'I Lost A Little': Pollard Injury Talk: Is Cowboys RB About To Explode?

'I Lost A Little': Tony Pollard Injury Talk: Is Dallas Cowboys RB About To Explode?

FRISCO - Tony Pollard spent the offseason rehabbing from that nasty leg injury that put him out of the Dallas Cowboys' playoff loss at San Francisco ... after which time all parties "bet on him'' to make a full recovery.

The Pro Bowl running back got his $10 million franchise-tag deal for one season, and he's been a centerpiece of the "Texas Coast Offense'' engineered by coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Dak Prescott.

But he seems to be suggesting that there is another gear he's about to shift into.

“I would say it's a night-and-day difference,'' Pollard said this week here at The Star as 10-4 Dallas readies for a Christmas Eve marquee game at 10-4 Miami. "You think you're good. You think you're all the way back until you're actually out there making plays, full speed, feeling it.''

And is "TP'' "feeling it''?

"Once you get a feel for it and get your feet under you, then you start to realize, ‘Oh, so I may have lost a little right there.' But I'm picking it back up,” the Cowboys running back said

"But I'm picking it back up'' is, for those in Cowboys Nation, a tantalizing promise.

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Last week in the loss at Buffalo, Pollard led the team with 11 carries and 52 rushing yards. The per-carry average is nice. The overall production? Not nice enough.

Last year, sharing time with Ezekiel Elliott, Pollard had 193 carries for 1,007 yards and scored 12 touchdowns and was selected to play in his first Pro Bowl. This year, with three games to play? He has 207 carries for 848 yards and has scored five touchdowns. ... all of which suggests that there is room to grow. ... maybe just in time to beat the Miami Dolphins as Dallas heads to the NFL playoffs.