The elimination of the Cowboys in the wild card round of the playoffs raised a wave of criticism towards the coaching staff and some players. One of them is running back Ezekiel Elliott, who certainly did not have a good season due to a supposed knee injury that has been dragging on for months. However, new details have been revealed in the last few hours.
After the loss against the 49ers on Sunday, Elliott himself revealed to the press that he has been dragging a partial rupture of the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee. This contradicts the words of the same runner weeks ago, who said that it was a bone contusion that had been affecting him since week 4. However, this seems to be the real injury that he has been suffering from since then.
This was confirmed Wednesday by head coach Mike McCarthy. During a news conference, McCarthy indicated that Elliott’s injury will not require surgery and that it can heal with adequate rest. For this reason, the head coach is confident that Zeke will be able to be at 100% for next season.
#Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy confirmed Ezekiel Elliott’s postgame comments on partially torn PCL — “no surgery required.” Will heal with rest.#CowboysNation pic.twitter.com/dYAPAbBBN1
— D210SPORTS (@D210S) January 19, 2022
Why wasn’t Elliott rested for the season?
These revelations sparked a new wave of criticism of the leadership, the coaching staff and Elliott. And, of course, many questions are opened about it.
First of all: why didn’t Ezekiel Elliott rest for the season? If it was an injury that seemed to just need rest to heal, the ideal would be to sit Zeke down and give more offensive weight to Tony Pollard, who was clearly in better physical condition. But knowing this Elliott had bigger offensive snaps. Even last Sunday, where Pollard only touched the ball four times.
Ezekiel Elliott has been playing with a torn PCL and you gave Tony Pollard FOUR CARRIES!!! https://t.co/QKqSfwQ7x0
— Kevin Gray Jr. (@KevinGraySports) January 17, 2022
Second, why wasn’t the truth told about the injury in the first place? Although Elliott had had this discomfort since week 4 (early October), it wasn’t until December that he said it was a bone bruise. Days later, an MRI ruled out that discomfort. And the last thing that was known is that the runner would play the final stretch of the season with a knee brace to give him more stability.
Besides, why did the team and coaching staff keep quiet and let Elliott play?
Everything seemed fine in theory in the last few weeks. Mike McCarthy said at a press conference that Zeke was in better condition, which the runner himself claimed. Besides, the practice reports of the last few weeks indicated that Elliott participated fully in the practices and without presenting any discomfort. He didn’t even appear in pre-game reports against the 49ers, which hadn’t happened for several weeks.
JUST IN: #DallasCowboys Practice / Injury Report – no mention of @EzekielElliott – a good sign! Full story https://t.co/XpImtdZoYw pic.twitter.com/FlKXkMroIp
— fishsports (@fishsports) January 12, 2022
Of course, Elliott’s numbers during the season clearly show how his offensive production was affected by the injury. Although the running back reportedly suffered that injury in Week 4 against the Panthers, he had more carries against the Giants in the next game. In fact, that game was where Elliott had the most offensive involvement in the regular season, with 21 total offensive snaps.
So if Elliott was already hurting in Week 5, why did he play that time?
It is worth noting that the drop in Ezekiel Elliott’s offensive production was not noticed until week 8. From there and until the end of the season, the running back had seven games where he was below 50 rushing yards. His best record in that span was just in week 18 against the Eagles, getting 87 yards. And this, as noted that day, was with Elliott’s pure intention of surpassing 1,000 rushing yards for the season.
Mike McCarthy said that Ezekiel Elliott partially tore his PCL in Week 4 against the Panthers.
You can literally see the drop off happen throughout his season yet the Cowboys continued to give him more carries than Tony Pollard. pic.twitter.com/q7JCV4Ckki
– RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) January 19, 2022
With those numbers, it doesn’t explain why Elliott continued to carry a bigger load in Dallas’ running game than Tony Pollard. On more than one occasion, Pollard has proven to be much more explosive than Zeke. To sample we have his performances in Week 12 (100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown) and Week 13 (58-yard rush for a touchdown).
Considering all this, why did Elliott play anyway? There are those who point out that there could have been internal pressure from the leadership for Zeke to play the same. And while this doesn’t make any sense, let’s remember that there has been no transparency whatsoever around the player’s injury.
This, of course, calls into question the credibility of the Cowboys’ coaching staff and their players. Just as Ezekiel Elliott’s injury was covered up and players insisted on playing him, even if it affected the running game, what else could the Cowboys be hiding?
Thinking about that question, all signs point to Dak Prescott. Let’s remember that the quarterback had a good performance at the beginning of the campaign. However, his performance slipped following a calf injury he sustained in Week 6 against the Patriots. Now the question remains: Did the Cowboys hide something about Dak Prescott’s fitness this season as well?
Either way, this handling of Ezekiel Elliott’s injury calls into question Mike McCarthy’s role as Dallas head coach. This seems to be the icing on the cake of a season marred by poor decisions, poor timing and questionable strategies. All aspects that, let us remember, were seen in Sunday’s loss to the 49ers. Now the cowboy team is expected to correct all these failures for the next campaign, but the background does not invite optimism.
