'Annoyed' Emmitt Smith Rips Dallas Cowboys on Tony Pollard & Ezekiel Elliott Moves
The Dallas Cowboys will enter the bye week as a 4-2 team with big questions to answer. Most notably, the offense—despite showing up in Monday’s 20-17 win—is still feeling the loss of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. The “Texas Coast” offense is neither explosive nor efficient enough to score consistently, and they’ve turned running back Tony Pollard into a shell of himself.
Pollard’s yards per attempt has dropped from 5.2 to 3.9. While an outlandish 8.9% of his attempts last year went for at least 15 yards, only 4.2% have in 2023. He’s on track to force only 40% of the missed tackles he had last season.
Emmitt and Pollard
In making Pollard the workhorse back, the Cowboys have effectively turned him into the former starting running back, the man he usurped, Ezekiel Elliott.
Pollard running against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Orlando Ramirez USA TODAY Sports
According to legendary Dallas running back Emmitt Smith, he should be leaned on even more. His critique started with a comment on quarterback Dak Prescott.
“You don’t have a Mahomes in Dallas. You got a Dak Prescott,” Smith said. “That’s efficient a quarterback enough to throw the ball 35 times a game, maybe 40, maybe.”
Prescott hasn’t played at his best this season but still ranks seventh in expected points added per play in an offense throwing the ball shallower than 28 teams. Again, doing so in an offense many consider to be broken.
“You should have a running game that should balance that and create more opportunity for Gallup and everybody else to get down the field with play action,” Smith said. “If you run the ball effectively.”
After Monday’s affair, where Gallup was a legitimate detriment to the Dallas offense, there may be some hesitation to get him the football. However, many would agree that the Cowboys would be better off stretching the field more often, regardless of who ends up getting the targets.
Smith would go on to encourage Dallas to pound the rock more, though rushing success isn’t linked to play-action success as much as one may think. Given Pollard’s lack of production, just 370 yards in six games, running the ball more may not be the answer. At least, not with him.
Getting Pollard back to his productive ways may mean letting someone else take on a little more of the dirty work, limiting hits and keeping his legs fresh. As much as Dallas emphasized that he can be the workhorse doesn’t mean that he should. If a committee is the best option, there’s no shame in running one out there.
“If you believe in Tony Pollard that much,” Smith added on “The Zach Gelb Show.” “To where we got rid of Zeke Elliott, then dammit use him!”
When asked if cutting ties with Elliott in the offseason annoyed him, he was quick to agree.
“It does,” he said. “Because I thought the one-two punch was awesome. … It does annoy me. It makes me hot.”
It’s fair to miss Elliott, especially given the early-season woes in the red zone, but he was never sticking around with that price tag. The more damaging personnel decision in recent Cowboys memory is the deal to trade away receiver Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns. With Gallup’s inconsistencies, the smooth separator has been dearly missed.
