Tony Pollard performance makes Cowboys Ezekiel Elliott drama even funnier

Unsurprisingly to anyone who was paying attention during the offseason, the Dallas Cowboys have themselves a running back problem. Starter Rico Dowdle has been fine, but that's all. Backup Ezekiel Elliott, meanwhile, doesn't seem to like being a backup very much ... despite very much playing like one. After Jerry Jones more or less ignored the position over the offseason, spending his spring wringing hands about the salary cap and how much it would cost to find new deals for Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons, it once again seems like this offense will only go as far as Prescott is able to take them by himself.

And as if that weren't frustrating enough, the guy that Dallas decided to let walk in favor of Dowdle and Elliott picked a hilarious time to have his biggest game of the season — and give everyone a glimpse of what might have been had Jones not decided to get in his own way yet again.

Tony Pollard shows Cowboys what they're missing with Week 6 performance

A lot of ink has been spilled over the names that the Cowboys passed on at running back this offseason, from Derrick Henry to Joe Mixon to Saquon Barkley to Aaron Jones. But it shouldn't get lost that Dallas also passed on the guy who started for them in 2023: Tony Pollard, who wound up signing a three-year deal for just over $10 million guaranteed with the Tennessee Titans in free agency.

Maybe the Cowboys didn't want to break the bank at a non-premium position. They could've still brought back a perfectly serviceable runner, one who cracked the 1,000-yard mark in 2023 despite coming off a gruesome leg injury in the 2022 playoffs, with plenty of cap room left over for other concerns. But no, Jones figured his team would be fine without Pollard. While Dallas is mired in controversy, here's what the former Cowboy is up to in Tennessee:

Pollard turned an ordinary draw play on 3rd and 19 into a spectacular 23-yard touchdown, en route to an 85-yard day against the Indianapolis Colts. It's the third time this season that Pollard has rushed for 80 or more yards; by contrast, Dowdle ran for 88 yards combined across his first three games combined, while Elliott is at 98 for the entire season. All this despite Pollard having very little help on a bereft Tennessee offense.

We didn't need even more evidence that Jones badly misplayed his hand this offseason — and likely cost Dallas a real shot at contention in the process — but it's nice when the fates align like this nonetheless. Resigning Pollard wouldn't have fixed everything that ailed the Cowboys, but it's indicative of a larger process problem in which the team simply failed to address areas of concern.