FRISCO, Texas -- Life without Ezekiel Elliott has been painful for the Dallas Cowboys.
In three games without Elliott, they have scored a total of 22 points. With Elliott, the Cowboys scored at least 28 points in six of eight games.
The running game in Elliott’s absence has not been that terrible. The Cowboys have averaged 99.3 yards per game on the ground, which over the life of a season would come out to 1,588 yards. It wouldn’t be the worst total of the Jason Garrett era. In 2012 and ’13, the Cowboys ran for 1,265 yards and 1,504 yards, respectively, and finished 8-8 both seasons.
Without Elliott, however, the running game has not been dynamic.
“We’ve done some good things in the running game. Like I said, efficient and also some explosive [plays],” Garrett said, “but maybe not controlling the game as much as we have in previous weeks.”
This version of the running game looks like 2015's, when Darren McFadden finished fourth in the NFL with 1,089 yards. In 2015, it was fine. But it wasn’t like what it was in 2014 when DeMarco Murray led the NFL in rushing with a franchise-record 1,845 yards.
In three games this season without Elliott, the fun game has been fine. But it’s not been the same as it was with Elliott. The Cowboys are averaging 4.4 yards per carry without Elliott after averaging 4.9 yards per carry with him. They averaged 138.3 yards per game on the ground when he was in the lineup.
“You can say [the running game has been good enough], but it doesn’t matter,” Alfred Morris said. “We’re not winning games. We’re not putting points on the board, so it doesn’t matter if we, in a sense, are doing our part.
"We’ve got to figure this thing out offensively as a team, and we’ve got to turn this thing around. It’s getting to that point where we won’t have any hope left if it continues the way it’s going. So we’ve got to find a way Thursday to turn it around against a good division opponent.”
That the opponent is the Washington Redskins, his former team, means little to Morris. He went through the emotions of playing the only team he ever knew last season.
“To me, it’s always been another game,” Morris said. “It’s just another opponent, another opportunity to show what we can do to get a win.”
In three games, Morris has 180 yards on 37 carries. He had 91 yards on 17 carries against the Philadelphia Eagles, holders of the best run defense in the NFL. In the past three games, the Cowboys have just six plays of 20 yards or more. Morris has half of them with runs of 20, 22 and 20 yards.
“He looks like Alfred,” Washington coach Jay Gruden said. “He’s very steady. We love Alfred around here. He did some great things with the Washington Redskins and [we] hated to lose him, especially to Dallas. But we know what Alfred is all about. He’s got great vision. He’s got great contact balance and he’s a really good runner.”
Dak Prescott said the running game has been good enough.
“Overall, our offense isn’t where we want it to be,” Prescott said. “Numbers lie sometimes. I’m not going to say we need to do more or it’s there. But statistically, yeah, 100 yards is enough, I would say. We’ve just got to find a way all together to get out of this.”
Elliott’s success correlated to defensive success, although Sean Lee's absence has exacerbated the woes on that side of the ball. The better Elliott ran, the more the offense was on the field to score points, which made life easier for the defense.
In the past three losses, the Cowboys have had just one lead to start the third quarter (9-7 at halftime against Philadelphia). The defense has allowed scores on nine of 14 second-half possessions, which has negated the running game because the Cowboys have been forced to throw more.
“The run game has been efficient,” tight end Jason Witten said. “We’ve done a good job with our running game. We just haven’t had enough big plays in there to get in control of the defense and get them to kind of playing our style of football.”