After his second straight game with just a career-low nine rushing attempts, running back Ezekiel Elliott was at a loss to explain why he didn’t get more carries against the Raiders on Thanksgiving.
The 2.8-yard average he compiled across those tries was certainly a factor. But the knee injury that he’s been fighting through is likely part of it, too. Maybe even a bigger part. It may, in fact, be much more of an issue than the Cowboys have wanted to admit over the last month of play.
It may be significant enough that the team decides to take him off the field entirely. As per an ESPN report Friday, the team is considering giving Elliott “some time off” to heal from the injury. That may include “holding him out” of next Thursday night’s game in New Orleans, a source told network insider Ed Werder.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy acknowledged Elliott’s lack of production Sunday after the team’s 36-33 overtime loss by saying simply, “I think Zeke was struggling a bit.”
Backup/change-of-pace- back Tony Pollard didn’t exactly see a big bump in his action, logging just 36 yards on ten carries as the team once again abandoned a rushing attack that was going nowhere.
When asked after the game whether his limited use was out of concern for his knee, which did seem to be bothering him on the field, Elliott was unable to provide much insight.
“I don’t know,” Elliott told the media. “I don’t know. I feel all right, but it probably was.”
Elliott hasn’t gotten more than 17 carries in a contest since Week 5. That game against the Giants was also the last time the two-time rushing champ amassed over 70 yards on the ground.
“I am concerned,” McCarthy told reporters on Friday via conference call when asked about Elliott. “He’s a warrior. He was fighting to get back in there every time, all day yesterday. I haven’t seen him personally yet today, and our medical information hasn’t come back yet as far as the things that come out of the game, so I don’t really have an update there. But, yeah, it’s that time of year. Zeke’s running style is ferocious. He gives a pounding, and he takes some hits. We need to evaluate that, and this week we’ll see what the preparation looks like for him.”
Elliott admitted as recently as Tuesday that his knee has been bothering him, especially when he would take a hit during a game. He compared it to stubbing a toe and needing to “walk it off,” promising he’d be able to play through the soreness.
But the Cowboys may be taking that option off the table for him as the team tries to regain a once-formidable lead in the race to a division crown.
“He’s a competitor,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan. “Just like a lot of players this time of year- I think he said it- there’s a lot of players that have dings as you get later into the season. He’s a competitor. He wants to be out there playing. We were trying to spell him some yesterday. Obviously, Pollard is a hell of back, a hell of a playmaker for us. Trying to really manage [Elliott] to some degree yesterday.”
Now the Cowboys may manage him right into some forced time off, although Werder’s source claimed that putting Elliott on injured reserve was not believed to be a consideration.
The Cowboys’ final five games of the regular season include four meetings with NFC East foes and a home date against the Arizona Cardinals, currently the conference’s top seed. Holding Elliott out of the Cowboys’ Week 13 game with the Saints would give him two weeks of rest and rehab time before Dallas begins that important stretch.
“It’s obviously something that he’s battled through,” offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said Friday when asked about Elliott’s injury. “Obviously, I think that’s for Zeke and for the trainers and for everyone to continue to work through and make the decisions that are best for him and this team.”
For the first time in very long time, what’s best for the team may be having Elliott in street clothes on gameday.
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