FOXBORO — Jerry Jones implied the Cowboys have one thing particular deliberate for his or her former working again, Ezekiel Elliott, when he returns to AT&T Stadium as a member of the Patriots on Sunday.
Elliott, coming off the very best sport of his Patriots profession in Sunday’s win over the Jets, stored insisting Wednesday throughout a information convention at Gillette Stadium that he’s dealing with his homecoming like some other sport.
“It’s cool going back to Dallas,” Elliott stated. “I spent quite a lot of time there, quite a lot of nice time there, however whenever you go on the market, gotta maintain the principle factor the principle factor and that’s going on the market and getting higher as a crew and going on the market to get one other win. …
“I keep saying it. It’s just another week for me. Not going to make it bigger than what it is. I want to go out there, play Patriot football. We want to go out there, get better, get a win. Just the next stop on our 17-game journey.”
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy informed the media in Dallas that his crew gained’t be shocked if Elliott is a “featured player” in Sunday’s sport.
“Zeke has always been a powerful, strong runner,” McCarthy stated Wednesday.
Jones heaped reward on the Cowboys’ 2016 fourth-overall decide, as effectively.
“As far as a back that the opposing team hates to tackle, I think he’s at the top of the list,” Jones stated. “Zeke took a toll on those defensive players. I’ll always remember that.”
Elliott amassed 8,262 speeding yards and 80 complete touchdowns in seven seasons with the Cowboys earlier than being launched this offseason. He signed on with the Patriots in August and acquired off to a sluggish begin together with his new crew, dropping a key fumble in a Week 1 loss to the Eagles.
He started to select up steam in Sunday’s 15-10 win over the Jets, nevertheless, gaining 80 yards on 16 carries with one 7-yard catch. He had three carries of 10-plus yards.
“I think we got some momentum up front,” Elliott stated. “We had to kind of shuffle some guys around on the O-line and kind of getting a group in there. It was getting the ball rolling and not coming out and getting behind and being able to actually get more and more run attempts. Because obviously, it’s going to be tough to get a good run at the beginning of the game when everyone’s fresh. But as you get run attempt after run attempt, you tire down the defense and those 3, 4s turn into 5, 6s and bigger than that.”
It’s solely been three video games, however Elliott’s yards after contact per speeding try is down from 1.5 in 2022 to 1.2 this season, per Pro Football Reference. They maxed out at 2.3 in 2019. Pro Football Reference additionally hasn’t charted him for a damaged sort out up to now this season.
But it won’t be Elliott’s age catching up with him. Fellow Patriots working again Rhamondre Stevenson is averaging simply 2.9 yards per carry and 0.8 yards after contact per try. He has three damaged tackles on the season.
Elliott, 28, did say he’s “definitely more comfortable in our offense” after signing in mid-August.
Elliott won’t view his return to Dallas as something particular, however the Patriots will want him and Stevenson to be on the highest of their video games to beat the Cowboys.
Source: www.bostonherald.com