Smith Injures Leg as Cowboys Lose : NFC: Running back leaves game in first half, and Atlanta ends Dallas’ seven-game winning streak, 27-14.

A bruised right quadriceps ended Emmitt Smith’s afternoon two minutes before halftime, and the Atlanta Falcons stopped the Dallas Cowboys’ seven-game winning streak Sunday, 27-14.

“I took a knee to the quad,” Smith said. “I’ll take whatever treatment is necessary and see how it goes.”

“The good thing is that we can go again in three days,” he said. Dallas plays on Thanksgiving Day against Miami.

Atlanta’s swarming defense, which shut out the Rams last week, blanked Dallas for nearly three quarters. Deion Sanders, one of the Falcons’ best defenders, also contributed on offense by catching a 70-yard touchdown pass and high-stepping to the end zone with 3:51 remaining.

Even before Smith was injured, he did little. The Falcons limited him to only one yard on one carry and nine yards on four catches.

“I was very upset,” Smith said. “We were doing things on the field that we usually don’t do. We weren’t doing anything right.”

The defending Super Bowl champion Cowboys (7-3) had been unbeaten since Smith came back from a two-game salary holdout to start the season. Bernie Kosar, playing his second game for injured Troy Aikman, threw touchdown passes late in the third and fourth quarters.

“Anytime you are missing a key player, you won’t play as well,” Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson said of Aikman’s absence. “That wasn’t an individual performance that lost for us today. It was our team that didn’t play well today.”

Atlanta (4-6) set the tone with the game’s first possession, a 73-yard, 14-play drive that took 8:48 off the clock and ended on Norm Johnson’s 26-yard field goal.

The Cowboys netted only one yard, punted and then saw the Falcons drive 60 yards in 15 more plays. Johnson capped it with a 24-yard field goal--his 24th consecutive successful kick, five shy of the league record.

Atlanta held the Cowboys to only one first down and 25 yards in the first half and yielded only 230 yards for the game, the first time Dallas failed to net at least 300 yards this season.

Bobby Hebert took care of the Falcon offense, completing 24 of 32 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns.

Hebert connected with Mike Pritchard for two of the scores, from 13 yards in the second quarter and 10 yards in the third, giving Atlanta a 20-0 lead.

Pritchard had six receptions for 71 yards.

Sanders went in with the offense as a wide receiver with 4:02 remaining in the game. He took a short pass at the 35 from Hebert and broke clear almost immediately for the touchdown.

Kosar, making his first start for the Cowboys since being released by Cleveland, completed a one-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to Scott Galbraith with 41 seconds remaining in the third and a 28-yarder to Kevin Williams to end a 76-yard drive with 1:30 remaining in the game.