Week 13 is a huge one for the Dallas Cowboys in 2021. The club has lost three of their last four games and desperately need to find some momentum in December as they push for the playoffs.
Never at a loss for words, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made an appearance on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday. Jones gave an update about one of the Cowboys’ biggest offensive weapons and what his role will be against the New Orleans Saints on Thursday. Jones said he anticipates a serious workload for running back Ezekiel Elliott as the Cowboys look to stop a two-game losing streak.
“The facts are we’re expecting him to have a serious load against New Orleans,” Jones said of Elliott.
Elliott has been dealing with a knee issue since the Cowboys’ Week 4 matchup with the Carolina Panthers. Last week, according to ESPN’s Ed Werder, the Cowboys were considering giving Elliott some rest and sitting him out against the Saints which would give him a two-and-a-half-week break before facing the Washington Football Team in Week 14.
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The two-time rushing said on Sunday as the Cowboys started to prepare for the Saints that nobody had come to him about taking a game off.
“No one’s came to me and asked me to rest,” Elliott said.
Once the news came out that the Cowboys might sit Elliott it seemed that they were going to take the big picture approach and hand the keys to the car to Tony Pollard for a week. However, based on what Jones said, Elliott will be used heavily against the Saints’ third-ranked rush defense.
If Elliott is used a lot on Thursday he’ll be looking to get back to the way he was performing earlier in the season. During the first five games, he averaged 86.8 yards per game with two 100-yard outings. However, that has dipped 39.8 over the last five games.
It won’t be easy against a great Saints rush defense but if Elliott can somehow be effective the Cowboys have a great chance of controlling the pace of the game.
