Cowboys collapse in second half, lose to Falcons

There was a time in Sunday’s 39-28 loss to the Atlanta Falcons when Dallas Cowboys’ do-everything linebacker Sean Lee left the game to get stitches for a cut lip.

At that point, the Cowboys were without nine of their best players —Dez Bryant, Tony Romo, Greg Hardy, Ron Leary, Jeremy Mincey, Randy Gregory, Rolando McClain, Terrell McClain and Lee.

The Cowboys are deeper than they’ve been in a while and they pride themselves on the next-man-up philosophy.

However, those players are starters for a reason, and the reality is the Cowboys aren’t as good without them. Considering Romo is out for at least six more games, the struggle to keep their season afloat until he returns Nov. 22 becomes even more critical.

“Worried? No. Not at all. I wish we had all our players, but that’s dreaming,’ owner Jerry Jones said “I’m not worried. We just have a lot of work to do to stay in the hunt.”

It was evident against the Falcons at AT&T Stadium before a crowd of 90,345.

The fans were incredibly loud at the outset when these backup Cowboys were having their way with the Falcons, taking a 14-point lead three times in the first half, with the last coming at 28-14 with 40 seconds to go.

It was the first loss of the season for the Cowboys (2-1), while continuing a trend of futility for Brandon Weeden and Romo’s backups.

Weeden has lost nine consecutive games as a starter, dating to 2012 when he was a rookie with the Cleveland Browns. He is 0-2 with the Cowboys, including a loss to the Arizona Cardinals last season.

The Cowboys are 6-10 without Romo since he became the starter in 2006.

The Cowboys don’t look as statuesque in the mirror as they did when the season began, when they hoped to build on last year’s 12-4 campaign and reach the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995.

The tipping point began when Bryant, the team’s best receiver, suffered a fractured foot in the season opener against the New York Giants and Romo broke his collarbone against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2.

Despite winning both games, holding on until their injured players returned became the battle cry.

It was the undermanned defense that was run over by the undefeated Falcons (3-0) in the second half.

The Cowboys ranked third in the NFL in total defense coming into the game. It was only a matter of time before the absence of so many key players would catch up with them.

The Cowboys were essentially helpless in stopping quarterback Matt Ryan and receiver Julio Jones.

Jones had 12 catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan completed 24 of 36 passes for 285 yards. Running back Devonta Freeman accounted for 193 yards. He rushed 141 yards and three touchdowns and caught five passes for 52 yards.

Without their three best pass rushers in Hardy, Gregory and Mincey, the Cowboys put little pressure on Ryan. And once the passing game got going with Jones, Freeman began running wild.

“We just didn’t get stops,” Garrett said. “They had a real balanced attack. And we didn’t slow them down. They are awfully good when they’re running the football, and they feature Julio Jones in the passing game. They’re trying to get him the ball and certainly the success he had was a big factor in the game.”

After completing nine consecutive passes to open the game and completing 13 of 14 passes for 164 yards in the first half, Weeden and the Cowboys came down to earth with a thud in the final two quarters.

For the game, Weeden completed 22 of 26 passes for 232 yards and no touchdowns with one interception. But the biggest issue was not being able to get any passes to the wide receivers.

The inability to loosen up the defense outside allowed the Falcons to shut down a running game that was seemingly on a record pace in the first half. The Cowboys rushed for 131 yards and four touchdowns in the first half, including 10 carries for 92 yards and three touchdowns for Joseph Randle. Darren McFadden added five carries for 34 yards and a touchdown.

There was no room to run in the second half. Randle, who had 85 yards after his first three carries of 28, 37 and 20 yards, didn’t break 100 yards for the game.

He finished with just 87 yards on 14 carries, basically 2 yards on his final 11 carries. The Cowboys rushed for minus-4 as a team in the second half.

“Our running game wasn’t as good as the game wore on,” Garrett said. “A commitment by those guys to get around the line of scrimmage, and they made some stops.”

It goes back to the Cowboys not being able to make plays outside. Cole Beasley caught four passes for 49 yards and was the only wide receiver to catch a pass.

Terrance Williams, who has replaced Bryant as the No. 1 receiver, had one drop and was shut out.

But Weeden only threw two passes downfield; everything else was underneath.

“The antidote is to back them off,” Jones said. “We knew how to back them off. We didn’t get the plays made that we needed to make.”

Garrett thought Weeden had an efficient and solid performance, save for a bad decision on the second-quarter interception that set up a Falcons touchdown, turning a 21-7 lead to 28-14 and starting the 32-7 onslaught to end the game.

“Overall, I thought I was efficient,” Weeden said. “I made a stupid mistake, giving them a short field and the seven points. It was a stupid mistake on my part. And I’ll remember and never do it again.”

The Cowboys play at the New Orleans Saints (0-3) Sunday before returning home for an Oct. 11 matchup against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady, who are undefeated at 3-0 and will be coming off a bye.

This story was originally published September 27, 2015 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Cowboys collapse in second half, lose to Falcons."