The Cowboys once again fail to land the first blow

ATLANTA – So often in life we ​​use the expression “at the end of the day…”

Seems like an all-encompassing phrase that belittles what just happened. Well, how about we start talking about “at the start of the day” because that’s why this team keeps losing games.

Certainly bouncing back doesn't seem to be a problem for the Cowboys this year. However, landing the first or third strike was the problem, and that was the difference here against the Falcons.

As in any fight, whoever strikes first is in control – especially in a haymaker. Not only did the Falcons succeed, they built a 14-3 lead that turned into a 21-10 lead, and the Cowboys simply never recovered.

In Week 2, they couldn't recover at all against the Saints. The next week they tried to hold their own against the Ravens, but it was too late. We saw it last week against the 49ers and again against the Falcons.

Sure, the Cowboys will fight, scratch, scrape, and all the other “fight” synonyms you want to throw out there. The problem, however, is that they don't get the first strike in – meaning they don't take the fight to their opponent.

Please, please, please don't confuse this column with a “Hey, at least they fought hard to the end” type article. That's not what I'm saying at all. The Cowboys are paid professionals and are expected to fight for the entire 60 minutes.

My point is that they are never first out of the starting blocks. And I'm not talking about hitting an early field goal and leading 3-0. I'm talking about this team getting the ball, whether it's on the opening kickoff, the first possession or the start of the third quarter, and going down there and making a statement.

It just didn't happen – not at all all season – and the Cowboys are paying for it.

They simply aren't good enough to catch up, especially with a defense that can't stop the run. Of course, when you're on the ground, the opponent is going to run the ball, and this Cowboys team is not prepared to continue playing from behind.

And if that doesn't get fixed this year, the Cowboys will continue to host games like this. Of course, it's admirable that they keep fighting – despite injuries and everything. There's no way I'm going to dismiss what I saw from CeeDee Lamb today.

Yes, it's so easy to assume that people like CeeDee get paid and then not put in the same effort. Well, if you believe that, look at these four quarters of football and ask yourself where he stands on the issue. His shoulder was slumped virtually the entire second half and he came out once or twice. But he still came back in and scored a two-point conversion.

I actually tweeted in the fourth quarter that he had to come out for good. Obviously I'm not a doctor or a trainer, but from the look of the injury, he seemed to be in too much pain to play a 14-point game late in the fourth quarter.

Jake Ferguson appeared to be in the same situation, limping into the game again and again in the second half. So yes, they kept fighting. Even Dak Prescott had to battle a hamstring injury for a few games before being taken out of the game.

Again, I'm not questioning their commitment, their heart, their courage, their intensity or anything like that. They turned that game into a six-point finish, although it felt more like a bust. They did the same thing last week against the 49ers and also against the Ravens.

But I've said this statement repeatedly throughout my time with the Cowboys – teams can win and lose games in the middle of the week.

And it always seems to happen that the Cowboys lose because of a lack of preparation. They don't seem ready for full implementation in four quarters.

They certainly had a good start in this game by this year's standards, managed to stop on the first drive and put the ball on offense on the first possession. But it's the little things. A false start here, an illegal move there, a missed block here and 12 men in the group there. (Honestly, I think I described a third quarter ride). But that is the epitome of what is hurting this team.

I don't think the Falcons are head and shoulders above the Cowboys from a talent standpoint, but that doesn't have to be the case. Atlanta had four penalties for 26 yards and the Cowboys had nine penalties for 55 yards.

The Falcons didn't exactly play clean football, even with a turnover and a missed extra point. But they seemed to capitalize on the Cowboys' mistakes when necessary.

When you add it all up, the Cowboys had plenty of chances to win this game. But they came up short too often on offense, they just didn't make enough plays on defense, and even on special teams they lost the battle with some costly penalties and a botched fake punt.

It's like two golfers playing a round of 18 holes. One keeps getting par and the other gets bogeys. Each hole only has a 5 and a 4 on the scorecard. But if you add that up at the end, you get a difference of 18 strokes.

The end result wasn't all that great, but you get the point. The Cowboys got it right in almost every category, but ultimately weren't good enough.

And once again, it's because they definitely weren't good enough to begin with.