Dallas Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott will reportedly be suspended for six games, which hurts over a tough starting stretch.
The biggest fears of Dallas Cowboys fans have come to fruition to start the 2017 NFL season. What started as “no way Ezekiel Elliott will be suspended” first turned to there still being a chance that he could be. That turned into an unwanted expectation that he’d be out for a couple of games to start 2017. Now, it’s gotten much worse than that.
On Friday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the league will suspend Elliott for six game. Schefter added that Elliott is expected to appeal the suspension, and has three days to do so.
There’s no question that this is a volatile situation among fans and even the team. Elliott was never charged with domestic violence, with the courts ruling that the evidence was insufficient to do so. What’s more, there was testimony in affidavits saying that the accuser wanted to ruin the running back’s career.
However, we’re not going to dive into that. If there is some sort of injustice in this matter, hopefully the appeals process will bring it to light. That’s not a guarantee, but it’s the hope in the interest of the NFL doing what’s right — also not a guarantee. Similarly, if there was actual wrongdoing that wasn’t made public, then a suspension is warranted.
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On the field, however, obviously losing Elliott is big no matter when it happens for the Cowboys. He came into the league last year as a rookie and took it by storm. The Ohio State product led the league in rushing and looked to be an unstoppable force behind the vaunted offensive line in Dallas. Thus, not having that element is detrimental.
With that said, it’s even more costly given the timing of it. The first six games, Weeks 1-7 with the bye in Week 6, are going to be huge for the Cowboys. They’ll face (in order) the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers. Denver, Arizona and San Francisco will all be road games.
In terms of the matchups with the Giants, Broncos and Packers, not having Elliott is key in terms of the quality of opponent. Not being able to rely on the running game quite has heartily will stifle the offense to a degree. Dak Prescott is great, but not having Elliott makes his job exponentially more difficult. When facing the New York or Denver defenses and trying to keep pace with the Packers offense, that’s far from ideal.
Admittedly, Dallas has the talent to still contend with the three NFC West teams on the schedule. However, any chance of dominance they had is at least lessened with Elliott off the field. Thus, that brings an upset win into the picture, which would be bad news.
Considering that the Cowboys play a first-place schedule in 2017, starting strong is going to be critical. And though it would’ve been a tough first six games even with Zeke, it’s now much tougher with either Alfred Morris or Darren McFadden leading the backfield. The point is, this makes their road to winning the NFC East again exponentially more difficult.
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Again, this could all be made null if an appeal is successful. No one knows how that process will go down. As it stands now, though, the league is suspending Elliott for the first six games. And for the Cowboys, that means they’ll be behind the 8-ball right from the get-go.