Mike Smith, head coach for the Falcons, hasn’t ever presided over a thrashing like this.

Atlanta, in a defensive clunker of a game, got pummeled by Dallas on Sunday 37-21 at the new stadium for the Cowboys in front of 81,521 extremely happy fans.

Atlanta’s secondary, which was reeling already from losing cornerback Brian Williams last week to a knee injury ending his season, was thoroughly shredded by Tony Romo (21 of 29 on passing for a total of 311 yards), Cowboy’s quarterback, and Miles Austin (6 catches, 171 yards, 2 touchdowns), wide receiver. The rest of Atlanta’s team wasn’t so great either.

Maybe the Falcons were in awe of the Cowboys’ gigantic scoreboard in the new stadium. Or maybe Atlanta was just taking a big step backwards. The loss dropped their record to 4-2 and they now trail undefeated New Orleans in the NFC South by two games.

The 37 points given up by Atlanta were the most points that have ever been yielded under the coaching of Smith. The high previously was 30 points when the Falcons lost to Arizona in the playoffs. Atlanta’s defense wasn’t able to rush the pocket, cover down field, or tackle consistently.

Smith said, defensively we had opportunities for stopping them short of first down on some plays but didn’t do it. Our tackling needs work. It is something we take pride in.

The secondary struggled against Austin, the former free agent (Monmouth College) undrafted player, now in his fourth year and showing the Cowboys he isn’t just a player on special teams.

Smith said, Miles Austin had one big game and against two of our corners. It isn’t just the two corners. Off the spot we need to get to the quarterback.

After their strong opening 16 play drive where they scored a touchdown, the offense for the Falcons went to sleep. The team wasn’t able to mount any sort of serious scoring threat in their following five possessions. Three of those possessions were three and outs and two of them ended in turnovers.

Atlanta’s offensive line, which over the team’s last four games had protected their quarterback Matt Ryan and hadn’t given up a sack, had a lot of problems blocking for both the running game as well as pass protection. Ryan had two interceptions and two fumbles, losing one of the fumbles.

The Cowboys kicked a field goal and then took the lead for good at 10-7 during the first half when Austin had a 59 yard rushing touchdown with 5:50 to play before halftime. Dallas didn’t trail in the game again.

Thomas DeCoud said, the stars just seemed aligned for them.

At the end of the first half, Dallas added a touchdown to permanently swing the momentum their way.

Romo eluded a tackle from Jonathan Babineaux and was able to get free. He then got away from John Abraham, defensive end, and pulled together long enough to find Patrick Crayton who was in the end zone just six seconds before halftime.

DeCoud said, today he was Houdini. He was able to make some great escapes.

To open the second half Atlanta went on a long drive. Michael Turner, running back, capped the 87 yard, 12 play drive with a 2 yard run for the touchdown, making the score 17-14. Dallas however continued to exploit Atlanta’s secondary.

Austin had another big play, including a broken tackle as he scored from 22 yards for the touchdown.

Brent Grimes, cornerback for Atlanta said, when I look back, I took a wrong angle. I did not wrap my tackle up.

Grimes wasn’t Atlanta’s only defensive back having trouble with Austin.

Grimes said he has good size, referring to the 6’3″ 214 pound wide receiver. At the tops of routes he creates separation with his size. I saw that today. A couple of plays he made over the top.

Dallas kicker Nick Folk added a field goal from 46 yards before the game was blown wide open by Crayton on a punt return of 73 yards for a touchdown with just 8:38 minutes left in the game to make the score 34-14.

Smith said, this team recovers punts very well. These are alarms that need to be addressed.

Atlanta added a touchdown on a 30 yard catch by Eric Weems. The Cowboys tacked on another field goal from Folk to compete the scoring.

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