Cowboys Trending: A Rarity for Ezekiel Elliott and Running Game in Win Over Washington
There have been few, if any, certainties when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys in the new century, but the combined prescience of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard in the rushers' room often ensures at least a profitable day on the ground.
Often for the Cowboys, that's a necessity rather than a perk: since Elliott's arrival in 2016, Dallas had six occasions where they averaged less than three yards a carry, dropping all but a single instance of those contests. A desperate Washington Commanders team that came into AT&T Stadium on Sunday was likely aware of the trend and capitalized upon it, limiting the lauded pair to 55 yards on 27 carries. Combined with two brief scrambles by Cooper Rush, the 2.1 average attempt was lowest tally of the Elliott era and Dallas' worst output since October 1967.
Yet, Dallas proved that this team might not be your father's Cowboys. Heck, knowing the fates of teams that had to deal with a bottled-up Elliott, this might not be your twin brother's Cowboys either.
Anchored by a historic defensive effort, a backup quarterback continuing his inspiring offensive revival, and happy returns at receiver (literally and figuratively), Dallas overcame one of the most brutal postings in rushing history to secure a 25-10 victory over Washington. The Cowboys (3-1) earned their first victory when averaging less than three yards a carry since December 2018, when they took home a 36-35 triumph from the New York Giants in a meaningless regular-season finale.
"I think (a win like this) shows the grit and the mentality of this team. We’ve had to grind it out and none of it has been pretty, but we scratch and claw and find a way to get a win," Elliott, limited to 49 yards on 19 carries, said. "We didn’t play well the first game but since then we’ve played some really good complementary football."
In their desperation to find a win, Washington (1-3) appeared to try and force backup Cooper Rush to win the game, tempting the career journeyman to make a mistake as he tried to keep the literally perfect start to his NFL ledger spotless. Rush responded with perhaps his most valuable effort yet, throwing two touchdown passes that kept momentum in the Cowboys' corner. The first was a nine-yard strike to Michael Gallup, who scored in his season debut, before closing things out with a 30-yard toss to CeeDee Lamb at the onset of the final frame.
Head coach Mike McCarthy praised the way that Rush was able to adjust when Washington took away one of his most reliable safety blankets.
"Cooper’s presence and the way he handles the in-game adjustments is really a real positive for us," McCarthy said. "I thought they did a very good job challenging us with their run defense, they gave us a nickel-corner blitz that we haven’t seen much of, twice, but I thought he managed the downs and the distances. Didn’t overreact to it. Didn’t try to force the football and I thought he did a good job trying to stay on time, even when the down and distances were lopsided."
Dallas was only 5-for-15 on third down on Sunday, but four of those conversions came on a single, momentum-shifting drive. The Gallup touchdown, in fact, came from on a six-yard third down from Washington's nine-yard-line, 10 plays after a 15-yard gain from the same receiver set the Cowboys up at midfield after facing third-and-eight and a 7-6 deficit.
In addition to the usual defensive suspects, keeping a downright historic opening pace to the season going by allowing only 297 yards and swiping two turnovers, McCarthy also praised punter Bryan Anger for his ability to flip the field: the 2021 All-Pro leg left the Commanders furious to the tune of a 42.5 average, with two of his six boots landing inside of the Washington 20. Neither yielded any points.
Despite the lack of success, McCarthy complimented offensive coordinator Kellen Moore for sticking to the rush attack.
“I thought Kellen Moore did a nice job staying the course," McCarthy said. "When you’re not winning the down and the distance battle with your run game it definitely takes discipline. Obviously, we got a couple things we have to clean up, some adjustments that were made that we can learn from. We play these guys again down the road, these are things that we definitely need to get ready for next week in LA. I thought he (Kellen) did a really nice job of sticking with the run.”
To his credit, Elliott managed to make a meaningful impact upon the victory to the tune of a 31-yard reception that not only accounted for the Cowboys' outlier third-down conversion but partly set up Brett Maher's 53-yard field goal to open scoring. He felt that he and Pollard were at least able to help Dallas establish the threat of play action, which yielded several first downs via pass interference penalties.
"When you run the football and open up the play-action, our receivers are good enough to get open in those one-on-one situations," Elliott said. "We got three PI’s (on) a couple of deep balls. We’ve got to make sure that we continue to commit to the run just so that play-action will work."
Dallas returns to action next Sunday on the west coast when they battle the Los Angeles Rams (3:25 p.m. CT, Fox).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter
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