Tony Pollard Should be Getting the Majority of the Carries for the Cowboys

There is no need to remove Ezekiel Elliot from the game plan. The Cowboys don’t need to give Tony Pollard 25 carries a game either. But at this point, it’s clear that Dallas is not maximizing its offense if Pollard isn’t getting the majority of the runs.

The role of the offensive coordinator is to get the ball into the hands of his most dangerous players as much as possible. Pollard falls into that category. And at this point, he isn’t just a satellite player (great in space). Dallas doesn’t need to only give him the ball on plays targeting the perimeter in the run game. He can run effectively between the tackles as well, a trend that has continued from a year ago.

In fact, Pollard is averaging 7.0 (!) yards per carry on his 34 runs between the tackles this season according to Pro Football Focus. Elliott, on the other hand, is averaging half of that with just 3.5 yards per carry. Pollard also has 6 plays of 10 or more yards on runs between the tackles. Elliott has 2 such runs.

One of the reasons for Pollard’s success inside is his ability to do things with his dynamic quickness and speed that Elliott can’t do. His quickness in tight spaces allows him to hit holes in an instant, avoid tackles, and accelerate past defenders, often creating yards that initially appeared not to be there. That attribute, combined with his vision and decisiveness, has led to some big plays on inside runs this season.

Just take a look at this play against the Rams to get an idea. This was a mid-zone run. Once Pollard saw the linebacker attack the B-gap to his right, Pollard made his decision and got upfield immediately. No hesitation. No dancing at the line:

That combination of decisiveness and speed allowed him to get through the line so quickly that the safety coming up miscalculated his tackling angle. Pollard then got in space in the Rams secondary and did what he does best.

Here was another mid-zone run, this time against the Lions in Week 7:

As some of you know, I provide Cowboys coverage for The Dallas Morning News. To read the rest of this breakdown, click here.