‘It hurts.’ Ezekiel Elliott takes fumbles personally amid Dallas Cowboys’ poor start.
When a season goes south, narratives can turn quickly.
Two weeks ago, Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott fielded questions about his conditioning in what was perceived to be the best start of his career.
He had more yards and more touches through two games than at any other time since coming to the Cowboys as a fourth-round pick in 2016 — and that includes his rookie season and 2018 when he led the league in rushing.
With Elliott usually getting stronger as the season goes on, the sky was seemingly the limit.
Two games and two losses later in which the Cowboys (1-3) have had to abandon the running game because of large deficits due in part to Elliott fumbles, the numbers and the conversation surrounding the $90 million running back are decidedly different heading into Sunday’s must-win home game against the New York Giants (0-4).
And Elliott is taking it personally.
He said his effort in last Sunday’s 49-38 loss to the Cleveland Browns one of the must frustrating of his career.
“It hurts. It hurts,” Elliott said. “I look at myself as a leader for this team and I look at myself as a guy who is supposed to help pick the team up when we get down and not be the cause of getting behind. I’ve got to get rid of that issue. That can’t continue to be something that I do for the rest of the season. I can’t give the ball up anymore.”
Elliott has three fumbles on the season, including two lost in four games. He has never lost more than two in a season.
His career high for fumbles in a season came in 2018 when the Cowboys recovered five of them. In 2016, he fumbled five times but only lost one.
As historically bad as the Cowboys’ defense has played so far and as good as the offense has looked, when engaged, the turnovers have been a consistent thorn.
“I would say that we’ve gotten behind early in games and that’s just because we turned the ball over,” Elliott said. “We’re turning the ball over, giving up short fields and putting them in position to score and take leads on us. We just have to take care of the ball early in games.”
Elliott readily acknowledges that he has been part of the problem.
His fumble against the Browns on Sunday was part of a sequence in which the Cowboys turned the ball over on back-to-back plays. Quarterback Dak Prescott also fumbled after a sack.
Cleveland converted both into touchdowns, turning a 14-14 game into a 28-14 lead in the second quarter en route to a 41-14 lead.
The play on Elliott’s fumble actually started off well, as he ripped off his longest run of the season, a 24-yarder.
But that was before it was punched out when he was tackled on top of a player and therefore was not ruled down.
“I think maybe once I rolled over and my butt was on his head, I kinda, maybe eased up,” Elliott said. “That gave him the opportunity to take the ball out. I’ve got to focus and work on it in practice and make sure I’m keeping that ball tight, put that little extra emphasis on it and just make sure that I’m doing an extra-good job.”
Elliott said that once players start turning the ball over they can gain a reputation for coughing it up. Opponents then make more of a point to go after the ball. And the cycle continues.
He believes that was certainly at work against the Browns.
In addition to the fumbles, Elliott is also answering questions about his diminished production in the Cowboys’ offense that has been decidedly pass happy due to the large early deficits in the last three games.
Prescott leads the NFL in yards, attempts and completions through four games.
Coach Mike McCarthy would rather not be throwing ball 57 and 58 times as they have done the past two games. He would prefer to have a more balanced attack.
But Elliott’s declining impact is a trend that is more than one year in the making.
Elliott is averaging a career-low carries per game (17.5), rushing yards per game (68.3) and yards per carry (3.9) in 2020.
His rushing yards per game have declined in each of the last five seasons: 108.7 in 2016, 98.3 in 2017, 95.6 2018, 84.8 in 2019 and, so far, 68.3 in 2020.
“You can’t really focus on that, because, I think honestly everything will flip if we win on Sunday,” Elliott said of the outside criticism. “Everything is going to flip, you guys are going to be praising us.
“We can’t really worry about what we can’t control or the talk outside the building. All we can focus on is this team and how to get better and how to get back on track, how to win these next couple of ballgames.”
