COWBOYS DUMPED
Without Elliott, Smith, Lee, Dallas finds itself overhwelmed
The Atlanta Falcons dismantle Dallas in its first game without Ezekiel Elliott
ATLANTA — The Dallas Cowboys likelihood of success against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was already minimal at best.
The Cowboys received a setback in a New York federal court on Thursday when star running back Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy was officially reinstated.
The irreparable harm of Elliott’s absence was noted, felt and real in a 27-7 loss.
But add in the injury losses to tackle Tyron Smith and linebacker Sean Lee and the Cowboys simply had no chance in what arguably was their worst performance of the season while coming off their best in a 28-17 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs last week.
“We didn’t handle the adversity of the day very well,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said.
The running game without Elliott was inept, save some scrambles by quarterback Dak Prescott.
But as much as Elliott is the foundation to their runoriented philosophy, the loss of Smith, the perennial Pro Bowler who was ruled out Saturday with groin injury, proved to be fatal.
Backup Chaz Green started in Smith’s place and offered little resistance in what was easily the worst performance by a Cowboys offensive lineman in years. He allowed six sacks to Falcons defensive end Adrian Clayborn and also had a holding penalty. It was one shy of the NFL record for
sacks in a game, held by Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas.
“We couldn’t slow them down,” Garrett said. “They put heat on the quarterback all day long.”
The Cowboys allowed eight sacks, the most since Troy Aikman, who happened to be calling the game for Fox, was dropped for 11 sacks by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1991.
Prescott, who rarely saw a clean pocket, completed 19 of 29 passes for 176 yards.
“Overall, we didn’t protect well enough,” Garrett said.
Elliott and Green’s importance on offense is only offset by Lee’s importance to the defense.
The Cowboys got an early interception off Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Cornerback Anthony Brown tipped a pass intended for Julio Jones that rookie safety Xavier Woods caught, and it led to an 11-yard touchdown run by Prescott and a 7-0 lead.
But Lee re-aggravated a hamstring injury late in the first quarter.
“When he’s out, there’s a void,” Garrett said of Lee.
It’s a huge loss for the Cowboys (5-4) and puts them further behind the Eagles (8-1) in the NFC East standings.
While the Cowboys have two games left against the Eagles, the division race is largely over. What matters now is staying in wild-card contention. The overall performance certainly does little for the team’s confidence heading into next Sunday night’s showdown against the Eagles at AT&T Stadium.
The Cowboys talked all week about feeling confident about their chances of winning without Elliott. How about without Elliott, Lee and Smith?
And that’s not even including kicker Dan Bailey, the most accurate kicker in NFL history, who remains sidelined with a groin injury.