Cowboys 'Pissed Off', Falcons Coach Raheem Morris says

Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris expects the Dallas Cowboys to enter Sunday's meeting angry after two consecutive losses.

The Atlanta Falcons are expecting a steep challenge from a motivated Dallas Cowboys team in Sunday's matchup. / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons (5-3) and Dallas Cowboys (3-4) enter their Week 9 matchup headed in different directions.

Atlanta has won four of its last five games and sits atop the NFC South. Energy is high, and the Falcons have plenty of momentum behind their back.

Dallas, meanwhile, has lost its last two games and is at a drama-filled crossroads. The Cowboys have two defeats by at least 25 points and two others by one score.

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Closely covered and highly scrutinized, the Cowboys will enter Week 9 under immense external pressure to win -- and Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said he's expecting Dallas to come out with urgency.

"This is a good football team," Morris said in his press conference Monday. "They're going to come in here angry and pissed off, and we better be ready."

The Falcons and Cowboys haven't met since Nov. 14, 2021, when Dallas took a 43-3 win. Dallas came into that game angry and pissed off after being embarrassed at home by a bad Denver Broncos team 30-16. The Cowboys have won the last three meetings.

Granted, the Falcons are entirely new. Morris is in his first season as Atlanta's head coach, and the team boasts several big-named faces in key places, headlined by quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Yet neither Cousins nor Morris have much prior success against Dallas.

Cousins has a career record of 2-9 against America's Team, going 1-6 as a member of the now-Washington Commanders and 1-3 with the Minnesota Vikings.

Morris, meanwhile, suffered defeats of 22-10 and 43-20 the past two years as the Los Angeles Rams' defensive coordinator. The Falcons are 11-17 all-time against the Cowboys.

This season, the two teams have a pair of common opponents, as Atlanta lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1 and took down the New Orleans Saints in Week 4, while Dallas lost to New Orleans in Week 2 but beat the Steelers in Week 5.

Morris said the Cowboys have plenty of talent on both sides of the ball, name-dropping quarterback Dak Prescott, receiver CeeDee Lamb, cornerback Trevon Diggs and linebacker Micah Parsons.

"On offense, we know those two guys, Dak and CeeDee, and what they've been able to do and how impressive they are," Morris said. "Diggs is on the defense. He's still playing. And Micah, if he comes back and is ready to go, we definitely got to have some attention brought to him and think of some of the things we need to do."

Yet perhaps most importantly, the Falcons need to ensure the Cowboys' prospective anger doesn't turn into a fast, irrecoverable start -- which could prove detrimental to Atlanta's hopes of secure its first non-NFC South home win of the season.

The Falcons and Cowboys will kick off at 1 p.m. Sunday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta is considered a 3.0-point favorite against America's Team.

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