The long-awaited wait is finally over. After serving his six-game suspension, Ezekiel Elliott can finally rejoin his teammates and become a member of the Dallas Cowboys once again. He will without a doubt be welcomed with open arms, but can he save the Cowboys season?
The Dallas Cowboys are still technically in the playoff hunt, but it won’t be easy for them to get there by any means. They pretty much have to win out the rest of the season and also get a little help from other teams around the league. But, sometimes all you need is a chance.
Ezekiel Elliott’s return couldn’t have possibly come at a better time. After narrowly escaping the Oakland Raiders Sunday night in a must win situation, the Cowboys are continuing to do what they need to in order to make it into the postseason. Elliott of course hopefully revives Dallas’ stagnant offense.
We all know how important Elliot is on the offensive side of the ball for the Dallas Cowboys and how pungent they have looked these last six weeks without him. I could throw out all kind of statistics to prove my point, but we all know it and have seen it with their own eyes.
Unfortunately, opposing defenses simply don’t respect the running game as much without Ezekiel Elliott in the lineup. This of course has put more on the shoulders of Dak Prescott and the passing game, but defenses around the league have pretty much figured out how to contain the Cowboys playmakers.
Dez Bryant receives extra attention on nearly every play and Cole Beasley is bracketed in coverage as well. This makes it extremely difficult to get them the ball and unfortunately no one else has really stepped up to help out. This is where Ezekiel Elliott comes in and why he is so important to the Cowboys offense.
There is no denying Ezekiel Elliott is a special talent. He strikes fear in opposing defenses because he is a threat to take it to the house anytime he touches the ball. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the running or passing game, he is equally dangerous in both.
Fortunately, Elliott should open things up for the entire offense. It will make Prescott’s job easier by forcing defenses to have to determine whether they want to put another man in the box or continue to give extra attention to Dez Bryant and Cole Beasley. This should help get the offense back on track, which is exactly what the Cowboys need the rest the season.
The Cowboys have the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles left to play this season and both teams unfortunately have pretty good defenses. In order to win these games, the Cowboys will once again have to lean heavily on Ezekiel Elliott and I know we are all hoping he is up to the task. How he performs will likely determine the outcome of these next two games.
Yes, Zeke can make the season ends 10-6, but Falcons and Lions own the destiny of the season. However, if Dallas not makes the playoffs, this season has given the FO the most revealing season assessment you can ask for, in terms of unmasking the true state of the team (on a hard way). This season has given a critical route by pointing out the missing elements to take Cowboys to the Big Game sonner than later!! Critical elements unrecognized, hidden or “label it as you want” months ago and now totally exposed for the sake of improvement.
You’re exactly right Hector. This season should make the evaluation process a lot easier and should help determine what the exact “needs” are.
“Saving the season” is predicated on winning the last two games.
Zeke’s mere presence can help mightily toward achieving that goal. But we need a lot of help from other teams, and Zeke can do nothing about that.
So no, I’d say Zeke cannot “save the season”, at least not by himself.
You are exactly right. The Cowboys can still win out and not make the playoffs. They still need help from other teams around the league. But, Elliott’s return does give them a better chance. It’s going to be really disappointing if the Cowboys end up going 10-6 and miss the playoffs, but that’s the way things go sometimes I guess.
Agreed
he is going to change quite a bit but i would not call him the savior.
this entire offense needs to play better, specifically at the QB position. dak did not play good last night, neither did the WR’s. if we plan on making a run, dak needs to turn it loose. these little dink and dunk passes won’t cut it. turn it loose!!! he missed a few last night.
and play calling stunk! SL needs to get his head out of his @$$. do we ever plan on using switzer in the passing game? can we get swaim on some routes?
this team has a lot of work to do.
and yes we need lot’s of help from the rest of the league
Brian, Very good points about how Zeke helps others. Hector’s comment also started me thinking. Zeke has already been a savior of sorts, in the same manner Sean Lee has been a savior for the defense. To be stronger, you need to “see” your weaknesses. What I mean by that is how weak we were without either of them. It caused us all to pause when they were out. To know our weaknesses, gives us the opportunity to address them in 2018. An Example: Currently, we may not have Tyron vs. Seattle and we already know what that looks like from the Atlanta game. I saw a great salary cap article on a rival site. It showed how we could sign D-law (tag), Irving(RFA) and Hutch. In the scenario, we keep Jonathon Cooper and have about 16 million left on the cap. It pushes Zack’s contract back, but we have him signed to his 5th year. We also could pick-up about 5 million by cutting Hanna and Mayowa while letting Morris walk. My comment about the cap, may seem off-the-path to your article, Brian, but by seeing what we have with and w/o Zeke, we know where to go in the draft. The same holds for Sean Lee. it gives us direction going forward. This year has shown us where to get stronger. It also says that by signing our own free agents, we can go for the best available at the 2018 Draft, while considering our needs.
Well, Todd Gurley just went for 21 / 152 / 7.2 against the Seahawks in their building. In a game the Seahawks needed to win, they were lit up. Reminds of the Chargers game on Thanksgiving… ;^)
So they come in on a bad jag, and Elliott will be fully aware of the Gurley numbers against them. In addition to winning next week and getting some help, it’s a lot better if the Eagles defeat the Raiders. They are 1.5 games ahead of Minnesota in conference record, did not play head to head and it appears to me that if they win next Monday it locks up home field advantage.
So Dallas would then not face Philly’s best players in 2 weeks. The Cowboys have to win out and get lucky with other teams losing. But if they sneak in, they could be a dark horse in the conference. They all hate that Packers outcome last year, and that should make them plenty hungry.