All-Pro Ezekiel Elliott had his first 100-yard performance in a Week 2 win on the road against the Washington Redskins. After 48 yards on 11 carries in the first half, Elliott had only 36 yards in the second half until a 27-yard run pushed his overall total to 111 yards on 23 carries. Exactly the kind of yardage and attempts you would expect from your bell cow. However, the last three weeks have been a little different as his carries have diminished each game. It hasn’t been from a lack of commitment to the run game per se, but sometimes certain game situations force you to adjust your gameplan.
When the Miami Dolphins came to town in Week 3 they were considered by many to be the worst team in the league. That all sounds good on paper but games are played on the field, and as we all know, every team gets fired up for the Dallas Cowboys. The first half saw the Cowboys score ten quick points on their first couple of possessions but they wouldn’t score again before halftime. The one bright spot was Elliott who ran for 86 yards on 13 carries as the Cowboys led 10-6.
The Cowboys jumped all over Miami with back to back touchdowns from Amari Cooper and Dak Prescott to start the second half pushing the lead to 24-6. Elliott wasn’t really needed much after that point and his last carry came with under nine minutes remaining in the game. This allowed rookie Tony Pollard to take over the fourth quarter with 74 yards on 8 carries, and keep Elliott fresh for a showdown with the New Orleans Saints a week later.
In all, Elliott ran for 125 yards on 19 carries, extremely productive and not taxing on the body. Pollard running for 103 yards himself allowed Elliott to stay on the sidelines and rest up for the next game.
In Week 4 the Cowboys faced the Saints on the road in prime time. Unfortunately for Elliott, this would be a game where his offensive line would get manhandled for four quarters. This put the Cowboys in quite a few second/third and long situations because Elliott seemingly saw gold helmets in his face immediately after taking each handoff. He would only rush for 35 yards on 18 carries, less than two yards per attempt.
In these situations when an offense can’t muster anything on the ground you simply stick with it just to keep the defense honest and not become one-dimensional. The flow of the game, in this case, dictated that Elliott wouldn’t see a lot of touches with his offensive line getting dominated.
This past Sunday against the Green Bay Packers could’ve been a monster day for Elliott considering he would be going up against the 26th ranked run defense, but like the previous two weeks, the flow of the game forced a different scenario. The first half saw the Cowboys invade Packers territory on three consecutive drives, but one stalled due to a sack and the other two ended with interceptions. Elliott had 60 yards on 10 carries in the first half but the Cowboys found themselves in a 17-0 hole.
That deficit quickly ballooned to 31-3 in the second half and virtually took Elliott out of the game. He had only two carries after halftime and finished with just 62 yards on 12 carries. Early turnovers put the Cowboys behind so much that the only way to get back in the game was to air it out the rest of the way.
Given the way the previous three games have unfolded no one should be overly concerned at this point about Elliott’s carries going down. The Cowboys simply adjusted to what was happening on the field and in these cases. Elliott was either not needed or taken out of the gameplan.
This Sunday against the New York Jets the Cowboys will be facing a good defensive front seven. I would still expect Elliott to be used early and often to establish what the Cowboys do best which is run to set up the play-action passing game.
Dallas is having their weaknesses exposed and there are a few. Their “great offensive line” has had trouble keeping good pass rushers out of Prescotts face long enough to throw a pass, let alone making running lanes for their $90 million running back. There has been little or no run defense to speak of either. The last 2 games the Cowboys defense has been trampled trying to stop the opposing RBs. Their OC has taken the same lame plays from Scott Linehan’s offense, and put in a few tricks here and there, but so far nothing to surprise anyone, and Jason Garrett is still the same “wooden Indian” HC standing on the sidelines, just staring into oblivion.
Everyone was talking about how this was a SB team this year……again!! Right know with the way this team is playing and the way they are coached it will be a miracle if they finish with a respectable record. There is no way this team is a SB caliber team, not with still having to face teams like the Eagles (twice) the Patriots, the Bears, and the Bills just to name a few. These teams are all hungry for a championship and they all have good coaching staffs and good front office management, something the Cowboys haven’t had in over 20 years. Until the Cowboys get that good coaching staff and front office management they will never be a SB team. It is time to do a complete rebuild of the coaching staff at the very least. Jason Garrett is not getting it done when it counts.
YES SIR!!!!! Omg !!!!! Preach!!!
Agree on the D line issues, and also on your assessment of Garrett. Don’t believe you can lay blame on entire coaching staff. I blame Marinelli’ on the D line for sure and esp. his stubborn refusal to rethink what he looks for in a 1-Tech. Trysten Hill is on Marinelli/Richard. However, some of this is just a rehash of 20 years of the same memes. No one expected LVE and Jaylon to be this bad after last year. NO ONE! I blame Richard for how poorly our secondary perform as at turnovers. Look, Jerruh aint quitting as GM, at least until he hands things over to Stephen. G-d help us if McClay finally decides to leave for a better offer. I think Kellne Moore was expected to go through growing pains adjusting as a 1st year OC. Soem things are easier to fix then others. I personally think the culture of the team as set forth by Garrett lacks a killer mindset. Not an anthony gonzalez/ray carruthers literal killer mindset mind you, but a “We’re gonna find a way to kill these Saints and Packers. I don’t care if they beat those 3 1-8 teams…I want a quality win against the Eagles next week!!!
Why Dallas ran ZERO screens vs Saints is mind numbing. A great way to slow a pass rush, not to mention get a very talented pair of RBs the ball in space. Nor do I understand why Dallas attacks the middle not the edges in their running game.