Ezekiel is a real athlete and talented one as well. Besides of all things that are currently going on he can still show just how good he is. To make things better, Cowboys are also not hiding the fact that Elliott is their key player and they confirmed that in the Sunday’s season-opening win against the New York Giants in which Elliott played in 60 of the Cowboys’ 74 offensive snaps, or in percentages, 81%.
In his rookie season, 2016, he had a bigger percentage of snaps on just four occasions – 90.7% against the Green Bay Packers, 83% in the first matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings and 82% in the second meeting against the Washington Redskins. His dedication and greatness on Sunday were also shown in the fact that he had 24 carries for 104 yards.
This meant a great deal to Cowboys, and it was reflected on the final result of the game. Thanks to the announcement of Elliott’s suspension on August 11th, Cowboys found themselves in a bit of mess because they didn’t know if they were going to have him for the first six games. But they decided to prepare for the games as he was available and they definitely weren’t shy to show that, and use him as much as possible.
In a post that we wrote yesterday about Elliott, we mentioned that the NFL filed for expedited appeals and asked for stays of a court’s decision. This means that there is a possibility that Ezekiel could serve his suspension at some point this season.
The owner and general manager Jerry Jones stated for the 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday that he actually expects Elliott to play against the Denver Broncos on Sunday and he declined to speculate about Zeke’s availability after that. Jerry just said if he stays available beyond the Broncos game, this Giants game is just a baseline of his involvement each week in 2017.
Jones stated “Zeke, he just dials it up. When it’s time to go, he goes. I think that it set expectations in a way for Zeke that — I’m not implying he didn’t have — and that is that we’re going to use him on a lot of plays. He’s going to get a lot of carries. He’s going to get a lot of plays in the passing game.” He also said that “We need Zeke on the field. And so to the extent that in any way that impacts him mentally as getting ready, conditioning, any of those things, I think this is what you’re going to see. Last year, if I had anything to add to what he did last year, I would have wanted him on the field more plays than he played even last year.”
