NFL suspended Ezekiel Elliott for six regular season game for violation the personal conduct policy, and he was seen practicing with the team on Monday, first time after the suspension announcement. Elliott worked out with the Dallas Cowboys starters as they were preparing for the preseason home opener against the Indianapolis Colts.
Last year, we could have seen Elliott playing in just one preseason game, and coach Jason Garrett explained that starting running backs don’t get a lot of chances in the preseason. When it comes to the suspension, Garrett said: “We addressed it head on with our team. We explained the situation, now we move forward. We focus on the task at hand.”
There were some other interesting things we have noticed at the Cowboys practice on Monday. Linebacker Jaylon Smith sacked quarterback Kellen Moore at the end, and he created himself a chance to do the famous “swipe” celebration he often used during his Notre Dame days.
Meanwhile, QB Dak Prescott wanted to throw a ball to Dez Bryant, but it ended up being an interception. However, he followed with a touchdown to Bryan over Nolan Carroll who intercepted that pass. Earlier in practice, a pick by Carroll was followed by a completion to Noah Brown on the same route against Carroll.
Left tackle Tyron Smith returned, and he is finally healthy. This guy proved that by tossing defensive tackle Maliek Collins on back-to-back plays. On the other hand, Jason Witten had a fascinating one-handed catch of a pass from Prescott. Another interesting moment was when tight end James Hanna was stripped by linebacker Mark Nzeocha after a catch who was then stripped by Brown during a fumble return.
While the players were practicing, Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett had an interesting quote: “There’s a little bit of a philosophy that we have with our defensive line: you never really want to use a high resource for a nose tackle. You want the nose tackle to be the discarded under tackle. Does that make sense? So you don’t want in the second round say, ‘OK we’re going to draft a nose, he’s a helluva nose.’ We don’t really want to do that. We want to draft that guy who can rush. Oh, he’s not good enough, let’s make him the nose and now you have this athletic guy.”
