Ezekiel Elliott didn’t necessarily meet expectations during the 2020 season, but neither did the Dallas Cowboys as a whole.
The Cowboys should’ve breezed to an NFC East title last year. Those hopes and aspirations were dashed the moment Dak Prescott went down with a season-ending injury early on. Prescott’s injury had a drastic impact on Elliott’s performance.
With Prescott out of the lineup and the Cowboys’ passing game limited, opposing defenses were able to key in on Elliott and limit the Cowboys’ running game. The star running back had one of the worst years (979 yards and six touchdowns) of his NFL career, as a result.
So what should we expect from Elliott this upcoming season? One NFL insider is hearing Elliott is using all the criticism he received last year as fuel for a major comeback later this fall. In other words, the Cowboys running back is ready to prove he’s one of the best offensive players in the league.
“I got a great quote from a team source,” Fowler said on Friday morning’s Get Up, via 247Sports. “It says, ‘He’s taken the criticism and he’s turning it into fuel. He’s got juice out there right now.’ I’m expecting a massive workload from Zeke. We’re talking 20-plus carries per game for the first time since 2018, and here’s why. It’s not just because they have to feed a bunch of other offensive weapons.
“It’s because the defense needs to go from terrible to decent, right? They’re counting on Dan Quinn, the new coordinator, to do that. It’s actually up to ‘Zeke Elliott to do it, because they need to control clock. That’s kind of the intel I had heard when I was over in Dallas at training camp.”
This is exactly what Dallas Cowboys fans were hoping for.
Ezekiel Elliott was only a shell of himself during the 2020 campaign. With Dak Prescott now back under center, defenses won’t be able to key in on Elliott and go all-out to stop the running game.
The Cowboys will be in great shape if Elliott has a big-time bounce-back year.
The post NFL Insider Shares Expectations For Ezekiel Elliott’s Workload This Year appeared first on The Spun.
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