Dallas Cowboys News: Ezekiel Elliott Dismisses Concerns Ahead Of Game With Rams

Ezekiel Elliott isn’t too concerned with his slow start to the 2017 NFL season. The Dallas Cowboys’ running back appears confident that he’ll return to the form of his rookie year when he led the league in rushing.

Not everyone is as convinced. When asked what he would say to those that believe he’s lost a step, Elliott made it clear that he doesn’t care much for that particular opinion.

“Shut up,” Elliott told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

There’s no arguing that Elliott hasn’t made nearly the same impact that he did as a rookie. The No.4 overall draft pick was a nightmare for opposing defenses, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. His 1,631 yards gave him a 318-yard advantage over the league’s No.2 rusher, and he tied a record by rushing for at least 80 yards in each of the final 15 games of the season.

Playing for a team that led the NFC with a 13-3 record and had the NFL’s third-highest rated passer, Elliott was arguably the Cowboys’ MVP.

In three games this season, Elliott has rushed for more than 80 yards once. The worst game of his young career came in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos when he ran for just eight yards on nine attempts. Fighting to get 80 yards on 22 attempts in Week 3, Elliott is averaging 3.5 yards per carry, and eight running backs have totaled more than his 192 rushing yards.

Why are Elliott’s numbers down in 2017?

Some believe the running back doesn’t have the same burst that he did a year ago. Rushes that might have reached the third level of the defense in 2016 are seemingly now being stopped close to the line of scrimmage.

A lack of explosion from Elliott, however, might not be the answer. Dallas’ offensive line, which was hailed as the best unit in football, simply hasn’t been as good as it was a year ago.

Left guard Ronald Leary bolted for the Denver Broncos in free agency. Right tackle Doug Free retired in the offseason. The losses are evident, and Elliott isn’t getting the holes he was used to seeing.

“I think we’re getting really close,” center Travis Frederick said. “When you look at it at the end of the day, we haven’t been as productive as we want to be. But we answer these questions every year. We have a game we’re not rushing as many yards, you say, ‘Well, if they’re going to stack the box, you want to throw it.’ There are a lot of circumstances that go into it.

“I do think that we’re not as productive as we like to be, and as efficient as we like to be in the run game, so we do need to work on it.”

Dallas hosts the Los Angeles Rams Sunday, and L.A. ranks 29th against the run. In Week 5, the Cowboys host the Green Bay Packers, against whom Elliott totaled 282 rushing yards in two games last year.

Elliott has more than enough chances to answer his critics on the field in the next few weeks.