The Cowboys ran for 164 yards in their playoff win over the Seahawks and facing a Rams team that gave up more than 122 yards a game in the regular season seemed to set them up for another good outing on the ground.
That’s not how things played out in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Ezekiel Elliott was held to 47 yards on 22 carries and the Cowboys were unable to get their run game going in a season-ending 30-22 loss. Elliott said after the game that the Rams “dominated us up front” and defensive tackle Aaron Donald said the team didn’t listen to those who said they’d fall short against the run.
“We just did our job,” Donald said after the game. “We didn’t worry about anything else. We just played out football. It’s playoff football, win or go home and we know that, we knew what we had to do. The most important thing is that we won. We get to play next week so we have to get ready for that.”
The biggest stop of the night for the Rams defense came on a fourth-and-one at the start of the fourth quarter. Elliott was stuffed for no gain and the Rams extended their lead to 15 points after a drive that ate up half the time left on the clock. Head coach Jason Garrett called the play a “signature” one for the Cowboys after the game, but it was the Rams who used it to stamp their ticket for the conference title game.