Ezekiel Elliott on RB by committee: I'll do whatever it takes to help this team

[big dog cowboy]

His presence in the room will be a plus.........

For what?

 

[Coogiguy03]

I doubt Zeke “shares” many carries with any of the scrub RBs.

THIS!!!

 

[PAPPYDOG]

Ezekiel Elliott on RB by committee: I’ll do whatever it takes to help this team
By Charean Williams
Published June 5, 2024

The Cowboys used the fourth overall pick on Ezekiel Elliott in 2016, a year after trying something of a running back by committee with Darren McFadden and Joseph Randle. McFadden served as the bridge between DeMarco Murray and Elliott, rushing for 1,089 yards in 2015.

Now, Elliott is that guy after spending most of his previous time in Dallas as THE guy.

He will share carries with Rico Dowdle, Royce Freeman and Deuce Vaughn.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profo...is-team?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Always liked Zeke and still feel he was a sacrificial lamb to a passing game that couldn't help him as no defense feared it and only concentrated on STOP Zeke at all cost.
They overused him and his Star faded fast.
GL this season ZEKE hope you still have some of that greatness we relied upon for many years.

 

[MyFairLady]

This is the world RB line up in the history of the team. Optimistic I am not.

 

[Chasing6]

I believe Zeke intends to keep his word, but sometimes, the old, battered body can only do so much . . .

He's likely to gain his 3.5 ypc, and his blocking should, hopefully, give Dak time to throw the ball, but that's it.

If he is a short yard running back, I am perfectly fine with 3.5 yards a carry.

He dose not need to average 4.0 yards per carry on 3rd and 1.

 

[jazzcat22]

I believe Zeke intends to keep his word, but sometimes, the old, battered body can only do so much . . .

He's likely to gain his 3.5 ypc, and his blocking should, hopefully, give Dak time to throw the ball, but that's it.

Don't forget his 12 TD's they missed from last year that he had in 2022. He will bring those TD's back.

 

[jazzcat22]

If he is a short yard running back, I am perfectly fine with 3.5 yards a carry.

He dose not need to average 4.0 yards per carry on 3rd and 1.

Or at the goal line. We missed that last year big time.

 

[Bullflop]

Don't forget his 12 TD's they missed from last year that he had in 2022. He will bring those TD's back.

I hope you're right about that, although, he's likely not quite the same player he was then.

In any case, I think he'll do his best. Let's hope the OL improves enough to make it occur.

Despite the chances of it happening or not, I'm hoping we'll get another RB after the cuts.

 

[RonnieT24]

I believe Zeke intends to keep his word, but sometimes, the old, battered body can only do so much . . .

He's likely to gain his 3.5 ypc, and his blocking should, hopefully, give Dak time to throw the ball, but that's it.

This is actually fair.. We don't know how much juice Zeke has left in the tank. We know he does not have the short area burst when bouncing outside that he used to have. However from what I saw in New England on the few times they were able to get him the ball in space his long speed is still good and his power and vision are still top notch. This means that he isn't going to be looking to bounce it a whole lot so the damage will have to be done between the tackles except in the passing game or when the line blocks everybody and the first guy with a realistic shot on him is the safety. I think his ypc will be right around 4.0 but could be higher if they let somebody else do some of the short yardage work. But given how good he has been at that in Dallas it doesn't really make a lot of sense to let anybody else do it.

 

[Cowboys5217]

Or at the goal line. We missed that last year big time.

Yeah those three rushing TDs for the Pats really shows how good at short yardage Zeke is. It might be that 150th ranked NFL average yards per carry by Zeke last year? That surely will have teams playing nine man boxes.

Sheesh, too many people in here just want to believe hype over what they have clearly seen, and the league other than Jerry Jones knows about Zeke. He shouldn't even be in the NFL right now and would not be other than the big fool Jerry, and his sentimentality.

