FRISCO, Texas — Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he sees focus and an even-keeled demeanor. Quarterback Dak Prescott said he has noticed nothing but optimism and positivity.
If Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott is distracted by the looming six-game suspension hovering over his head, by the back-and-forth court drama among the NFLPA, his attorneys and the NFL, he isn’t showing it to his teammates or coaches.
“Same guy he’s been, always happy, always in a great mood,” right tackle La’el Collins said after practice on Wednesday. “Just really focused on football.”
Tuesday night, NFL arbitrator Harold Henderson upheld the suspension for violating the league’s personal-conduct policy, which stems from a domestic-violence case. But it was determined the sport’s leading rusher as a rookie a year ago can play in the season-opening showdown against the Giants because of the timing of the decision.
“He hasn’t really wavered,” Garrett said Wednesday. “He comes to work every day. He loves to play football and he shows it each and every day. He’s excited about it.
“He’s got a great spirit about him. He works hard. That’s the way he’s been from the start through this whole process.”
Garrett said the plan all along was to get Elliott ready for the showdown against the Giants, so this news doesn’t change anything for the Cowboys. Though Elliott missed Tuesday’s walk-through to be in court, and did miss a few practices last week for the same reason, he has attended almost every other team function.
“We talk to him every day and his focus has been excellent,” Garrett said.
“That’s all we can do right now is support him,” Prescott added. “I think everyone in this locker room knows that he knows that.
“We’re around him, we support him, and he’s doing a good job of putting it behind him and working.”
Giants coach Ben McAdoo seemed to give the Cowboys bulletin-board material Monday when he said, regarding Elliott’s iffy status, “all backs run the same when there’s nowhere to run.” On a conference call with Cowboys reporters Wednesday, McAdoo stepped back from that statement.
“If we don’t set the edge, build a wall, and track the hip, then we’re going to have a rough day,” the coach said. “It’s essential. We don’t have a chance if we don’t do it, and do it at a high level.”
Though Elliott struggled in a pair of losses to the Giants last year, compared to his production against everyone else — registering 158 yards on 44 carries and a touchdown — he changes the dynamic of the Cowboys offense. The former Ohio State star ran for 1,631 yards — the second highest output by a rookie in NFL history, after Eric Dickerson’s 1,808 in 1983 — and 15 touchdown last season, leading the Cowboys to their second NFC East crown in three years.
“Last year was a taste of what we can be, how great he is, talented he is, and it opens up so much in the pass game,” Prescott said.
Elliott, who was not made available to reporters Wednesday, will find out on Friday whether he will be out starting in Week 2, if the request for a temporary restraining order the NFLPA filed on his behalf will be given. Judge Amos Mazzant said he will make a decision on the TRO by Friday after both sides of the case were heard Tuesday night at the Paul Brown District Court in Sherman, Texas.
Elliott’s ex-girlfriend, Tiffany Thompson, accused him of assaulting her multiple times in July 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. He wasn’t charged with a crime because of “conflicting and inconsistent information,” the Columbus city attorney’s office said at the time. It took the NFL’s investigation more than a year to be completed before the suspension was handed down. Elliott has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.
Prescott has made a point of reminding Elliott what made him so good last year: his focus and tunnel vision, and ability to block everything else out. That will be his message to Elliott, a first team All-Pro last year, the rest of the week: Control what you can control. But so far that doesn’t seem to be an issue.
“He’s going to come and play the game we all know he can play, just go out there and do his thing,” Collins said. “It starts with us up front. We have to take care of what we need to care of so he can get loose like he wants to.”