The Ezekiel Elliott suspension saga appears to be coming to a close. He won’t play on Sunday in Atlanta, and most likely he’ll miss all of the team’s next six games. There’s a slim, Hail Mary type chance his legal team will get a new injunction in place, but most likely Elliott won’t step on a field again until Week 16.
Dallas concludes its season by hosting the Seahawks, and with a Week 17 trip to Philadelphia.
So it’s onto Plan B. Alfred Morris is their backup. Darren McFadden held this job all through August, but somewhere along the line they changed their minds. McFadden hasn’t been active for any of their regular season games. Instead it’s been Morris getting a few carries. He’s a bigger, more physical runner. For most of the year, McFadden has continued to be listed as the No. 2 back on the depth chart at the team’s site , but primarily because they don’t have anyone updating that area. Nolan Carroll continued to be listed as a starting cornerback weeks after the team released him. Regardless, the team has updated the depth chart, and it now reads Elliott-Morris-McFadden.
The Cowboys also have Rod Smith, and he closed at the 49ers game by running for 61 yards on 8 carries. Because he has value on special teams, he’s been active for games. But he’s a pretty ordinary runner, and I believe he’s their fourth running back. They gave him those last few series at San Francisco, I think, only because the game was well in hand (they also had Cooper Rush in at quarterback).
I expect over the next six weeks, Morris will get the bulk of the carries. They’ll probably work in McFadden for some carries and maybe Smith as well. If one of those secondary backs is really effective (or if Morris stinks) the ratio will be tweaked. And Morris is a liability in the passing game, both as a receiver and in protection, so most likely we’ll see McFadden or Smith in obvious passing situations.
In a ballpark sense, I think Morris probably will put up top-10 rushing stats in the next six weeks. They’re at Atlanta on Sunday, and the Falcons have slipped recently, allowing 138, 162, 43 and 201 rushing yards in their last four games. I would expect Morris to run for about 80 yards.
The Cowboys on Thanksgiving are at home against the Chargers, who rank next-to-last in run defense. Sign me up for Morris in that one. The following week they’re hosting Morris’ former team, Washington.
In Week 14, the Cowboys are at the Giants, and that will probably be featured in the trivia section that week. Dallas has put running backs over 100 yards three straight years at New York in that series, and they’ve all been different guys – DeMarco Murray, McFadden and Elliott.
I like Morris. I’m not much of a fan of using a roster spot on either McFadden or Smith. Would much rather than a high-upside No. 2 back from another team. James Connor and Danny Woodhead, for example, would be backs I would roster long before McFadden or Smith.
—Ian Allan