ARLINGTON, Texas — That mysterious Ezekiel Elliott knee injury now has a name.
The Dallas Cowboys running back revealed following the playoff loss Sunday that he played through a partially torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Elliott suffered the ailment on Oct. 3 against the Carolina Panthers.
Elliott never missed a game because of the injury, but he clearly missed a beat.
He lacked his usual explosion, plodding where there was once power, lumbering through the knee discomfort and instability he felt. He wore a brace over the right knee in the final six games, including Sunday’s.
“It was hard,” Elliott said. “It’s never fun being banged up. But, it’s my job to make sure I get my body right and be ready for this team, for the fanbase and for the coaches. It’s hard, but that’s my job.”
He added that he won’t need surgery.
“I just partially tore my PCL this year,” Elliott said. “It was an injury that wasn’t going to get worse, but it was just going to take time. … I was just doing my job. I was going out there and doing what I needed to do for my team. I feel like everyone else in that locker room would have done the same.”
Elliott finished Sunday with 12 carries for 31 yards. He caught one pass for no gain on four targets.
The Cowboys took great care to get running back Tony Pollard healthy for the postseason.
Upon doing so, they barely used him.
Pollard inexplicably only saw four carries for 14 yards. He also caught two passes for 12 yards. Elliott is considered superior in pass protection — he delivered a beautiful block on a third-and-10, allowing quarterback Dak Prescott to connect with tight end Dalton Schultz for 12 yards — but that seems not to excuse the touch total.
Pollard was healthy enough Sunday to handle kick returns for the first time since tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot on Dec. 2 against the New Orleans Saints.
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