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Can Ezekiel Elliott Win Another Rushing Title With Cowboys Coach McCarthy?

Can Running Back Ezekiel Elliott Win Another Rushing Title With Cowboys Coach Mike McCarthy?
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FRISCO - Former Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett always bristled when I used the word to describe his approach to offensive football.

"Conservatism,'' I would say ... and on more than one occasion, RedBall would pretend to have no idea what I was talking about.

In fairness to the previous Cowboys regime, Garrett's approach in the last few years was largely meant to protect a young QB in Dak Prescott, to take advantage of the highest-paid O-line in the NFL, and to ride the coattails of excellence of Ezekiel Elliott.

Dallas won a lot of games. Zeke won a pair of rushing titles.

Under new coach Mike McCarthy - accused of "conservatism'' in some ways during his time in Green Bay but certainly not regarding any lean toward a convention rushing attack - can Dallas again win a lot of games while Zeke wins another rushing title?

“I think you can’t just do one thing in this league,” McCarthy said. “I think that’s been proven over and over again.''

In Green Bay, the aerial attack was prominently featured not because McCarthy is anti-run, but because his QBs were Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. What those Packers did do, more than most NFL teams and considerable more than Dallas, was throw on first down.

"Obviously,'' McCarthy said, "(the Cowboys) have an exceptional offensive line. But the run and the normal down-and-distance runs ... need to fit together. That will be a focus.''

I asked McCarthy whether Dallas, while instituting more of the "West Coast Scheme'' that he favors, will also stick with the zone-blocking scheme in the O-line, which has been a foundation in Dallas and was in Green Bay, too.

"The starting point will be the zone run,'' he said. "Everybody runs it, and we’ll run it as well as anybody. ... Pattern schemes, gap schemes, how it’s been communicated here in the past, that will definitely be part of what we do.”

Does that mean Ezekiel Elliott gets 300 carries in 2020? In 2018, Green Bay rushed 333 times. In 2017 it was 386 times. In 2016, 374 times. In 2015, 436 times. In 2014, 435 times.

See a pattern here? It's not that McCarthy's teams didn't run; it's more significant to note when they didn't run (as in, "not always off-tackle runs on first down).

It so happens that Zeke and McCarthy have engaged in a brief meeting. Elliott said of that session, simply, “Just run the football. We know how we're built. I don't think much needs to be said.”

McCarthy believes a QB's best friend is a good running back. Dallas has that. ... and Dallas also has a coach who seems to understand that a pinch of unpredictability is the best antidote to the dreaded 'conservatism.''