Court date doesn’t alter Ezekiel Elliott’s focus on Redskins

Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott continues to focus on the football field instead of his ongoing court battle with the NFL.

Elliott downplayed a court date scheduled for Monday in the Southern District of New York where Judge Katherine Failla will preside over a preliminary injunction hearing that could determine his fate for the rest of the season.

If Failla sides with Elliott and his representatives, he is expected to play the rest of the season as the legal battle over a six-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy would drag on longer.

But Elliott downplayed the court date when asked if it’d be nice to get some sort of resolution.

“I’m looking forward to Sunday,” Elliott said.

As the legal cloud continues to hang over his head, Elliott certainly feels good about what he’s starting to do on the field.

Against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Elliott had a career high with 219 yards from scrimmage and scored three touchdowns. He has gotten better and the Cowboys’ rushing attack looks more like the 2016 version when Elliott was the NFL’s rushing champion.

“I think that’s what our offense should look like,” Elliott said of Sunday’s game. “I think we took what we did three weeks ago (against the Green Bay Packers) before the bye and we added on to that. We’ve got some momentum, so we’ll try to keep that rolling.”

He knows it won’t be an easy task this week against the Washington Redskins.

He failed to reach the 100-yard rushing mark in each game against them a season ago, and fumbled twice in a Week 2 road game at FedEx Field.

“(Redskins cornerback) Josh Norman is probably the best in the league at punching it out,” Elliott said. “It’s something you’ve got to be alert of when you go in there and play that guy. He almost got me on the second time we played them. Just go in there with good ball security.”

So far, Elliott has done that with no fumbles on the season. Just as important, he’s hitting his stride in the running game consecutive 100-yard rushing performances for the first time this season.

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Court date doesn’t alter Ezekiel Elliott’s focus on Redskins."