Ezekiel Elliott has been criticized for the way he handled himself during a blowout loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 2, and someone who is probably more familiar with losing than any player in NFL history has some advice for the Dallas Cowboys star.
Joe Thomas, who has never missed a game with the Cleveland Browns in his 10-plus seasons with the team, told Mike Florio of PFT Live Wednesday that Elliott simply needs to familiarize himself with losing games.
“The problem when you’re a young player, and some people will take this the wrong way, but you have to learn how to lose,” Thomas said. “Because in college a lot of times these guys come from programs where they didn’t lose a lot, and so as soon as things are going poorly it’s easy for those guys to just throw in the towel, and I think we saw that with Ezekiel.
“Obviously (the Cowboys) had a tremendous season last year. He came from an organization in college at Ohio State that hardly ever lost, and if you find yourself in a situation where you’re losing sometimes those guys don’t know how to handle it and they don’t understand you have to play at the highest level and give everything you have on every single play no matter what the scoreboard says because that’s your job and that’s what you owe to your teammates.”
Elliott has been ripped by fans and analysts for the way he gave up on a play where Dak Prescott threw an interception and was later seen sulking on the bench. Thomas thinks the 22-year-old can benefit from that type of criticism.
“I think for young players it’s difficult sometimes because they just don’t know how to handle it and it takes sometimes, you know, public shaming like Ezekiel’s getting right now to learn that just because you’re losing a game doesn’t mean it’s time to go quit, because you’re quitting on your teammates and you’re quitting on the game,” the veteran added. “In the NFL, that’s not acceptable and that’s not how you play and hopefully he’ll learn from that situation.”
Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett admitted that Elliott’s effort was not up to par on Prescott’s interceptions, though team owner Jerry Jones noted that the same was true for a lot of players. Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson was much harder on Elliott with some comments he made after the game.
Thomas has experienced 114 losses since he was drafted by the Browns, yet he has never once demanded a trade. If Elliott wants advice about how to lose gracefully, there’s no better player to deliver it.
