ATLANTA -- If Dak Prescott was sore, he hid it well Sunday night after the Dallas Cowboys' 27-7 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

If he wasn’t sore, then adrenaline can really carry a player after a game.

Prescott was sacked eight times, six by defensive end Adrian Clayborn. Prescott had been sacked 10 times in the first eight games of the season. The most he had been sacked in one game was twice, in three different games.

As a rookie last year, he was sacked more than three times once. He was sacked four times in the first half by the Falcons.

“I’ve played football a long time,” Prescott said. “I’ve had games similar to that.”

Maybe one.

In his senior year at Mississippi State, he was sacked nine times, completing 22 of 43 passes for 300 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. He was running for his life for most of the 31-6 loss to Alabama.

The last time Jerry Jones saw something like Sunday came in 1991 in a 24-0 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

“I saw Troy Aikman get sacked 11 times against Philadelphia in one game many, many years ago,” the Cowboys owner and general manager said. “To say the least, I’m concerned about that. Very much. This was disappointing. I had hope initially but the facts we weren’t able to back them up tonight.”

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Prescott was blitzed on 12 percent of his dropbacks, the lowest blitz rate he has seen in his career. Facing four or fewer rushers, he was pressured a career-high 14 times. For the game, he was pressured 18 times.

He had a career-high 42 rushing yards on six carries, but most of the runs came on pass plays.

“Certainly, protecting the quarterback is where it all starts in the passing game,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “If you don’t do that very well you are going to have a hard time moving the ball through the air, and it really doesn’t matter what’s going on down the field. You have to protect first, and we didn’t do as good a job as we typically do in that area. We certainly have to look at it and find a way to get better.”

The Cowboys will be better if Tyron Smith can return from a groin strain. His replacement, Chaz Green, was responsible for four sacks. Byron Bell replaced Green with 8:18 remaining in the game and he gave up two sacks.

“Obviously you don’t have the time you want to throw, you can’t attack down the field like you want, but it’s hard for me to say it was all the time,” said Prescott, who threw for 176 yards on 20-of-30 passing. “I’ve got to look back and look at film. I could’ve got the ball out faster out some time, receivers come open, so it was a team deal tonight. It was a team loss. We’re all going to take credit. It sucked. But we’ll get better from it and use it to motivate us.”

Life was going to be difficult for the Cowboys, who didn't have Ezekiel Elliott for the first time this season because of a suspension. The final numbers are a bit deceiving: the Cowboys ran 21 times for 107 yards, which is respectable. Alfred Morris had 53 yards on 11 carries but had just eight yards on six carries in the first half.

“They came out and was like, ‘We’re going to stop the run game,’” Morris said.

As expertly as Prescott has played in his first two seasons, he has had Elliott next to him for every game except last year’s season finale at Philadelphia when coaches held out the running back. He had an offensive line that is the envy of the NFL most of the time. He has a bevy of weapons in Dez Bryant, Jason Witten and Cole Beasley.

“I’ve had a great offensive line playing with me, credit to those guys,” Prescott said. “I’m not going to lose confidence in any of them from one game. As I said, I’m not going to put everything on them, I’m going to look back at the film and see what we could’ve done better as a unit.”

Things don’t get easier with the 8-1 Eagles visiting AT&T Stadium next week. They have a defensive front that is better than Atlanta’s. The Cowboys won’t have Elliott and likely won’t have him again until Dec. 24 against the Seattle Seahawks.

Smith’s status will be up in the air and he has been troubled by back tightness and a hip strain in addition to the groin strain.

“Boy, I hope so,” Jones said when asked if Smith would be back for the Philadelphia game. “But candidly we’ve got a lot to work on.”