Ezekiel Elliott didn’t start during the Cowboys’ Sunday Night Football win over the Colts — and it wasn’t because Tony Pollard was better than him.
Pollard got the start for Dallas, returning to the field in its first series — and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after the game that it was due to a “disciplinary issue” involving Elliott. According to Yahoo Sports.
When pressed about what exactly the disciplinary matter was, Jones said it wasn’t a big deal, but a “meeting-type phone being hung up,” according to Yahoo. Jones also said it was not a demotion.
It shouldn’t have been too much of a problem because when Pollard returned to the field first, Elliott bowled more shots than him (38 to 28) and played more games ( 17 to 12). As has become tradition, Pollard did more on those carries, posting 91 yards on 12 carries, while Elliott had just 77 yards on 17 attempts.
Calls from Dallas fans and the fantasy football community have grown for Pollard — a more explosive runner who offers Elliott big-play ability — to start getting more touches on the ball. That really happened in the last two weeks, when Pollard returned from a knee injury he suffered in Weeks 11 and 12 when he hit Elliott.
Jones, for his part, always stood up to any contradictions pushed back and said there was ‘No argument’ for benching Elliott.
Incredibly, in this game where Elliott was “disciplined,” he had his most touchdowns (20) since Week 5 and his third most all season in 10 games.
Perhaps it had something to do with the scenario of the game, because in the fourth quarter Dallas dominated, and Elliott’s touchdown came with six minutes left in the game, and Dallas was already 40-19. Still, every day is an unpredictable day at Jerry World.