Extreme boost? Cowboys excited to have Ezekiel Elliott back

Ezekiel Elliott returned to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday.

Elliott reported to The Star just after noon, his first sighting since sitting out the past six games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, stemming from a July 2016 incident in which an ex-girlfriend accused him of domestic violence.

Elliott met with owner Jerry Jones and coach Jason Garrett after spending much of his suspension training in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

“We’re excited about Zeke,” Jones said. “I’m excited to have him back at The Star. It’s been a rough year for Zeke, and he’ll be the first to say that he knows his fans have had an up-and-down [time] with him here, and now we’re back together again. Maybe we’ll get a chance to really do something special, maybe we’ll get in the playoffs.”

The Cowboys kept their playoff hopes alive with a wild 20-17 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday night. They rushed for more than 120 yards for the third consecutive game with Alfred Morris and Rod Smith carrying the load.

But Morris and Smith simply don’t provide the same home run threat that Elliott does. Elliott is still tied for the fifth-most rushing touchdowns (seven) in the league despite missing more than a third of the season.

Garrett, though, took a more measured approach in Elliott’s return than Jones and the players.

“The biggest thing for us is just get back to work, come back in tomorrow with the players and go over the game in a very unemotional way and build on the good and clean up the bad,” Garrett said on Monday. “Oftentimes you have players in the lineup and out of the lineup and they come back, you get them back in there and you just keep going. It’s the nature of our game.

“He’s a really good football player. He has been a good football player for us for the last year and a half. It’ll be good to get him back in the lineup and going again. But again, we just have to do what we need to do in our preparation each day to go play our best.”

To clear a roster spot for Elliott, the Cowboys released running back Trey Williams. They are expected to re-sign Williams to the practice squad as they cut former TCU running back Aaron Green from it.

Elliott ranked among the league rushing leaders before his suspension. He had 783 rushing yards and 210 receiving yards before his suspension. He found his stride just before his suspension, too, averaging 126.5 yards a game and scoring six touchdowns (five rushing, one receiving) in the four games before his suspension.

His teammates certainly knows what he brings to the team.

“We get an extreme boost because that’s our guy. That’s our horse,” wide receiver Dez Bryant said. “He gives us that extra boost of joy because of his personality and who he is. He gets guys going with his attitude and his passion and love for the game. Just seeing him back will make us play that much better.”

Added right guard Zack Martin: “Obviously he’s a great player. You know, if you get 21 [Elliott] back, you have a scary backfield. We’re excited to get him back, and hopefully we can keep it going forward.”

The Cowboys struggled to adjust with life without him at the start of the suspension. They went 0-3 and scored single-digit points in that dreadful stretch, the worst scoring production in franchise history.

They have righted the ship of late, though. Morris had one of the best days of his career in a 38-14 victory over the Washington Redskins, and Smith shined in a 30-10 victory over the New York Giants. On Sunday, Smith and quarterback Dak Prescott accounted for the Cowboys’ two touchdowns on the ground.

But the team is ready to get him back.

Garrett had a simple message to him: “Get back to work.”

Pictures surfaced of Elliott’s workouts over the weekend and he looks as though he’ll be ready to go. That’s the expectation within the organization at least.

“I can guarantee he is probably in better shape now than he was before he left,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “Just being away from the game, that hunger. Just knowing him, knowing the type of person he is and the competitor, watching football, I’m sure lit something up inside of him and he is ready to get back.”

Prescott said defenses won’t be able to play the Cowboys as they have in Elliott’s absence. He simply adds a dynamic to the team that is hard to replicate even though Morris and Smith had their moments.

Elliott tried to avoid the suspension as long as possible. He had a prolonged legal battle with the NFL over the merits of the suspension.

Elliott has maintained his innocence all along and was never arrested or charged with a crime by the Columbus, Ohio, city prosecutor’s office. But the NFL conducted its own 13-month investigation and Commissioner Roger Goodell made the final determination on Aug. 11 that there was substantial evidence to suspend Elliott for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Jones was among the most outspoken in disagreeing with the league’s process and ruling, and defended Elliott again Sunday night.

“Zeke has never, as far as anything with domestic violence is concerned, he has never done anything that in our society we would punish him for. Ever,” Jones said. “But he wants to play in the National Football League and so the National Football League decides that if in fact, maybe to a higher bar, that he needs punished then they didn’t let him play six football games.”

But Jones and the rest of the Cowboys are excited Elliott is back and this whole saga is behind them.

“We’re glad to have him back,” Jones said. “Now we lost games when we had Zeke, so that doesn’t just mean that we don’t have to get out here and compete these last two ballgames. On the other hand, he’ll give us a dimension that the defenses will have to respect and honor.”

The Cowboys understand the sort of lift Elliott can give them to extend their playoff push. They stayed afloat by going 3-3 without him, and are still facing an uphill battle to make the playoffs.

They have a 17.2 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to MakeNFLPlayoffs.com. It starts with them winning out, beginning with the Christmas Eve game against Seattle next Sunday, and getting some help.

But they’re in the conversation with last year’s rushing champion back in the fold.

“We’re in the hunt, but it’s not just, ‘Here he comes back,’” tight end Jason Witten said. “We can never rely on that. Great player and I know he’s worked hard to get himself back and handled this entire process like a pro, but the most important thing is just to be in the hunt still.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 8:28 AM with the headline "Extreme boost? Cowboys excited to have Ezekiel Elliott back."