Dallas Cowboys run game keeps churning as Ezekiel Elliott tramples Carolina Panthers
Everyone around the Dallas Cowboys organization has been championing Ezekiel Elliott’s return to prominence in 2021, including his trimmer body and quicker moves.
It all became crystal clear Sunday in the Cowboys’ 36-28 win over the Carolina Panthers at AT&T Stadium.
Elliott rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, his most rushing yards in three seasons.
It’s his first 100-yard game since the second-to-last game last season and only third in his past 20 games.
The Cowboys compiled 245 rushing yards (433 overall) against a Panthers defense that had held its first three opponents to 135 total rushing yards.
“Zeke just influences everything because he’s such a load and he creates what you’d like the running game to do, which is basically shock the defense, or physically work the defense,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “That offensive line was outstanding today. Some young guys on that offensive line really stepped up.”
The Cowboys pulled away in the third quarter after Elliott helped wear down the Panthers. He and Tony Pollard exploited some tired legs with gains throughout the second half.
“You feel them, but they’ve got to feel me too,” Elliott said of the contact.
He had 49 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown in the first half. He gave the Cowboys a 7-0 lead with a 1-yard score midway through the first quarter.
Pollard added 67 yards on 10 carries and quarterback Dak Prescott had 35 yards on four carries, including one long scamper when he fumbled a low snap and had to improvise.
Elliott said Sunday’s win was more proof that the Cowboys have kept improving from week to week.
“I think it is. Both sides. Offense, we’re doing well getting that running game going,” he said. “If we can do that, we can do anything off of that. Then they’ve got to start putting an extra guy in the box and now we’ve got Coop [Amari Cooper], CeeDee [Lamb], hopefully we get [Michael Gallup] back soon, we’ve got Ced [Cedrick Wilson], we’ve got Dalton [Schultz], we’ve got Blake [Jarwin], so many different guys.”
And against the Panthers, it was Elliott’s time to shine.
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 1:33 PM.