There is literally NOTHING Zeke brings to the team that a younger RB couldn't do better while also having upside rather than looking at a very soon retirement.

A lot of you have somehow convinced yourselves that this knucklehead who held out two years before a contract was up is somehow a benefit to the locker room. Where was this benefit before? How come when Zeke was still a good RB his "locker room presence" never helped the team get to a championship? How is he supposed to benefit us to a championship now with his "good guy-ness" at this stage of his career where he is a progress stopper to younger backs?

Also, don't lie to yourselves. Zeke will be forced to be the feature back by Jerry, and will get the bulk of the carries as if this was still 2016.

 

[jazzcat22]

Yeah those three rushing TDs for the Pats really shows how good at short yardage Zeke is. It might be that 150th ranked NFL average yards per carry by Zeke last year? That surely will have teams playing nine man boxes.

Sheesh, too many people in here just want to believe hype over what they have clearly seen, and the league other than Jerry Jones knows about Zeke. He shouldn't even be in the NFL right now and would not be other than the big fool Jerry, and his sentimentality.

There is literally NOTHING Zeke brings to the team that a younger RB couldn't do better while also having upside rather than looking at a very soon retirement.

A lot of you have somehow convinced yourselves that this knucklehead who held out two years before a contract was up is somehow a benefit to the locker room. Where was this benefit before? How come when Zeke was still a good RB his "locker room presence" never helped the team get to a championship? How is he supposed to benefit us to a championship now with his "good guy-ness" at this stage of his career where he is a progress stopper to younger backs?

Also, don't lie to yourselves. Zeke will be forced to be the feature back by Jerry, and will get the bulk of the carries as if this was still 2016.

They had a bad OL, worse than Dallas had the past few years. A horrible QB no team feared. As even most teams had to have respect for Dak to a degree.

And not too many fans are buying the hype entirely.
But there are too many that just hate everything. And turn positives into negatives, always.

 

[Bullflop]

This is actually fair.. We don't know how much juice Zeke has left in the tank. We know he does not have the short area burst when bouncing outside that he used to have. However from what I saw in New England on the few times they were able to get him the ball in space his long speed is still good and his power and vision are still top notch. This means that he isn't going to be looking to bounce it a whole lot so the damage will have to be done between the tackles except in the passing game or when the line blocks everybody and the first guy with a realistic shot on him is the safety. I think his ypc will be right around 4.0 but could be higher if they let somebody else do some of the short yardage work. But given how good he has been at that in Dallas it doesn't really make a lot of sense to let anybody else do it.

I won't discredit the idea that there's a chance a potential improvement of our OL, even with rookies included, might get him 4 ypc. That's possible,
It's also very possible that other RBs will be involved in the running game to a considerable extent. We'll only know for sure when it happens.

 

[RonnieT24]

I wouldn't discount the idea that there's a chance a potential improvement of our OL, even with rookies included, might get him 4 ypc. It's possible.

Another component not often discussed is the change in blocking scheme to suit Zeke's style better. Moore and Philbin were all about the delay handoffs and not blocking the backside ends. That led to a lot of having to break tackles in the backfield for our guys. Solari comes from the Hudson Houck philosophy which favors a hat on a hat and getting the RB up into and through the hole hitting it downhill. It's more about power than shiftiness. That's why Pollard looks so bad last year after looking so good in Moore's scheme. And why Zeke never looked as good in Moore's scheme as he did in Linehan's. In any case I think the running game will be more reliable this year than it was last year. Not expecting a ton more big plays but a lot fewer negative plays and maybe most importantly fewer trips into the red zone coming away kicking FGs.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Yeah those three rushing TDs for the Pats really shows how good at short yardage Zeke is. It might be that 150th ranked NFL average yards per carry by Zeke last year? That surely will have teams playing nine man boxes.

Sheesh, too many people in here just want to believe hype over what they have clearly seen, and the league other than Jerry Jones knows about Zeke. He shouldn't even be in the NFL right now and would not be other than the big fool Jerry, and his sentimentality.

