The Dallas Cowboys are 1-1 on the year and coming up on their first real chance to show some control in their own division. With the Giants at 0-2, with Washington at 1-1 and likely losing to Buffalo, and with the Jalen Hurts and the Eagles set to meet Dak Prescott and the newly minted Dallas defense, the Cowboys have a real early opportunity before them to establish pace in the division.
That pace will only matter though if they are there at the end, ready to go into playoffs and hopefully, to make a run. Speaking of running though, some eyes may be turned towards the Cowboys’ running situation… or at least, their running back situation.
When you look at it, Tony Pollard has seemingly outperformed Ezekiel Elliott to begin the year, while Zeke is also coming off a down year on last year. It all begs the question. Did the Dallas Cowboys get it wrong with Ezekiel Elliott, specifically by giving him nearly $100 million dollars? The answer to that question is two-pronged.
Dallas Cowboys: Did they get it wrong with Ezekiel Elliott?
It goes like this. No, they didn’t get it wrong, but even if they had, it would be too early to tell. First off and to address the first part, no, they didn’t get it wrong. Ezekiel Elliott has been elite during his time as a runner in the NFL.
He’s the true definition of an All-Purpose or Three-Down back. His pass protection is as elite as the stuff he can do with the ball, which carries its own massive weight in itself. That’s something he’s shown this season, even though he hasn’t had a huge game yet from an individual output perspective. On that thought, it’s only been two games.
Perhaps the game plans didn’t provide him the opportunities to have a Classic Zeke Day, but even still, he approached 100 yards on the ground with 71 and added 26 through the air to that, nearing 100 yards of total offense. While that isn’t the ceiling or expectation for Zeke, that shows that he hasn’t been terrible, by any stretch of the imagination.
Let’s say it isn’t game plan stuff though and that the same opportunities that Tony Pollard has are the same ones that Zeke has. It’s almost entirely safe to say that the defense’s ears perk up a bit more and that the front-end box becomes a bit more loaded when Ezekiel Elliott is on the field.
It’s supposed to be easier for Pollard to look elite, as Zeke is the one who has been the Elite back in the league since his inception and defenses know that. They have to, well, because he has been.
Dallas Cowboys: The Answer is ‘No’… They Didn’t Get It Wrong
Some will point to last season’s down year as well, but how can you and especially when he was playing without his other high-level cohort in Dak Prescott? Defenses could key in on Elliott and the running game because as evident by Bears’ fans calling for their rookie quarterback and no disrespect to him, Andy Dalton neither brings a ton of optimism nor puts fear into the hearts of opposing defenses.
Basically, the point of it all is this. You can’t judge Zeke’s entire being as an elite running back in the NFL, which he has been for the entirety of his tenure, other than and on the one really down year he had without his starting quarterback. It’s only been two games into this season thus far, so that, too, is not enough to make a solid read on the situation.
With 17 games in the new NFL regular season, wouldn’t you want to see more of Tony Pollard early on… as long as the Cowboys are winning and that means a healthy and somewhat, fresher, Ezekiel Elliott as the months become cold and the nights become brittle from frost? That’s the time of year that it really matters.
They documented it on the national broadcast of this past Sunday’s win over the Chargers. Coach McCarthy is managing Zeke for the long haul (now, if we could only tighten up that clock management, but that’s another long soliloquy).
It’s not about what he does in September and October, even. It’s about what he can do in November and December, to hopefully help push the Cowboys to January and dare it to be said… a February game for the first time in who knows when?
That’s why the answer is an unmitigated “NO!”, they didn’t get it wrong with him. But again and because of the evidence that’ll be put forth to try and prove that they have if you believe that in the first place, it would be too early, still, to tell.