FRISCO, Texas — So often in the NFL, effort can defeat talent. It's a good thing for Alijah Clark he has both, and he made sure the entire world knew it when the Dallas Cowboys needed him most against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Clark won't get a chance to truly sit with the impact of his special teams play, seeing as the Kansas City Chiefs will arrive on Thanksgiving, but the play itself was truly unforgettable — knocked to the ground twice before being blocked in the back (uncalled) and still churning forward to lay a hit on the returner that shook the stadium, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Dallas deep in Eagles' territory.
It's become the definition of teaching tape, and Clark said the message he wanted to send isn't simply about grit and relentlessness on the football field, especially given his fight to ascend from humble beginnings to the ranks of the NFL and a roster spot with the Cowboys.
"It's a bigger message than just a football play," said the undrafted rookie. "Just, pretty much, you get knocked down, get back up. Just keep trying. The worst thing you can do is stop trying. You can either get made a clown or you could have a viral moment."
He also went on to describe exactly what went through his mind as the play went on, his lifetime disdain for the Eagles — as a native of Camden, New Jersey — helping to fuel his wrath.
"I'm about to get back up," he said to himself after each knockdown. "I know everybody is watching back at home, too, and it's the Eagles, so I ain't about to let nobody from Philly put their hands on me like that."
It also goes to why he thrived as a special teams gunner at Syracuse, and why he will likely continue to do so in Dallas, namely because the young safety loves rattling the oppositions' teeth.
"I get to just play free, and then it's just violence at the end," Clark smiled and said. "Whoever is the most violent is going to win the rep."
An added plot twist exists in his Week 12 story though, and it's one that shows just how interwoven things can be in the NFL. As noted, Clark grew up in Camden and, in the days preceding the Cowboys' matchup against the hated Eagles, there was a viral video of elementary school children punching bags in the school hallway that had faces of Cowboys taped to them.
As it turns out, that school is attended by Clark's nephew, Jyion, and the security guard in the video is a former security guard at Camden High School, where Clark is an alum. His nephew did not participate in the punching bag session and instead immediately called his uncle to make sure that was understood, and Clark used what he saw — including the presence of the familiar security guard leading the hate-filled charge — to power up even more.
"I was just looking like, 'OK, we're going to show y'all when we get the chance,'" he said. "Yeah, a little extra boost to me."
That boost launched him right through the chestplate of the Eagles and onto every teaching tape in the nation from that day forward.
