“Zeke Who?”
More like: Zeke… Hoo boy.
The Cowboys’ rushing attack has been utterly toothless thus far in 2024, and now not even Ezekiel Elliott will get fed in Week 9 when the team visits the Falcons hoping to get back to .500 ball.
The team website confirms that the ninth-year veteran will not travel to Atlanta with the team. He’ll be inactive for “disciplinary reasons,” according to a report first filed by ESPN’s Todd Archer.
David Moore of the Dallas Morning News reports that Elliott was told he’d be inactive and that, ostensibly based on Elliott’s reaction to the news, “a mutual decision was then made that he not accompany the team to Atlanta.”
It will mark the two-time rushing champ’s first healthy scratch in a game that’s not a “meaningless” season finale.
The 3-4 Cowboys currently rank dead last in the NFL in rushing yards and yards per carry. Elliott, in particular, has struggled in his return to Dallas after spending 2023 as a New England Patriot. The former fourth-overall pick is averaging fewer than seven rushing attempts and just 21.3 rushing yards per game, both career-worst numbers (by far) for the three-time Pro Bowler.
Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott was told he would be inactive for Sunday’s game, those w/ knowledge of what took place said.
A mutual decision was then made that he not accompany the team to Atlanta.
Obviously, Elliott’s reaction to the news prompted the mutual decision. pic.twitter.com/e2jguBbnNk
— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) November 2, 2024
The Cowboys have been unable to make a planned running back by committee work through seven games this season. After signing Dalvin Cook prior to Week 1, the team left him inactive until last Sunday’s matchup with the 49ers. Once he finally took the field, Cook gained 12 yards on six carries in his Dallas debut.
Rico Dowdle, the team’s leading rusher, was a late inactive due to what the team called an illness; Deuce Vaughn was active but did not play.
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Cook was elevated once again for Sunday’s game in Atlanta. Dowdle has not been listed on any of the week’s practice reports and carries no gameday designation.
No Cowboys ball carrier has had a run longer than 13 yards this season.
Whether the Cowboys win or lose on Sunday, Elliott’s benching, his apparent reaction to that development, and the fallout from that move will be a major storyline moving forward at The Star, just the latest chapter in a season that has turned dramatic for all the wrong reasons.
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