'Completely clueless': Dallas Cowboys complete unlikely comeback win as Atlanta Falcons seem to FORGET vital kick rules (VIDEO)

NFL's Atlanta Falcons snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on Sunday after they appeared to forget the rules which apply to an onside-kick, handing the Dallas Cowboys a late possession to complete a remarkable comeback win.

With the minutes ticking towards zero, the result of the game appeared a formality. Bolstered by an impressive early sequence of scoring, the Falcons had extended a sizeable advantage against Mike McCarthy's Cowboys.

All they had to do to secure the victory was to complete one of football's easier tasks: recover an onside-kick - and they most likely would have done had some of their player been more acquainted with the rules.

As Greg Zuerlein's kick slowly corkscrewed across the ground and towards the halfway line, any number of Falcons players could have retrieved it as an array of Cowboys tracked the ball, knowing that it must travel ten yards before they can compete for it.

The problem was, the Falcons defenders wanted to let it travel for ten yards too - despite them being eligible to compete for it from the moment it leaves Zuerlein's foot. 

Dallas’s CJ Goodwin grabbed the ball and, with a tangible sense of inevitability of what was to happen next, quarterback Dak Prescott found CeeDee Lamb on the right flank to set Zuerlein up for the game winning field goal. 

After trailing by 15 points with just five minutes to go, the Cowboys wound out on top in the breathless encounter sealing a remarkable 40-39 comeback win. For context, teams losing by 15 or more points with five minutes remaining in the game have lost 99.2% of the time across the last 20 NFL seasons. 

Since the NFL changed its kickoff rules in 2018, just seven of 109 onside kicks had been recovered by the kicking team, further underlining the rarity of what happened, as well as the error from the Falcons hands team. 

Afterwards, Falcons coach Dan Quinn told the media that his players were fully aware of the rules - but the video evidence suggests otherwise. 

"They definitely know the rule," Quinn said. "To lose one today when we do spend a good bit of time on [onside kicks], that certainly hurt."