The Dallas Cowboys entered Sunday afternoon's game against the Atlanta Falcons in desperate need of a victory. Instead, not only are they trending towards falling two games below the .500 mark, but they're also now without quarterback Dak Prescott.

Prescott departed in the third quarter and was seen being tended to by team medical personnel on the sideline for what appeared to be a hand injury, but the official report from ESPN's Adam Schefter is that he suffered a hamstring injury and that his afternoon is over, via X.

Prior to his injury, Prescott completed 18 of 24 passing attempts for 133 yards and a touchdown.

Backup quarterback Cooper Rush is now under center for the Cowboys, who appear well on their way to falling to 3-5 through the first eight games of the 2024 season.

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott stated Sunday's game was imperative to win 

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) throws the ball against the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium.
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The struggles of the Cowboys this season are well documented, especially after team owner and general manager Jerry Jones promised to go “all in” during the offseason only to make minimal additions.

Entering Sunday's game against the Falcons, Prescott and the Cowboys viewed it as a “must-win” game to avoid falling to 3-5.

“Yeah, yeah. Hell, to me every game is but obviously 3-4, as I’ve said, lot of season left, but the first start to be able to say that confidently is getting back even, especially having a couple of home ones after that,” he said via Todd Archer on X. “Yeah.”

Instead, the Cowboys are going to be left once again picking up the pieces of a frustrating setback and go back to the drawing board before this season slips away from them.

The Cowboys next have two consecutive games at AT&T Stadium, first facing the rival Philadelphia Eagles one week from Sunday, followed by a matchup against the in-state rival Houston Texans on November 18.