I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Dallas Cowboys Running Back Ezekiel Elliott is just 1-2 in his career against the New York Giants. I know, I was little shocked to discover this after doing a little research ahead of this NFC East division rival game scheduled to take place this coming Sunday night.
The Dallas Cowboys may be 2-2 against the Giants the past two seasons, but Ezekiel Elliott has only been able to play in three of these contests due to his shortened 2017 season because of the league mandated suspension. Otherwise, things would likely be even between these two ball clubs.
I know we can't place the Cowboys win/loss record solely at the feet of Zeke, but he is the driving force of this team and the New York Giants know it. That's why it was no surprise to hear Giants Safety Landon Collins admit that they are planning to contain #21 as much as possible in order to put the game on Quarterback Dak Prescott's shoulders. They believe that is their best chance of coming away with a victory.
After last week's struggles on offense in both the passing and running game, Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan will without a doubt want to hit the ground running (pun intended). Establishing the running game with Zeke early will not only set the tempo of the game, but could end up determining the outcome as well.
I believe Ezekiel Elliott is ready for the challenge laid down by Landon Collins. He knows opposing defenses are going to stack the box against him to try to shut down the running game. They've been doing it ever since he entered the league. But, he may be playing with a little more of a chip on his shoulder than usual.
Sundays game will feature arguably two of the most physically gifted running backs in the entire league, Ezekiel Elliott and rookie Saquon Barkley. Both players were highly touted coming out of college, and surprisingly enough that is where a friendship developed between the two.
Back in 2015 Zeke's Ohio State Buckeye's handed Barkley's Penn State Nittany Lions a 38-10 whooping. It was the first time these two had met, but they ended up keeping in touch with one another and developed a friendship. Now, they will once again square off against one another as division rivals, hopefully with Zeke's team being victorious once again.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if these two had a little a little wager as to who will have the better game. You know how it is when you're competing against one of your friends. You want to be the one that who comes out on top so that you can rag on your friend. It's probably the same between these two.
I personally believe Saquon Barkley already owes Ezekiel Elliott a little bit of thanks. If not for Zeke's early NFL success, the New York Giants might not have taken Barkley 2nd overall in this years draft. The Giants have seen firsthand what a dominant running game can do for the offense having faced the Cowboys twice a year. So, they likely followed suit.
Although performing better than Barkley may be one of Elliott's side goals Sunday night, he would probably trade it all for the team victory. He probably thinks very little of his 1-2 record against the Giants, but you can bet he wouldn't mind evening the score with a victory Sunday night.
