In his first 17 NFL games, Ezekiel Elliott never had fewer than 51 rushing yards. In his final two seasons at Ohio State, the running back never had fewer than 32 rushing yards.
Thus, after rushing for 8 yards on Sunday against the Broncos, it seemed appropriate for Elliott to give a one-word answer when asked the last time he remembers having single-digit rushing yards.
“Never,” he said, via quotes distributed by the team.
While that’s not quite true -- he had three games with one carry for fewer than 8 yards as a freshman at Ohio State -- Elliott made his point. Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian (14) and Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (24) both had more rushing yards than Elliott.
For that matter, even 40-year-old Tom Brady had more rushing yards than Elliott on Sunday, as the Patriots quarterback ran for 9 yards against the Saints.
Elliott’s carries went for 0, 3, 2, 0, minus-5, 0, 2, 1 and 5 yards. His eight carries were the fewest he’s had since Sept. 14, 2014, at Ohio State when he had seven in the Buckeyes’ blowout of Kent State. Elliott had never had fewer than 12 carries in the NFL.
“It is the first time that I’ve seen us play when Zeke was as neutralized as he was today,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said, via Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “This was a first for me to see it. Well, for anybody. And, yes, you’ve got to give them credit. They took away the play-action and they took away some of our ability to move. Do we have the ability to adjust and go to other things? Sure we do. Again, I’ll say this again, it’s not us.”
Elliott answered “no” when asked if his legal battle with the NFL over his six-game suspension affected his play.
Jones expects Elliott to play next week against Arizona but wouldn’t speculate beyond that. Elliott expects not only to play but to play well against the Cardinals after a “frustrating” day against the Broncos.
“[Shoot], just got to go to work,” Elliott said. “You can’t forget about it. You’ve got to evaluate what happened, and you’ve got to build on it.”