1. Ezekiel Elliott will get five carries or less
They say everything is bigger in Texas and that’s absolutely true of the knee brace Elliott was sporting against Washington on Sunday night. It’s time for the Cowboys to give their No. 1 running back rest if they want him to be anywhere near full strength for the postseason.
The Cardinals are a dangerous team, but this isn’t a game Dallas absolutely has to win. That makes it the perfect time to leave Elliott on the sideline even if he lobbies to play all week long.
There’s also a strong chance that Dallas gives him a token start and then pulls him in favor of Pollard and the rest of the team’s running back stable early in the first quarter. That would just be to massage Elliott’s ego, but the Cowboys seem to see some value in that frivolous practice.
The bottom line here is that Elliott shouldn’t get anything close to a big workload against the Cardinals. It’s time to get him ready for what the franchise hopes we’ll be a lengthy playoff run. Limiting him to five carries or less on Sunday would be a great sign of productive discretion exercised by the Cowboys’ front office.