Cowboys @ Falcons · Week 3

WEEK 3 · FINAL

THE READ

Falcons run away with it, 51-28

Atlanta dismantled Dallas 51-28 behind Marcel Reed's 384 yards and 4 touchdowns on 13-of-19 accuracy, with Bijan Robinson adding 175 yards on 16 carries. The Falcons controlled the line of scrimmage—559 total yards to Dallas's 426—and while both teams coughed up 4 turnovers apiece, Atlanta's efficiency on both sides of the ball rendered that self-inflicted damage irrelevant. Joe Milton's 3 touchdown passes kept the Cowboys from being embarrassed further, but the gap between these two offenses was the only story worth noting.

Daniel Keller The numbers guy

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Cowboys	-4.0	-1.5	-2.6	+5
Falcons	-4.0	+0.8	-4.8	-5

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Cowboys — in the hunt · 4-5 Playoff picture →

IN THE BOOTH

Jordan Hayes The armchair coach

Dallas couldn't stay on the field—4 turnovers and 311 passing yards against a Falcons offense that moved 559 yards at will, with Marcel Reed throwing 4 touchdowns. The Cowboys have to stop giving it away.

Marcus Reyes The numbers guy · replying

This wasn't Dallas playing itself into a hole—this was Atlanta looking like a different team. Reed and Robinson both had career days, and when your ground game generates 175 yards, you don't need 4 turnovers to sink you. The Cowboys' problem runs deeper than one Sunday.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Marcel Reed

Falcons

13/19, 384 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT

Joe Milton

Cowboys

15/24, 272 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT

Bijan Robinson

Falcons

16 carries, 175 yards, 2 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

⭐ Marcel Reed has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Bijan Robinson has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Ryan Wlliams has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Jaydon Blue has not had a better afternoon this season.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Total yards Falcons 559, Cowboys 426 Falcons

Through the air Falcons 384, Cowboys 311 Falcons

On the ground Falcons 175, Cowboys 115 Falcons

Pressure Falcons 5 sacks, Cowboys 1 Falcons

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 3 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Pass-heavy Pass 68% · Rush 32% · 27.2 scored, 29.8 allowed

8.5 yds/att 63.6% completions 5.7 yds/carry 299.6 yds/game 1.7 giveaways/game 5.1% sack rate last 5: 3-2

Primary weapon: George Pickens WR — 35% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 66 · Aggressive Balance 82 Ball security 53 Back usage 28% QB runs 1.4/game

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 89 WR 80 TE 83 RB 82 OL 80 DL 82 LB 79 DB 83

Best: Quinnen Williams DT 92 Fastest: Tyler Harrell WR 95 SPD 4 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

TDS-_-IamQ

Falcons · his last 8 games

Balanced Gives it away One back

Pass / run59% / 41% Points for / against31.5 — 32.8 Margin-1.2 Giveaways a game2.4 Sacks taken4.9% of dropbacks Lead backBijan Robinson · 16.2/g Top targetDrake London · 31% QB carries2.1 a game

tomahawkj911

Cowboys · his last 8 games

Throws it One back

Pass / run67% / 33% Points for / against27.2 — 29.8 Margin-2.5 Giveaways a game1.6 Sacks taken5.3% of dropbacks Lead backJaydon Blue · 10.9/g Top targetGeorge Pickens · 35% QB carries1.0 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES tomahawkj911 against TDS-_-IamQ — the men, not the teams

TDS-_-IamQ leads it 1-0. TDS-_-IamQ won the last one.

