The Dallas Cowboys entered Sunday's matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs feeling really good about themselves. They were coming off a 43-3 drubbing they put on the Atlanta Falcons, were sitting at 7-2 and playing well on both sides of the ball. They held an almost insurmountable division lead in the NFC East and had sights set on the #1 seed.

The Cowboys will leave Kansas City banged up and with their tail between their legs following a 19-9 defeat. Trust me, the score was not indicative of how bad the game really was and it left Kansas City players dancing.

 

Here are the key takeaways from Sunday's loss to the Chiefs.

The Dallas Cowboys now face some very serious health questions. On Friday, it was announced the Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper would miss the next two games after contracting COVID-19. But hey, they have CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup had just come back from injury. No problem, right? Wrong.

The first few possessions, Kansas City doubled Lamb on almost all of his routes. That forced Gallup and fellow receiver Cedrick Wilson to try and win one on one. Neither were able to gain any separation. Ezekiel Elliot could not get anything going on the ground and the Cowboys fell into an early 16-3 hole.

Shortly before halftime, CeeDee Lamb banged his head off the ground and received a concussion. He left the game and did not return.

Lamb has since entered the league's concussion protocol. He very likely could miss the Cowboys next game, which is Thursday in their annual Thanksgiving Day game. So, it appears Dallas will be without both Cooper and Lamb for that game.

As we saw Sunday, when Prescott does not have either of those two receivers on the field, there is very little room for him to deliver the ball. Gallup and Wilson simply are not close to the same level players as those two.

Also in the first half, All Pro running back Ezekiel Elliot rolled up on his ankle while being tackled out of bounds. He missed a few series and although he returned to the game, he never looked explosive upon his re-entry.

All Pro left tackle Tyron Smith still can't seem to get past his ankle injury. Demarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory and Neville Gallimore are all still trying to work their way off of injured reserve. The injuries are piling up for the Cowboys.

With Sunday's loss, combined with the Philadelphia Eagles win over the New Orleans Saints, even the NFC East is not entirely a lock. I am not silly enough to argue that the Cowboys are not still the prohibited favorites in the division. They are 2.5 games ahead of the Eagles and have already beaten them once.

But these are the Eagles next five games in order: Giants, Jets, Washington, Giants, Washington.

They could very easily go 4-1 during that stretch. If Jalen Hurts continues to play the way he has lately, it could get tighter than Cowboys fans would like.

It stands to reason that without their top two wide receivers vs the Las Vegas Raiders Thursday, they could struggle to score again and drop that game. The final game of the season sees the Cowboys playing in Philadelphia. It may not be likely, but knowing it's the Cowboys, that scenario is not entirely out of the question.

On the bright side, the Cowboys defense appears to be for real. The offense sputtered Sunday with only 276 yards of offense. But the flip side is they held the Chiefs offense in check. They picked off Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, sacked him three times and forced a fumble that the Cowboys recovered.

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Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce had decent days, but nothing to write home about. They forced Mahomes to look uncomfortable in the pocket all day. Despite the offense failing to move the ball, the defense kept them in the game throughout. Every time it looked like the Chiefs would blow the game open, the Cowboys defense stepped up. It was very impressive.

Following the Thanksgiving Day game vs the Raiders, Dallas will travel to New Orleans to face off against the suddenly free-falling Saints. The schedule gets lighter after that, with two games against the Washington Football Team sandwiched around a game against the rival New York Giants.

That sets up what could be the most important game of the season. In Week 17, the Cowboys host the Arizona Cardinals in what could be the game for the only first round bye at stake. But in order for that to happen, they need to get healthy, and take care of business.