More than two weeks after suffering a knee sprain in a win over Detroit, Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is still taking it easy. The team elected to hold him out of the Week 8 meeting with Chicago in hopes that the extra rest would help him be that much stronger for the entire second half of the season and playoffs.
Elliott did not practice on Monday, according to head coach Mike McCarthy, but is said to be “making great progress.” Elliott is expected to take the field when Dallas visits Green Bay on Sunday, with owner Jerry Jones confirming to 105.3 The Fan, “It’s anticipated he’ll be ready to go.”
If he does, in fact, suit up in Week 10, Elliott says he’ll wear a knee brace.
According to Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Elliott is reporting that the swelling in his knee has gone down and that it feels better than last week.
Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott told me his knee is better than last week. He said the swelling has gone down. He hopes to play this week but doesn't know when he will return to practice. Elliott said he will wear a brace on his knee if he does return
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) November 7, 2022
The injury came on a direct hit to the two-time rushing champ’s right knee, delivered by Lions safety DeShon Elliott in the second quarter of the Oct. 23 victory. The former first-round pick returned to the game after halftime seemingly no worse for the wear; he scored two touchdowns after the hit.
Elliott played most of the 2021 season with a PCL sprain in the same knee, though he ended up recording career-low numbers. He donned a knee brace in Week 14’s win over Washington (the first time he had done so since high school) and continued to wear it afterward for extra stability.
“It just kind of holds me in place,” he said at the time. “A lot of times when I’m kind of getting gimpy or banged up is when I kind of get rolled up, rolled on, or just land on my knee.”
Now Elliott may return to the brace as the team heads into Lambeau Field to face a Packers defense that is giving up 4.8 yards per carry.
In Elliott’s absence versus the Bears, Tony Pollard got the start and capitalized, logging career highs in rushes (14) and yards (131) and scoring three touchdowns on the ground, something not even Elliott has done in his NFL career.
But Cowboys running backs coach Skip Peete claimed that Pollard’s 30 offensive snaps pushed him to his limit, and he expressed a preference to have both Pollard and Elliott available.
“Some guys are race cars. Some guys are high-quality, expensive sedans and those sedans can go for a long distance at a very high rate, whereas race cars go very fast and quick and run out of gas,” Peete said. “I think you need both.”
Assuming Elliott continues to trend upward as the week progresses, the Cowboys will have both their race car and their expensive sedan for Sunday’s drive in Green Bay.
But the sedan may be sporting a crash bar.
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