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

Atlanta has won four of its last five games and sits atop the NFC South. The energy is high and the Falcons have a lot of momentum behind their backs.

Dallas, meanwhile, has lost its last two games and finds itself at a crossroads. The Cowboys have two losses by at least 25 points and two others by one score.

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Heavily covered and heavily scrutinized, the Cowboys will enter Week 9 under immense outside pressure to win — and Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said he expected Dallas to come forward urgently.

“They’re a good football team,” Morris said during his press conference Monday. “They’re going to come here angry and upset, and we better be ready.”

The Falcons and Cowboys have not met since November 14, 2021, when Dallas won 43-3. Dallas came into this game angry and upset 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 has several big-name faces at key spots, headlined by quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Yet neither Cousins ​​nor Morris had much success against Dallas.

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

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

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

Morris said the Cowboys have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, quarterback said Dak Prescottreceiver Lamb CeeDeecornerback 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 defense. He’s still playing. And Micah, if he comes back and is ready to go, we definitely need to give him some attention and think about some of the things we need to do.”

But perhaps more importantly, the Falcons need to make sure the Cowboys’ potential upset doesn’t turn into a quick, unrecoverable departure — which could prove detrimental to Atlanta’s hopes of securing its first home win non-NFC South season.

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

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