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Through his first two-plus seasons in the NFL, Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has emerged as one of the star players at his position in the league.
During this span, it has seen the Cowboys rely on him heavily in the offense as the key cog to their game plan on a weekly basis. It has gone up another notch this season as he's on pace for a career-high 384 total touches, which is something that the Cowboys don't appear to be too worried about, according to Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.
Ezekiel Elliott experienced soreness in his hips after 86 touches in three games over 12 days. The Cowboys aren’t worried about his workload, which has him on pace for 384 touches for the season.
They plan on riding their workhorse the rest of the season.
“His workload has been what we expect it to be,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. “He’s one of the kind of rare guys who can do that week in and week out, and we’ve got to continue with that. He’s doing a great job of honing in all three downs. He plays a lot of snaps for us. It’s obviously a testament to him getting himself physically and mentally ready to do that. I think when we hand the ball to him, good things happen. We always seem to stay in front of the chains with him. Some of his best runs are 2- and 3-yard carries. I think he’s just being Zeke.”
Elliott has taken his level of play another notch in each of last three weeks with more than 120 rushing yards and a touchdown. This has seemingly pushed him to a league-best 1,074 rushing yards just ahead of Los Angeles Rams star running back Todd Gurley. He has been the primary driving force offensively for the Cowboys throughout the year, especially during their current three-game win streak.
This has worn on Elliott a bit as he's working through some sore hips, which should be something that the Cowboys monitor moving forward. Dallas is certainly maximizing the talent and ability of their star running back, but this could be a path toward him burning out much sooner than both sides would hope.
That the Cowboys appear to be set to ride behind Elliott through the rest of the season to see how far he can guide the team as their primary offensive weapon.
