Adrian Clayborn could face a backup left tackle for the second straight week

On a sliding scale of horrendous misfortunes, the Seattle Seahawks being down Duane Brown probably doesn’t beat out, say, being hit by a meteor. If Adrian Clayborn plays like he did against Dallas, however, it’s probably going to feel like that level of misfortune for Russell Wilson and company.

Some background: The Seahawks swung a big trade for Duane Brown at the deadline, surrendering a 2018 third rounder and 2019 second rounder in exchange for Brown and a Texans fifth rounder. That’s not a ton to give up for one of the league’s premier left tackles, and Seattle figured to get the kind of player who could actually solidify their constantly struggling line.

That has sort of happened, but Brown has been banged up and now appears likely to miss Monday night’s game against the Falcons. The rest of the Seattle line remains a disaster, by and large, and now the Seahawks face the prospect of starting Matt Tobin in his place.

Tobin has one start in the last two seasons, for the Philadelphia Eagles, and has spent a lot of time at guard in his career. He’s not Chaz Green, but he’s also not exactly an inspiring choice to protect Russell Wilson’s blind side after what Adrian Clayborn did to Green a week ago. It’s fair to suggest that this could be a major mismatch, one that could even swing the outcome of the game.

Wilson’s mobility and frankly wizardly pocket presence should ensure that Clayborn doesn’t get to repeat his six sack performance, however. As good as Dak Prescott is and will be, he can’t hang with Wilson as an escape artist, and the Falcons will still need to account for him at all times if they’re going to win this game. It just got significantly easier for this team to apply pressure and disrupt Wilson in the pocket, however, and that’s worth celebrating when the team’s sixth win over a key Wild Card rival is on the line.