There is literally NOTHING Zeke brings to the team that a younger RB couldn't do better while also having upside rather than looking at a very soon retirement.

A lot of you have somehow convinced yourselves that this knucklehead who held out two years before a contract was up is somehow a benefit to the locker room. Where was this benefit before? How come when Zeke was still a good RB his "locker room presence" never helped the team get to a championship? How is he supposed to benefit us to a championship now with his "good guy-ness" at this stage of his career where he is a progress stopper to younger backs?

Also, don't lie to yourselves. Zeke will be forced to be the feature back by Jerry, and will get the bulk of the carries as if this was still 2016.

Bingo. If Zeke had anything left, he'd have gotten more than the cheap contract he had to settle for.

But I bet he still gets way more carries than he should. He's an all-time Jerry pet, and the coaches know it.

 

[Bullflop]

Another component not often discussed is the change in blocking scheme to suit Zeke's style better. Moore and Philbin were all about the delay handoffs and not blocking the backside ends. That led to a lot of having to break tackles in the backfield for our guys. Solari comes from the Hudson Houck philosophy which favors a hat on a hat and getting the RB up into and through the hole hitting it downhill. It's more about power than shiftiness. That's why Pollard looks so bad last year after looking so good in Moore's scheme. And why Zeke never looked as good in Moore's scheme as he did in Linehan's. In any case I think the running game will be more reliable this year than it was last year. Not expecting a ton more big plays but a lot fewer negative plays and maybe most importantly fewer trips into the red zone coming away kicking FGs.

I'm 100% willing to wait before passing judgment on what this team might accomplish.

I trust Zeke to give his best and that's all any fan can reasonably expect.

I won't hesitate to state I'm hoping for the best, however.

I trust Zimmer to help with the discipline, also.

May I be forgiven if I'm wrong.

 

[RonnieT24]

They had a bad OL, worse than Dallas had the past few years. A horrible QB no team feared. As even most teams had to have respect for Dak to a degree.

And not too many fans are buying the hype entirely.
But there are too many that just hate everything. And turn positives into negatives, always.

Yeah I can only conclude that anybody locked into the numbers from Zeke's stint in New England didn't actually watch the games. They had nothing to threaten the defense from a passing game perspective (other than Zeke ironically) and just a horrible line. It's not a matter of buying any hype. Zeke showed last season that without the knee brace he is will a legit starting RB in the NFL. Probably not a star level anymore but the Cowboys pivoted to a passing team several years ago so they neither need nor want a star RB. They need an effective runner to get the yards that they need when they need it.

 

[Chasing6]

Yeah I can only conclude that anybody locked into the numbers from Zeke's stint in New England didn't actually watch the games. They had nothing to threaten the defense from a passing game perspective (other than Zeke ironically) and just a horrible line. It's not a matter of buying any hype. Zeke showed last season that without the knee brace he is will a legit starting RB in the NFL. Probably not a star level anymore but the Cowboys pivoted to a passing team several years ago so they neither need nor want a star RB. They need an effective runner to get the yards that they need when they need it.

If Beebe can get a push up the middle like we believe he can, with Tyler and Zach we will have a much improved short yardage game with Zeke.

 

[RonnieT24]

If Beebe can get a push up the middle like we believe he can, with Tyler and Zach we will have a much improved short yardage game with Zeke.

I think the inside run game in general will take steps forward this year. This is going to be road gradin' offensive line. Ironically Guyton will be the weakest link owing to his long rangy build but I full trust and believe the strength staff will have him bulked up and playing at a Flozell level by next year.

 

[Praxit]

Zeke will play a important role as goal line and blitz pick-up.

...I think just having him there is advantage. Has to be accounted for.

surely opens up other things.

 

[HungryLion]

His presence in the room will be a plus.........

And his presence on the field will be a negative.