Limiting Cowboys star Elliott key for Falcons
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons’ defense has one primary goal entering today’s home game against the Dallas Cowboys: Slow down Ezekiel Elliott and make Dak Prescott try to beat them with his arm.
The Falcons will need all their resources to corral Elliott, who leads the NFL with 93 runs of 10 or more yards over the past three years.
Atlanta coach Dan Quinn said his defense, which gave up 211 rushing yards in last week’s road loss to the Cleveland Browns, must maintain gap control against such a patient, powerful running back.
“He can wait to set up a block and stick his foot in the ground and really explode,” Quinn said. “Oftentimes, you can see him take a handoff and see a read about to happen, then he can change the direction and really explode. I would say the second piece of that is he’s really effective as a pass catcher, too.”
Both teams are 4-5 and trying to maintain fading hopes of staying in the playoff hunt.
Atlanta’s struggling defense hoped to get a boost from the return of middle linebacker Deion Jones, who hasn’t played since breaking his right foot in the season opener, but he was ruled out Friday, a couple of days after rejoining the active roster. When healthy, Jones is the Falcons’ best defender. He calls the plays, is stout against the run and is fast enough to handle running backs and receivers in coverage.
Jones’ injury and season-ending surgeries for starting safeties Ricardo Allen and Keanu Neal have been too much for the Falcons to overcome. They rank third-worst in average yards allowed per game (414.3) and fourth-worst in scoring average (28.2).
Elliott is coming off a dazzling performance, with the third-year pro turning 19 carries and six catches into 187 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in last Sunday night’s road win against the Philadelphia Eagles. But the Cowboys had to stay the course early when Elliott had just 7 yards through the team’s first two possessions.
“Honestly, at the beginning, it was a little bit tough sledding,” Elliott said. “We made some good adjustments. We have to have the same mentality going into this game.”