Right after that, the Cowboys had another series of game-breaking errors. After the failed fourth-down decision, Atlanta was lined up at midfield. A holding penalty brought them into a third-and-long, but Kirk Cousins ​​hit Kyle Pitts with a quick pass and had room to run. Trevon Diggs came toward Pitts, but instead of attempting a tackle, he tried to knock Pitts down.

Not surprisingly, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound tight end was unmoved by the 6-foot-1, 195-pound corner and Pitts bounced off him to gain a few more yards and give the Falcons a viable fourth down Down to prepare. The Atlanta offense rushed to the line and Mike McCarthy had to call a timeout after Diggs first left the field and then ran back in when he sensed the Falcons were going for it. After the timeout, Diggs seemed unsure where to line up and was easily overwhelmed by the rub route that left Darnell Mooney wide open for a 36-yard touchdown.

Once again, details and effort – more specifically, the lack of it – have put the Cowboys in a hole.

After that, the offense seemingly woke up and marched down the field, with Prescott fighting his way through a very chaotic pocket to find Rico Dowdle, who made a juggling catch for the touchdown. Six plays later, the Falcons punted, giving the Cowboys a golden opportunity.

Thanks to the decision to delay the game early, Dallas would receive the ball at the start of the third quarter. If they could score a touchdown before halftime and then come out of the break, they would be up by several points and have a very real chance of winning the game.

It didn't happen. On the second play of the drive, Prescott hit Lamb for the first down. The receiver was slow to get back up, saving his shoulder, but refused to stay down and instead limped over to line up for the next play. All told, they lost 19 seconds from the time Lamb went down to the next play being called off. If Lamb had stayed down to get a medical timeout, the Cowboys would have been assessed a 10-second runoff since they were out of timeouts, but it would have at least stopped time until Lamb got out. Assuming they hit the ball quickly once the clock starts running again, they could have ended up with a total of eight extra seconds left. That would have been enough for a few more games and possibly at least within field goal range.

Instead, they received zero points. Early in the third quarter, they made a three-pointer and attempted a fake punt. The call to go for it was analytically sound, but Bryan Anger's pass fell to CJ Goodwin. A few plays later, the Falcons scored a touchdown to take a 21-10 lead and things started to get out of control.

Of course, the biggest impact of this game came a few series later. It wasn't noticed at first, but Prescott suffered two injuries on a drive that resulted in a field goal. Officially, Prescott was ruled out for a hamstring injury sustained on a deep throw to Jalen Brooks, but he also received medical treatment for a severe cut on his throwing hand.

Cooper Rush closed out the play and helped close the game, but the offense was further hampered by Lamb continuing to fire shots to his shoulder. Lamb left the game several times in visible pain, but repeatedly waved off the trainers and insisted on returning to the game. Technically he finished the game, but Lamb was clearly in pain and struggled to play through the game.

Both injuries are just as devastating, if not more so, than the loss itself. The chances of making the playoffs after falling to 3-5 are quite slim – although not impossible, as the Cowboys found out for themselves in 2018 – But if either Prescott or Lamb are out at some point because of the injuries they suffered today, the season could be different. Then it's over now.

As for the game itself, Rush had several impressive throws to his name. Lamb, KaVontae Turpin and Jalen Tolbert all dropped passes that hit their hands, but Rush scored a touchdown and hit Lamb for a two-point conversion. Despite everything that happened in that game, there was an onside kick attempt that likely gave Falcons coach Raheem Morris, who was on the sideline for the Watermelon Kick game in 2020, post-traumatic stress disorder.

But Atlanta recovered the onside kick and promptly punted a few times to run out the clock, escaping with a 27-21 win. The game was truly a microcosm of this season for the Cowboys. At various points they showed undeniable ability to win the game, but they failed in too many big moments to actually succeed. Good teams can usually handle a game or two like this, but Dallas has fallen short in big moments all year, and they boast a 3-5 record.

The immediate concern right now is the status of Prescott and Lamb, but that won't dramatically move things one way or the other. With these two players, the Cowboys at least have a chance to win games, even if the team as a whole will probably find a way to lose anyway. Without them, however, all hope would be extinguished. But the end result is a lost season and most likely an entirely new coaching staff.