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Cowboys miss Tyron Smith more than Ezekiel Elliott

Scott Cunningham / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Ezekiel Elliott finished fourth in MVP voting last year, and if he wasn't suspended for the next five games then he'd likely be in the mix again this season, but the Dallas Cowboys showed Sunday their left tackle is just as - if not more - important.

Four-time All-Pro lineman Tyron Smith was sidelined by a back injury against the Atlanta Falcons, and quarterback Dak Prescott may now have a pretty bad back as a result.

Prescott was under complete and utter siege all afternoon, as Falcons pass-rusher Adrian Clayborn dominated Smith's fill-in, third-year pro Chaz Green.

Clayborn finished the game with a franchise-record six sacks - after only recording 7.5 sacks over the previous two seasons combined - and made Green look incompetent again and again.

"That pretty embarrassing play," FOX broadcaster Troy Aikman, normally reserved in his commentary, said of Green at one point, as transcribed by NFL Network's Rich Eisen. "It's about as bad as I've seen anyone get beat in a football game in all my years of watching football."

Admittedly, the running game isn't as strong without Elliott in the lineup as it is when he's in there. But even he has only averaged 4.1 yards per carry this season.

And while it didn't always look pretty against the Falcons, as a team, the Cowboys still averaged 4.9 yards per rush. Alfred Morris went for 53 yards on 11 carries, though he only mustered 19 yards on the nine carries that sandwiched his back-to-back big runs of 14 and 20 yards.

Prescott, meanwhile, spent the day picking himself up off the ground. And when he wasn't, he was getting rid of the ball earlier than usual. With the pass-rush getting to him almost instantaneously, Prescott wouldn't dare to so much as dream about trying to stretch the field. He averaged just 6.1 yards per pass attempt, the second-lowest figure he's registered this year.

And one look at Prescott's face Sunday should be enough to know that Smith - not Elliott - was the Cowboys' most valuable missing star.

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