Tony Pollard Should Be the Cowboys Starting Running Back For the Rest of 2020
After an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Washington Football Team, change is imminent for the Dallas Cowboys. While that may not mean a coaching change right now, playing time should certainly be up for grabs. In particular, Running Back Tony Pollard has proven that he deserves more snaps in place of Ezekiel Elliott. […]
After an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Washington Football Team, change is imminent for the Dallas Cowboys. While that may not mean a coaching change right now, playing time should certainly be up for grabs. In particular, Running Back Tony Pollard has proven that he deserves more snaps in place of Ezekiel Elliott.
Ezekiel Elliott's contract may make the team apprehensive to make the change for this season, but it makes the most sense now that the division is most likely out of reach for Dallas. Elliott has struggled at times behind the banged-up offensive line. He looks sluggish at moments and has not protected the ball like an elite running back. Most notably, the burst has not been there for most of the year for Zeke for whatever reason.
Zeke's struggles are not the only reason there should be a change. Pollard is making the most of the touches he has gotten in rotation with Elliott, and he is showing he can take care of the ball as well. That's vital for an offense that needs to control the time of possession and clock in games to have their best chance to win. Everyone knows that the current defense cannot be relied on to get stops after turnovers. Putting a volatile defense out there more than they need to be is a recipe for disaster, even into 2021 and beyond.
In the long-term, making Pollard the starter for the rest of 2020 makes the most sense, too. The offensive line is extremely banged up, and Elliott's health is important for the future of the team whether fans like that or not. Some folks are already commenting about his contract, one that looms large nowadays. Nevertheless, if he is on that price tag, then you need to get as much as you can out of him when it actually matters. His contract also deems him almost impossible to trade without taking a hard hit to draft capital. The Cowboys at least plan on playing competitive ball in 2021. Accordingly, that means Zeke will have to be running on all cylinders, quite literally. Plus, the team expects Dak to be back which will take some pressure back off of Elliott.
Since the start of 2018, Elliott leads the league in fumbles with 16 of them. In that timespan, counterparts of his like Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry, and Aaron Jones only have 6 apiece.
On the other hand, Pollard has had one fumble in 142 career attempts. The Memphis Tiger product was touted as being extremely reliable coming out of college. That has rang true, and he is becoming a fan favorite. Also, the biggest difference between the backs may be the big gainers that we've seen from Pollard so far in his career. For his career, he is averaging 5.2 yards per attempt on 142 carries. Zeke on the other hand? He is averaging 3.9 yards per attempt on the ground on 181 carries this year.
Now, this isn't necessarily proof that Tony Pollard will be a better long-term option at RB than Ezekiel Elliott. Elliott was a top 10 selection for a reason. However, it does mean that Pollard deserves a shot to prove how valuable he can be to an offense. Dallas' offense can use as many weapons as possible in the future if the defense doesn't improve mightily. Allowing Pollard to showcase his talent and give Zeke some much-needed rest is the best-case scenario for the Cowboys.
Featured Image via USA TODAY-Sports
