It’s tough for a fanbase to maintain hope for a season when their team isn’t winning. As long as there are games remaining on a schedule, anything is possible, but when a club continues to suffer major injuries to augment their self-inflicted wounds, sooner or later people stop believing.

And that’s for the ones who believed in the first place. The Dallas Cowboys lost quarterback Dak Prescott to a hamstring injury in the third quarter of their game against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 9. He wasn’t the only one who was knocked out of the contest, either. Wideout CeeDee Lamb had several instances where he was in clear shoulder pain.

In the end, it may not have mattered whether they were healthy for the full contest, as the Atlanta Falcons defense was able to corral the Dallas offense while their own O was efficient throughout a 27-13 win.

The defeat drops the Cowboys to 3-5 on the season, with back-to-back home dates against the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans next up on the slate.

In this contest, Prescott had been playing well, completing 75% of his throws without turning the ball over. Rush acquitted himself well in relief, adding 115 passing yards and a late score to Jalen Tolbert to give Dallas a last-second chance until the on-side kick failed.