Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, isn’t ready for Tony Pollard to be the team’s running back. Even after his incredible performance on Sunday.
The Cowboys had to rely on Pollard for their ground game after Ezekiel Elliott was sidelined by a knee injury. He was more than up to the task, it’s obvious.
Pollard ran for 131 yards, three touchdowns and just 14 carries. Dallas won 49-29 at home thanks to Pollard’s 16-yard catch. This brings him up to 6-2 for the season.
Jones said after the game, despite Pollard’s great day, that the team was “going to be as Zeke goes”, according to Michael Gehlken from The Dallas Morning News.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said RB Tony Pollard’s impressive performance in start Sunday vs. Bears won’t impact RB Ezekiel Elliott’s role when back from knee injury. “We’re going to go as Zeke goes.” pic.twitter.com/W5Qmto4ptC
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) October 30, 2022
Elliott signed a huge six-year extension to his contract worth $90 million in 2019. Dallas was able to make sense of the 2016 Cowboys first-round pick, as he won two rushing titles in his first three seasons.
However, Elliott’s performance has declined noticeably in the last three seasons. In 2020, he had just 6 rushing touchdowns and 979 yards rushing. This was a record low for Elliott. Elliott would have missed the 1K mark if it wasn’t for the expansion to a 17th regular-season game. He had 1,002 yards passing and 10 touchdowns last year.
Pollard, 25, had 719 yards rushing and two touchdowns last season in a limited role. Pollard averaged 5.6 yards per run and had 375 yards of rushing last season against Chicago.
The Cowboys rallied for wins in six of the next seven games after a disappointing Week 1 at home loss. Jones and Mike McCarthy won’t have to make any drastic changes as long as they keep winning.