Why Ezekiel Elliott took blame for Cowboys loss despite breakout running effort

The stats will credit running back Ezekiel Elliott for his first 100-yard game of the season. He had 16 carries for 127 yards and it fits the narrative of him having a breakout game in the third game of the year as has been the case his first two years in the league.

But stats don’t tell the whole truth about his play in the Cowboys’ 24-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks Sunday.

Elliott dropped a pass, cost the Cowboys a game-tying touchdown in the second quarter by running out of bounds and killed a possible comeback with a fourth quarter fumble.

While coach Jason Garrett lauded Elliott for running well in the game, the third-year back fell on the sword and took the blame for the loss.

“People can say whatever,” Elliott said about the late fumble. “But at the end of the day, when you got the ball in your hand, that’s the team in your hand. Me being the leader on the team, I’ve got to do a better job taking care of the ball. I mean, that cost us the game.”

The Cowboys were down 24-6 and driving with 10 minutes, 57 seconds left in the game. The offense finally seemed to be getting in rhythm after a horrible day when Elliott broke off a 26-yard run to the Seattle 19.

But after running to the outside, he slowed up to cut back to the middle, allowing safety Bradley McDougald to catch up to him and knock the ball out.

The Cowboys did score on the ensuing drive on a 3-yard pass from quarterback Dak Prescott to Tavon Austin but time was not on their side.

Elliott contributed to the loss with a dropped pass in the first half that would have been a first down, killing a drive.

The biggest miscue,, however, came in the second quarter when he ran out of bounds before catching a would-be touchdown pass from Prescott. A scrambling Prescott found Elliott wide open behind the defense but he had gone out of bounds on his pass route and came back in catch the pass. The 31-yard touchdown play was called back and the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal, turning a possible 7-7 game to 7-3.

“I think I am a solid receiver,” Elliott said. “I just had terrible awareness near the sideline. I’ve got to be better than that.”

Elliott averaged 7.9 yards a carry on Sunday. And it was his first game over 100 yards this season. He rushed 15 times for 69 yards and 17 times for 78 yards in the first two games against the Panthers and Giants respectively.

Going into the game, the Cowboys had been 10-2 when Elliott broke 100 yards on the ground.

“I’m very frustrated, definitely with my individual performance,” Elliott said. ”As a leader on this team I’ve got to better in those clutch moments and that’s it. I had a poor performance today. I dropped the ball. That loss is on me.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2018 at 9:44 PM.