The Cowboys have now lost four of the last five games after a 19-13 loss to the Falcons Sunday night in Atlanta. DallasCowboys.com staff writers – Jonathan Auping, Rowan Kavner, Nick Eatman and Bryan Broaddus were all on hand and delivered their post-game reactions. Also included is their gut feelings from Saturday afternoon.
Nick: For the Cowboys to win this game, we all thought they’d have to be a great game and overcome the normal obstacles that come with playing on the road. To me, this game was lost early on, while usually it happens in the fourth. Obviously there were big plays in the final quarter that played a factor, but the Cowboys seemed to have a few breaks early in the game, but yet only managed two field goals. When you’re playing a 7-0 team like Atlanta with a high-powered offense, you can’t settle for field goals. While the defense was solid for most of the night, what will be remembered most is the last drive where they couldn’t get off the field. The Cowboys were competitive with a chance to win, but you can’t be solid and expect to be a good team on the road.
Jonathan: The Cowboys did what they needed to do to keep up with an undefeated team with multiple scoring weapons. They played decent defense for stretches. They got enough first downs to maintain a decent time of possession. At the end of the day we all knew it would come down to how many game changing plays could be made by Matt Ryan and his explosive weapons. The Cowboys defense wasn't terrible by any stretch, but the Falcons were successful at making the plays they needed to make to win the game. We knew that both these teams had a good quarterback, two very gifted receivers and a great tight end. All season the Falcons have been more successful at taking advantage of those things than the Cowboys. The same was true Sunday night. Sometimes it is just that simple.
Rowan: The Cowboys had to be one of the most favored 3-4 teams to ever play an undefeated team at this point in the season. But once again, the Cowboys couldn’t do enough offensively and couldn’t get the key stop defensively to put away a quality opponent. There’s a reason people picked the Cowboys in this one, myself included. They provide glimpses of greatness, but ultimately come up short on too many occasions. They always seem one or two plays away from victory, yet they’ve lack the consistency in every major category to pull off a much-needed win.
Bryan: Last week I put the game on the shoulder of Jason Garrett and this Cowboys offense. This week I felt like that the offense would do enough in the game by scoring points. Several missed opportunities were left on the field and they were not able to get that done. This week I felt like if the Cowboys were going to win this game, that Rob Ryan’s group would have to step up and make plays. For the most part Ryan was able to hold the Falcons in check but when they needed a stop the most on the final drive of the game they were unable to make it happen allow a big play to Rodgers to convert a third down and getting a defensive holding on Scandrick which also kept the drive going and allowed the Falcons to chew up the clock and kill the game.
Gut Feelings, posted Saturday, Nov. 3:
Rowan: Going out on a limb and picking an upset win would have been a little easier early in the week, when 
Bryan: Historically when the calendar turns to November, it’s the time of year that
Jonathan: It probably goes without saying that in order to beat the undefeated Atlanta Falcons the Cowboys will have to play some of their best football of the season. But sometimes being a big underdog finally takes a little pressure off of a team. I don't mean to disrespect a 7-0 team, but the Falcons are beatable. Obviously they have great receiving weapons, but I think the Cowboys' secondary is up to the challenge. Don't get me wrong, the Falcons will make big plays through the air, but I think that they will be at least relatively contained. But my big prediction is that
