Bag of sacks
Clayborn ties team record as Falcons beat Cowboys
ATLANTA — Adrian Clayborn must have thought he was the one replacing Ezekiel Elliott in the Dallas backfield.
Clayborn spent most of Sunday running around back there, making life miserable for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott with one of the greatest pass-rushing performances in NFL history.
A solid player but hardly a star, Clayborn set an Atlanta record with six sacks and forced a pair of fumbles to lead the Falcons past the Cowboys 27-7. Both teams moved to 5-4 after a game that showed just how much Dallas missed one of its key offensive players.
No, not Elliott, though that was certainly a blow. After three legal reprieves, the star running back began serving a six-game suspension for allegations of domestic abuse.
The Cowboys were also without left tackle Tyron Smith, who couldn’t go because of groin and back injuries. Third-year pro Chaz Green stepped into the spot and proceeded to have a thoroughly miserable day trying to stop Clayborn.
Leaving Green grasping at air, Clayborn blew by him to force two fumbles — one of which he recovered by ripping the ball away from Prescott — and surpass the team record of five sacks in a game, held by Chuck Smith and Hall of Famer Claude Humphrey.
“You always envision it,” Clayborn said. “I was finally in my groove.”
He matched the second-most sacks in NFL history. Fred Dean, Derrick Thomas and Osi Umenyiora are the only other players credited with at least six sacks in a game, while Thomas holds the league record with seven for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 11, 1990.
Clayborn had more sacks in this game than he has had in any other season except for his rookie year (2011), when he had 7.5. He came into Sunday with two sacks this year and 22.5 over his seven-year career.
“AC went crazy today,” Falcons receiver Julio Jones said.
Simply put, Green couldn’t cope with Clayborn’s speed.
“It just hurts because I feel I let the team down,” Green said. “I’ve just got to
get better. It’s on me.”
The Cowboys started former Pro Bowl pick Alfred Morris at running back, but he didn’t have much of an impact beyond a 20-yard run. He finished with 53 yards on 11 carries.
Rod Smith ran three times 14 yards, while Darren McFadden was thrown for a 2-yard loss on his lone carry. Prescott chipped in with 42 yards on six carries.
While Clayborn and the defense dominated the Elliott-less Cowboys, Matt Ryan threw a pair of short touchdown passes and reached 40,000 career passing yards in fewer games than any other quarterback in NFL history. Ryan has 40,073 yards in 151 games, surpassing the previous mark of 152 held by Drew Brees.
Ryan hooked up with Justin Hardy on a 3-yard pass for Atlanta’s first offensive touchdown in the third quarter this season. Early in the fourth, Ryan put the game away for the Falcons by tossing one to Austin Hooper for a 1-yard score.
Things started promisingly enough for the Cowboys, who jumped ahead 7-0 on Prescott’s 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The score was set up by Xavier Woods’ interception off a deflected pass.
Atlanta took control from there, ending the
Cowboys’ three-game winning streak. After Matt Bryant’s 50-yard field goal, Tevin Coleman powered over from the 1 to give Atlanta a 10-7 halftime lead.
The third quarter had been a trouble spot for the Falcons, whose only touchdown in the period had come way back in the second week on Desmond Trufant’s fumble return. Atlanta had managed only one field goal in the third quarter its previous five games, a major reason it lost four of those contests.
Coleman, who took over the running duties after Devonta Freeman went out early in the game with a concussion, got the Falcons rolling on the first play of the second half with a 17-yard romp. Ryan went to Jones with a 24-yard pass on the next play, and just like that Atlanta was in Dallas territory.
On third-and-goal at the 3, Hardy slipped free in the back of the end zone and hauled in the scoring pass that pushed Atlanta’s lead to 17-7.
The last hope for Dallas faded away when Mike Nugent, filling in for injured kicker Dan Bailey, clanked a 38-yard field goal attempt off the upright late in the third quarter. Atlanta marched right down the field again, and Ryan went to Taylor Gabriel on a 34-yard pass before connecting with Hooper from the 1.