Don’t look now, but the Atlanta Falcons are on fire.

Atlanta is now 5-1 in its last six games following a 27-21 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. They are 6-3 overall and sitting atop the NFC South as they continue an impressive season in Raheem Morris’ first year as head coach.

Kirk Cousins ​​went 19-of-24 for 222 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions, while Bijan Robinson had a strong showing with 145 yards from scrimmage.

The Cowboys fell to 3-5 with their third straight loss and are out of the NFC play-off picture. They played without running back Ezekiel Elliott for “disciplinary reasons,” according to ESPN Todd Archerand quarterback Dak Prescott was ruled out with an injury in the fourth quarter. hamstring injury.

When Prescott came out, the game was largely in the Falcons’ hands, further adding to the Cowboys’ frustration.

This disappointment upset head coach Mike McCarthy a bit, especially during a game that featured bad time penalties, a botched fake punt, and overall poor play:

These teams are heading in opposite directions, which was obvious early on. Cousins ​​found Drake London. ignored He later suffered a hip injury – for the game’s first goal and Darnell Mooney opened a double-digit lead for his second.

Even when the Cowboys gained some momentum on a sack by Cousins, they quickly gave it back when Atlanta’s defense put CeeDee Lamb on a fourth-down run. Although Prescott’s touchdown pass to Rico Dowdle reduced the half-time deficit to 14-10, it was part of a brutal start for the visiting attack.

But the good feelings about the Dowdle goal were short-lived as McCarthy decided the way to start the second half was to run a fake punt in his own area. It didn’t work and Cousins ​​struck out Ray-Ray McCloud III for a touchdown on the next possession to give the Falcons some more breathing room.

Mistakes and overall sloppy play continued for the Cowboys, who were flagged for having too many men on the field on a 4th-and-1 try and saw a promising drive stop for just a field goal due to holding.

It was a similar situation for the team, which explains why there was anxiety around McCarthy.

Cooper Rush led a field goal to cut the deficit after Tyler Allgeier’s fourth-quarter goal increased the lead to 14, but the Falcons recovered the onside kick, sending Dallas into a key league matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles with more question marks.