Ezekiel Elliott to have role reduced due to knee injury?

Ezekiel Elliott has been playing through a knee injury for several weeks, and he has been noticeably less effective during that time. The Dallas Cowboys are thinking about limiting his touches as a result.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after Thursday’s loss to the Las Vegas Raiders that the plan was for Tony Pollard to get 25 touches in order to reduce Elliott’s workload. Instead, Elliott got 15 touches to Pollard’s 14. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, that could change going forward.

From @GMFB: The #Cowboys may alter Zeke Elliott's touches as he deals with a bone bruise in his knee, while #Raiders TE Darren Waller will have tests today on a knee injury suffered last night. He was not in a lot of pain late, so maybe good news there. pic.twitter.com/yol4PsuPr8

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 26, 2021

Pollard rushed for 36 yards on 10 carries and added four catches for 32 yards. He also scored on a 100-yard kickoff return. Elliott had 25 rushing yards on nine carries and six catches for 24 yards. Pollard clearly looked like the more explosive back, and Elliott’s knee injury may have had a lot to do with that.

Elliott was first listed on the injury report with the knee issue in Week 10. He then aggravated it on an awkward hit out of bounds against the Kansas City Chiefs last week (video here).

The Cowboys are 7-4 after losing three of their last four. Elliott’s health will likely be a key to their success down the stretch and potentially into the postseason, so it makes sense for them to let his knee heal as much as possible.