Rico Dowdle had to think for a moment when asked if there’s been a time in his football life when he’s has had better stretch of games than the one he’s currently on.
“Probably not, honestly,” the Cowboys running back said with a smile after compiling a career-high 149 rushing yards in the team’s 30-14 win over the Panthers. “Maybe high school.”
But nothing the 26-year-old ever did at Asheville’s A.C. Reynolds was on the kind of stage he’s on now.
Dowdle is currently sitting on 880 yards rushing yards for the season, 15th-best in the NFL and ahead of some marquee names. His 5.0 yards-per-carry average has him in the top 10. And his success rate- a metric that tracks how often he gains a certain percentage of yards needed to convert, depending on the down- has him ranked second among all running backs leaguewide: better than David Montgomery, better than Bijan Robinson, better than Derrick Henry, better than Saquon Barkley.
So, yeah, you could say Rico’s on a roll.
“This is definitely a great time right now,” told reporters after Sunday’s win. “These past three weeks, those guys have opened it up. It’s been three good weeks in a row.”
Dowdle logged the first 100-yard performance of his five-year career in Week 13’s win over the Giants, ending with 112. He followed that up with 131 last Monday night versus Cincinnati. His 149 versus Carolina- just two hours east of where he played those high school games he talked about- gave him the best three-week string of games by a Cowboys rusher in six years.
Rico Dowdle has 392 rushing yards in his last three games. It’s the most rushing yards in a three-game span since Ezekiel Elliott had 394 rushing yards between weeks 10-12 of the 2018 season. pic.twitter.com/r7HxFlxDdR
— Bobby Belt (@BobbyBeltTX) December 16, 2024
That Dowdle wasn’t publicly referred to by his head coach as the team’s definitive starter until Week 11 will forever be one of the great mysteries of the 2024 season. Had the coaching staff not been forcing carries to Ezekiel Elliott for the first two months of the campaign, one can only wonder where his numbers- and the team- would be now.
It certainly crosses Dowdle’s mind.
“It’s all about the rhythm. I’ve been firm on that since the beginning, about the rhythm, getting the attempts,” Dowdle said. “I think we always could have done it, but… it’s working right now for us, so I’m not worried about [what happened] early in the season.”
Mike McCarthy acknowledged that it took some time to get the Cowboys’ ground attack into gear.
“Like any good run game, you need the attempts,” he said from the podium in his postgame press conference Sunday.
“He’s doing a really good job,” he said of Dowdle. “Breaks tackles, he has a violent run style, but his courses and his decision-making has been excellent.”
Even with the late start, Dowdle is within striking distance of his first 1,000-yard season. And his teammates- especially the big linemen blocking up front for him- are locked in to helping Dowdle achieve that goal.
“Rico’s my dog,” guard/center Brock Hoffman said Sunday. “I think he’s a hell of a running back, and I’m just happy that he’s gotten three games in a row over 100 yards. Let’s just keep stacking.”
When informed that Dowdle is just 120 yards away from 1K, Hoffman called his shot.
“That’ll be easy. We’ll get that next game.”
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have something to say about that. The NFC South leaders are giving up just 109 rushing yards per game to opposing teams on the season, but no team has hit triple digits against them since Week 9. In fact, the Bucs have allowed just 70.4 yards on the ground over their last five outings.
Dowdle may have to be patient to hit 1,000 yards.
But then again, he’s had to be patient just to get his opportunity as the Cowboys starter.
“Closing in,” he explained. “Definitely feels good. Definitely want to hit that milestone, with my first year being a starter. Looking for it, definitely can get it.”
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