Eatman: Cowboys again fail to land first punch

ATLANTA – So many times in life, we use the phrase "at the end of the day …"

Seems to be an all-encompassing phrase that puts a bow on what just happened. Well, how about we start talking about "at the start of the day" because that's what keeps losing games for this team.

Sure, punching back doesn't seem to be a problem for the Cowboys this year. However, landing the first punch, or three, has been the issue and once again was the difference here against the Falcons.

Like in any fight, the one who strikes first – especially with a haymaker – is going to be in control. The Falcons not only did that, building a 14-3 lead that turned into 21-10, and the Cowboys just never recovered.

They didn't recover against the Saints at all back in Week 2. They tried to rally against the Ravens the next week, but it was too late. We saw it last week against the 49ers and again vs. the Falcons.

Sure, the Cowboys will fight, scratch, claw and all the other "fight" synonyms you want to throw out there. But the problem is, they're not getting the first punch in – meaning they're not taking the fight to their opponent.

Please, please, please don't mistake this column as a "hey, at least they fought hard to the end" type of article. That's not what I'm saying at all. The Cowboys are paid professionals and supposed to fight for the full 60 minutes.

My point is that they're not ever first out of the blocks. And I'm not talking about kicking an early field goal and leading 3-0. I'm talking about this team getting the ball, whether it's on the opening kickoff or their first possession or to start the third quarter, and going down and making a statement.

It just hasn't happened – at all this entire season – and the Cowboys are paying for it.

They're just not good enough to play catch-up, especially with a defense that can't stop the run. When you're down, of course the opponent is going to run the ball, and this Cowboys team isn't equipped to keep playing from behind.

And if that doesn't ever get fixed this year, the Cowboys will continue having these types of games. Sure, it's admirable that they continue to fight – injuries and all. I'm certainly not going to dismiss what I saw from CeeDee Lamb out there today.

Yeah, it's so easy to assume guys like CeeDee get paid and then don't give the same effort. Well, if you believe that, watch these four quarters of football and wonder where he stands on the topic. His shoulder was basically hanging down for the entire second half, and he came out once or twice. But he still got back in there to catch a two-point conversion.

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

Jake Ferguson was pretty much in the same situation it seemed, limping in and out of the game in the second half. So yeah, they kept fighting. Even Dak Prescott had to fight for a few plays with the hamstring injury before he was pulled from the game.

Again, I'm not questioning their effort, heart, guts, intensity or anything like that. They turned this game into a six-point finish when it felt more like a blowout. They did the same last week against the 49ers and also against the Ravens.

But I've said this statement over and over during my time covering the Cowboys – teams can win and lose games in the middle of the week.

And it just seems to be happening over and over where the Cowboys are losing because of a lack of preparation. They don't seem to be ready for a full four quarters of execution.

Even in this game, sure, they had a nice start – by this year's standards – and got a stop on the first drive and moved the ball on offense with the first possession. But it's the little things. A false start here, illegal motion there, missed block here and 12-men in the huddle there. (Honestly I think I described one drive in the third quarter). But that's the epitome of what is hurting this team.

I don't think the Falcons are head and shoulders better than the Cowboys from a talent standpoint, but they don't have to be. Atlanta had four penalties for 26 yards and the Cowboys were flagged for nine penalties for 55 yards.

The Falcons didn't exactly play clean football themselves with a turnover and a missed extra-point. But they seemed to capitalize on the Cowboys' miscues when they had to.

When you add this whole thing up, the Cowboys had plenty of chances to win this game. But on offense they came up short too many times, on defense they just didn't make enough plays 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 guy keeps getting a par and the other one is getting bogeys. With each hole, it's just a 5 and 4 on the scorecard. Add it up at the end of the day, though, and it's an 18-stroke difference.

This final score wasn't that wide of a margin, but you get the point. The Cowboys were right there in just about every category but not good enough in the end.

And once again, it's because they definitely weren't good enough at the start.