Cowboys roundtable: Discussions on Dak Prescott, the third quarter, and this weekend’s game

Every week, we gather the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer's perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have Brian Martin, RJ Ochoa, Tom Ryle and Jess Haynie.

What's wrong with Dak Prescott and are we concerned? There's no denying there's something off with Dak at the moment. Having no running game and playing one-dimensionally will play its part, but Dak is being more reckless with the ball this year. He's now gone three-straight games where's thrown multiple interceptions and he's the first Cowboy to do this since 1992. This is officially the worst first eight weeks to start a season for Dak in his career,

: To address the second part, yes. Interceptions are obviously a problem. He just doesn't seem to see the field at times, throwing into coverage and paying the price. As for what is wrong, I'd suggest it's a combination of a bad offensive line, no real help from the running game, and possibly just something inherent with him. None of those are easily fixed.

: With the OL still struggling and the worst rushing attack in the league, Dak Prescott is just trying to do too much by himself by forcing things when they aren't there. This is just who Dak is and we have to learn to take the good with the bad. I for one am not concerned because this season is already circling the drain. Even reinforcements coming back probably won't be enough to save their season.

: At first I thought this was about him pressing and trying to do everything on his own, but I think it is clearly more than that at this point. We have yet to see him look like the fully comfortable version of himself from last season. It is possible that 2023 was the peak version of Dak, but even still this is not the mean version of him that we have known across the whole of his career. Ultimately I think he isn't seeing things as fluidly as he once did and is now having to guess and press in areas where he wasn't before.

: The problem with Prescott is that he isn't a guy who's going to make lemonade out of lemons, and he got handed a lemon this year with a transitioning offensive line and a decaying scheme. Dak isn't a bus driver or a guy who needs to be carried, but he also isn't a tide that raises all ships like a Mahomes or Brady. He's clearly in his head right now and, unfortunately, relief isn't coming until 2025. I'm not concerned that the right change in coaching won't get him back to MVP consideration. But I am concerned that we're relying on the Jones family to make that next hire.

The Cowboys are having a rough time this season in the third quarter, what can be attributed to this troubling trend? Last week against the San Francisco 49ers , the Cowboys were leading at halftime. As the second half started the 49ers went on a rampage in the third quarter and scored 21 unanswered points. The trend has been similar this year and in the third quarter the Cowboys have now been outscored 61-19. This is a worrying statistic when looking at the schedule ahead.

: Coaching? I hate to be a bit ambivalent, but it is hard to nail it down. The team has a bit of a reputation for not adjusting or coming out strong for the second half. It's almost part of the culture. Obviously, not in a good way.

: Well, if the Cowboys are having a hard time in just the third quarter they have three other quarters of play to make up things. Sadly, that's not the way things work. I don't think their struggles in the third quarter is what is troubling them right now. They just aren't playing very competent football right now and aren't showing any signs of improving anytime soon.

: My guess is that this is a result of opposing teams coming out and capitalizing on whatever they saw from Dallas in the first half. We have talked about adjustments regarding the Cowboys over multiple coaching staffs, but this one appears to really struggle in that department. They remain insistent on what they want to and plan on doing even to their detriment.

: It's almost like we have a bad head coach who's quit caring, but who could've seen that coming?

This weekend the Cowboys will face the Atlanta Falcons. Who are the players to watch from Atlanta and what are the keys to victory? This weekend the Dallas Cowboys will face the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta. Kickoff will commence at 1 p.m. The Falcons defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week and are now first in the NFC South, where the Cowboys are on a two-game losing streak and sit third in the NFC East. The last time these two teams met was in 2021 when the Cowboys easily won 43-3. The Cowboys lead the series between the two teams 19-11-0.

: You could say Kirk Cousins, Bijan Robinson, or others, but this team needs to be focusing on themselves. We've already mentioned Dak, but many other players as well as the coaching staff are not succeeding. Injuries have impacted Dallas, but they are not able to work around them the way better teams do. The Cowboys are showing signs of an unraveling season, and they just might not be able to fix things.

: With an impressive RB duo of Bijan Robinson/Tyler Allgeier and WR duo of Drake London/Darnell Mooney, Kirk Cousins has brought the Falcons offense to life so far this season. Even TE Kyle Pitts has suddenly become the weapon many envisioned him to be. Atlanta's offensive weapons will be a tough matchup with the Cowboys defense, one that might be too much for them to overcome. The key to victory though will probably come down to which team makes less mistakes, something Dallas has struggled with recently.

: Honestly I think this could be the Kyle Pitts game where he reaches a different level of national conversation. We just saw George Kittle go all the way off and Sam LaPorta had a huge outing (even on minimal work) against the Cowboys as well. Buckle up.