FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said he is unaware that he has a reputation regarding running backs. The reputation is from how his time with the Green Bay Packers ended. To be kind, the Packers were pass-heavy. To be fair, McCarthy never had a runner like Ezekiel Elliott.
“I have been fortunate to be around a lot of great running backs throughout my career going back to Marcus Allen with the Chiefs in the early ’90s. I had Deuce McAllister and Ricky Williams [in New Orleans]. Frank Gore in San Francisco,” McCarthy said.
“And we had a stable of backs during my time in Green Bay. At the end of the day, the running back position is very important to your offense. You still need to run the football to be successful as a football team in today’s NFL. But when you have a player like Zeke, the focus will be clearly on touches. Zeke needs to touch the football and he will in this offense. He is definitely a primary focus.”
One word stands out in that quote — touches — that might have folks, especially those in fantasy football, wondering.
Maybe we shouldn’t read too much into the word. Maybe to McCarthy, touches and carries are synonymous. Or, maybe touches means Elliott will not get the same workload as a ball carrier as he has had in his first four seasons.
Since 2016, no running back has more carries (1,169) and yards (5,405) than Elliott, and he missed six games in 2017 because of a suspension. As a pass-catcher, Elliott is ninth in receptions (189) and 10th in yards (1,619) among running backs since 2016.
Add McCarthy’s “touches” to Elliott saying his offseason focus was on pass catching.
“I really didn’t do anything from the backfield,” Elliott said. “I did a lot of stuff from out at receiver, in the slot. Just trying to evolve my game there, just so I can be more of a viable source in the pass game.”
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Elliott has mostly been used on screens out of the backfield. Of his 189 receptions, 57 have come on screens, which are tied for eighth most in the NFL since his rookie season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Fifty-three of those 57 receptions came from the backfield.
Of his 132 non-screen receptions, he was lined up in the backfield 121 times, with seven from the slot and four when he was aligned wide.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said he wanted Elliott running routes like Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb at receiver and Blake Jarwin at tight end.
“When you can put Zeke out there and don’t know whether he’s going to run a route from there or motion back into the backfield and it be a run or play-action, it just allows our game to be unlimited,” Prescott said. “So he’s done a great job at it, and I’ve just seen him evolve just with his knowledge and his knowledge within a route more than, ‘Oh I’m just running an out route,’ but why the ball is coming out there and why he needs to get his shoulders around. … I’m excited to see him evolve more … as we get into the season.”
At his best with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Le’Veon Bell was treated by opponents as a receiver when he lined up wide. Former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett used to say Bell could run routes like a receiver. Elliott is not at that point because he has not been featured that way in the Cowboys’ offense.
Dallas running backs coach Skip Peete was with Todd Gurley for four years with the Los Angeles Rams. Of Gurley’s 197 receptions since 2016, 63 have come on screen passes. Of his 134 non-screen receptions, 113 came with him lined up in the backfield. Similar numbers to Elliott.
But Peete said Elliott has a good understanding of how to use leverage and create separation.
“Obviously, when you remove yourself, you become more of a receiver, then you have to run routes a little bit differently than you do coming out of the backfield because there’s a little bit more space,” Peete said.
“Typically … the linebacker lines up 4 or 5 yards off of you. You get a little bit softer cushion, so, you have to push him up a distance, then step on his toes and get him to move one direction or the other so you can create space for yourself. [Elliott’s] doing a really good job at both of those, whether it’s coming from the backfield or lining out wide. That was the area I really didn’t have an opportunity to really know much about him until I got here. You know of him as a runner. You know all of the things he can do that way.”
Peete says he wasn’t sure what Elliott’s skill set would be like as a receiver, “but so far he has impressed me in that area. That’s an area I think a lot of people don’t realize how good he can be.”
Source : ESPN