1 meeting avg 28.0 — 51.0 biggest: 23 pts to TDS-_-IamQ

S2 · week 3 tomahawkj911 28 — 51 TDS-_-IamQ TDS-_-IAMQ

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Cowboys receivers vs Falcons secondary 80 v 84 FALCONS

Falcons receivers vs Cowboys secondary 81 v 83 EVEN

Cowboys line vs Falcons front 80 v 83 FALCONS

Falcons line vs Cowboys front 85 v 82 FALCONS

Cowboys backs vs Falcons run defence 82 v 80 EVEN

Falcons backs vs Cowboys run defence 88 v 80 FALCONS

Cowboys passer vs Falcons secondary 89 v 84 COWBOYS

Falcons passer vs Cowboys secondary 77 v 83 COWBOYS

TOP PERFORMERS

Marcel Reed QB Falcons 384 pass yds

Joe Milton QB Cowboys 272 pass yds

Bijan Robinson HB Falcons 175 rush yds

Jaydon Blue HB Cowboys 123 rec yds

Jaydon Blue HB Cowboys 115 rush yds

Ryan Wlliams WR Falcons 112 rec yds

Drake London WR Falcons 102 rec yds

George Pickens WR Cowboys 94 rec yds

Jake Ferguson TE Cowboys 83 rec yds

Kyle Pitts Sr TE Falcons 70 rec yds

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

COWBOYS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Joe Milton QB	15/24	272	3	2	2	59	106.2
Dak Prescott QB	2/4	39	0	1	0	28	44.7

FALCONS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Marcel Reed QB	13/19	384	4	2	1	85	111.1

COWBOYS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Jaydon Blue HB	10	115	11.5	0	1	17	41	1

FALCONS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Bijan Robinson HB	16	175	10.9	2	3	58	65	2
Ryan Wlliams WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

COWBOYS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Jaydon Blue HB	5	123	24.6	1	37	43
George Pickens WR	6	94	15.7	1	69	59
Jake Ferguson TE	4	83	20.8	0	38	37
Hunter Luepke FB	1	15	15	0	8	15
Mike Mathews WR	1	1	1	1	0	1
Elijah Higgins TE	1	0	0	0	0	0

FALCONS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Ryan Wlliams WR	3	112	37.3	1	40	84
Drake London WR	2	102	51	1	57	85
Kyle Pitts Sr TE	4	70	17.5	2	14	30
Tommy Tremble TE	1	33	33	0	7	33
Nick Marsh WR	1	28	28	0	8	28
Bijan Robinson HB	1	21	21	0	0	21

COWBOYS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	FF	TD
Malachi Lawrence LEDG	5	1	0	0	0	0
Devin Moore CB	5	0	1	0	0	0
Caleb Downs SS	2	0	1	0	0	1
Jalen Thompson FS	2	0	0	1	0	0
Dee Winters WILL	1	0	0	0	1	0
DaRon Bland CB	1	0	0	1	0	0
Quinnen Williams DT	1	0	0	0	0	0
Zabien Brown CB	1	0	0	0	0	0
Markquese Bell SS	0	0	0	1	0	0

FALCONS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	FF	TD
Trenton Simpson WILL	4	2	0	0	0	0
James Pearce Jr REDG	2	1	0	0	0	0
Millard Bradford FS	1	0	0	0	0	0
Billy Bowman Jr CB	1	0	0	0	0	0
Malaki Starks FS	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jalon Walker LEDG	1	1	0	0	0	0
Nnamdi Madubuike DT	1	1	0	0	0	0
Xavier Watts SS	1	0	0	0	0	0
Kendal Daniels WILL	1	0	1	0	0	0
A.J. Terrell Jr CB	1	0	2	1	0	1
DJ Turner II CB	1	0	0	0	1	0
Avieon Terrell CB	0	0	0	1	0	0

COWBOYS

nothing recorded

FALCONS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Aiden Birr K	1/1	6/7	41

RECENT FORM

Cowboys

L 21–38 vs Panthers WK 2

L 27–30 vs Rams WK 1

Falcons

L 24–27 vs Colts WK 2

L 21–56 vs Saints WK 1

TEAM STATS

Cowboys		Falcons
426	TOTAL YARDS	559
311	PASSING YARDS	384
115	RUSHING YARDS	175
2	SACKS ALLOWED	1
1	SACKS MADE	5
4	GIVEAWAYS	4
3	TAKEAWAYS	4

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

0 COWBOYS — 1 FALCONS

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