Falcons defensive Vic Beasley, who was drafted to help improve the pass rush, turned in his first big sack of his career.
With the Falcons holding a 32-28 lead, the Cowboys had the ball and were trying to rally.
On third-and-3 from Dallas’ 27 yard line, Beasley came off the edge and in low to tackle Dallas quarterback Brandon Weeden for a sack to force a punt. It was Beasley’s second sack of the season. He also had one last week against the Giants.
“I was pleased that I was able to make a big play,” said Beasley, who was drafted eight overall out of Clemson. “I think it gave us some momentum for the offense. We were able to go punch it in after that. I can still improve on my part.”
The offense, which put up 25 unanswered points in the second half, put the game on ice with an 11-play, 62-yard drive that wiped 6:14 off the clock.
Beasley was part of the defense which took some major shots from the Cowboys early, before rebounding to play a strong second half.
The Cowboys has 131 yards rushing at halftime and were held to minus 4 yards rushing in the second half.
“I think we just tried to focus on the fundamentals and do what we do best,” said Beasley, who finished with two tackles. “That’s play in the opponent’s backfield. We came out with that mindset in the second half.”
Beasley said the locker room scene at halftime was not very pretty.
“The coaches were disappointed,” Beasley said. “We don’t like to have the ball run on us. We did a poor job in the first half. We were able to come in at half time and get things straight.”
The Falcons linebackers were mainly being victimized as the united missed five tackles in the Cowboys first two drives of the game.
“It was a challenge,” Beasley said. “Our backs were against the wall. We just had to go out there and prove ourselves over and over and we were able to hold them to zero points in the second half.”
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