Clayborn has 6 sacks vs. Elliott-less Dallas
ATLANTA — The Cowboys knew it would be tough to get by without Ezekiel Elliott.
Turns out, they missed Tyron Smith even more.
With their starting left tackle sidelined by back and groin injuries, the Cowboys surrendered six sacks to Adrian Clayborn in one of the greatest pass-rushing performances in NFL history.
The result: a 27-7 loss to the Falcons on Sunday.
“The next man up has to be ready on a moment’s notice,” Dallas head coach Jason Garrett said. “We didn’t handle the adversity of the day.”
After three legal reprieves, Elliott finally began serving a six-game suspension for allegations of domestic abuse. There was certainly no replacing a dynamic back who led the league in rushing as a rookie.
Alfred Morris started in Elliott’s place and broke off a 20-yard run, but he didn’t have much of an impact after that. He finished with 11 carries for 53 yards.
Rod Smith carried three times for 14 yards, and Darren McFadden was stuffed for a 2-yard loss on his lone run.
“We became one-dimensional,” Morris said. “We got behind. I take full ownership of that. We’ll learn from this game.”
Chaz Green certainly has a lot to learn.
The third-year lineman replaced Smith — and spent most of the game grasping at air.
Clayborn was simply too quick off the edge, blowing by Smith time after time.
“It was more me not sticking to what I know,” Green said. “A lot of my issues were self-inflicted. It just hurts because I feel I let the team down.”
Clayborn, who had two sacks on the season and 22.5 in his seven-year career before Sunday, broke the Atlanta team record and equaled the secondmost sacks by any player in a game.
Only the great Derrick Thomas has ever been credited with more, recording seven sacks for Kansas City in a 1990 game against the Seahawks.
Clayborn also forced two fumbles by Dak Prescott and recovered one of them, simply ripping the ball out of the quarterback’s hands.
“Give them a lot of credit for completely compromising everything we did offensively,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
With the running game bogged down and Prescott running for his life, the Cowboys (5-4) didn’t get much going offensively against an Atlanta team that had lost four of five games.
Dallas finished with only 233 yards.
In all, Prescott was sacked eight times — just two fewer sacks than he endured through the Cowboys’ first eight games.
“When we got in those passing situations, we couldn’t slow them down,” Garrett said. “We didn’t protect well enough, and they put too much pressure on Dak.”
As for Elliott’s case, the Cowboys are set to do without him for a while.
“He intends to come back with a fresh approach,” Jones said. “He’s learning things every day. What I want for Zeke is that he is a better person.”