The Cowboys benched star rookie Ezekiel Elliott after he fumbled twice in the second half of the team's 27-23 win over the Redskins Sunday, but team officials say he'll be fine going forward.
Elliott had an otherwise solid outing in his second NFL game, rushing 21 times for 83 yards and a touchdown. But the Cowboys benched him with 6:56 left in the game after his second fumble. The Cowboys recovered that ball, and continued what turned out to be the game-winning drive. Backup running back Alfred Morris capped it with a short TD run as Elliott looked on from the bench.
Elliott had earlier lost a fumble late in the third quarter after being stripped by Pro Bowl cornerback Josh Norman.
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After the game, Elliott said those two fumbles defined his day.
“It really doesn’t matter what I did,” Elliott said, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I had those two fumbles, and that’s what was important.”
It's all part of any young running back's learning curve, said coach Jason Garrett.
“Obviously you have to protect the football,” Garrett told reporters after the game. “That’s line one in football, and certainly line one for a running back. He’ll learn from the experiences.”
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Elliott, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2016 draft, didn't have a problem with ball control at Ohio State. He lost three fumbles in three seasons, a remarkably low number for a power back who thrives on fighting for extra yardage.
Team owner Jerry Jones told the Star-Telegram he's excited about the new dimension Elliott brings to the Cowboys.
“Zeke does a lot for us, he actually opens it up for us out there,” Jones said. “We will take more advantage of it. Zeke is influencing very much the defenses we play. It was unfortunate that he had those back-to-back [fumbles], but boy he finishes hard. He runs hard, those are collisions out there. He’s making a lot of that happen so you get those.”