Tony Pollard & Ezekiel Elliott vs Zaire Franklin & EJ Speed (2022) | RB vs LB Matchup

Jack Martin, Notre Dame. Terrence Steel, Texas Tech. Chris Sennett, red hot, that line leading the way. 36 points a game, the last four. It starts with a Pollard run and won't go anywhere. Out with an ankle injury, suffered Monday night against Pittsburgh. Officially from the 27, it's Pollard again on this drive. He'll get three to the 30. It's always the conversation, Tony Pollard, Ezekiel Elliott, the balance here, and it's been Pollard the first couple of drives. Yeah, the one thing that hasn't been the conversation is which side do you run the football toward, and Jack Martin and Terrence Steel over on that right-hand side. Cowboys going quick just in case. Pollard runs to the edge. He'll get two or three yards. Some bodies were taken out on that colt sideline. It's possible to get the snap out. Second and seven. Ezekiel Elliott's first run of the night is a first down to the 36-yard line. Seventh-year man at Ohio State. Missed a couple of games with a knee injury. Looking good the last two. So these inside zone plays, everybody wants to get back behind Zack Martin, right? So would I, and you can see the way that Zack Martin, Terrence Steel, even though the play looks like it's going off to the left, those plays are intentionally cutting back to get behind their better side. Elliott left for the two-yard line. Both of these teams love to run the ball. Thatcher and a good blocker as well, so it's a different look. Second and five. Three in a row for Zeke. On the inside, EJ Speed, first contact. Third and two out of the shotgun. Elliott runs it inside and leans forward. Let's see what that mark is. He's laying across the first down line. It's going to be short. It'll be fourth down. And Elliott, the up back, will take it for the first down and not just take it, but gain nearly seven yards. Such a good look with Elliott and Pollard in the backfield together. We talked about these tight ends. Watch blocking down right here by Jake Ferguson. He looked tremendous in that game a week ago, but so many times people want to just compare the yards per carry average of Tony Pollard, 5.6 against Ezekiel. Very good start to his career. Second and ten. Inside give Pollard. It is an incredible endeavor, that museum that will open here in Arlington, Texas in 2024. Elliott the carry here. It's great to see some of them on the field here this evening. They're happy over in Fort Worth. That line adjustment. McGovern back in at guard. They pave a path for Pollard to the 40-yard line. Big first down gain for Tony of 17 yards. Watch him get out here on the edge and go make a block. He can move, so last series he was in at guard along with Jason Peters out there at tackle, and that's the sort of athleticism. You can remember when Tyron Smith first took over that left tackle position, how many different things they could do on the outside. Nice play there by Tyler Smith. Pollard again inside for about four yards, but certainly with the intent of getting him back out there. Tyler Smith's done a very incredible job at left tackle. Pollard the carry to the 31-yard line. Pollard the back, and Dak will give it to Pollard who walks in for the touchdown. Spread him out. Let Pollard go inside for the touchdown run, and the Cowboys take the lead. Watch the quickness right here by the center. Bjotich gonna get around this block. That's tough. Now the stunt from Stewart came around him to open that hole up a little bit. What a season it's been for Tony Pollard. Touchdown number nine overall is seventh on the ground. Dallas back on top. Runs of nine and 14, and now Elliott with a jump cut, and Yannick Ngakwe made the first contact. Second and 10, pressure on Prescott. Picked up, throws from left. Yeah, they're gonna bring pressure here. Here comes right up the middle, Zaire Franklin, who's had a fantastic year for these Colts, and just boys get it in great field position. The Colts may go down more than that here. Elliott on the run to the 20-yard line. One-on-one on the outside. Gonna run it inside, Elliott for one. DeForest Buckner, great play. That rejuvenating shot of championship hopes to this Cowboys fan base, and the team's feeling it too. Over there at practice Friday, they were very confident. Holding number 87, offense, 10-yard penalty. Replay first down. That's how they need this pressure with four-man rush. 41, Elliott on the ground for four. Prescott to throw, and throws underneath, and Elliott quickly hit by Franklin. Zaire limits the gain to the 48-yard line, just three there. Don't you love it, though, when a career special teams guy gets a chance? They lose their mind out there, right? Zaire Franklin, we had a chance to visit with him. Just such an intense personality and dynamic leader. His mother and grandmother who raised him passed away when he was 16 years old. Let's take a look at the Walmart Plus 4K Sky Cam. Get inside the game a little bit. Zaire Franklin, tremendous player. He leads both teams so far tonight with eight tackles he has been doing against the run. He has been a major factor in the pass game. Special teams player, special teams captain. Now the leader of this defense and doing a fantastic job. Wore number four at Syracuse, but he wears 44, which is the number worn at Syracuse by Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Larry Zonka, Derek Coleman in basketball. It's such a famous number that the zip code at Syracuse was changed from 13210 to 13244. Now, if he had been an Ohio State player, would you have known that? Yes, we do our research. Come on, go Gators, chop chop. Second and six, Pollard to the edge. Good, run down the sideline. Pollard to midfield and a first down. That extra gear, you can sense when he gets to the edge, these Cowboy fans love to see Tony take off. No question, and the other great thing this team can do is they can mix and match wide receivers and tackles, crack down on the backside of that thing and pull your tackle out and around. And I tell you, Tony Pollard is just different, isn't he? He's just different. Every year he's averaging over five yards per carry and he's just done it so consistently. That added pop to this offense has just been the difference. Seven to carry tonight, held below his average there with a run of four, here's Melissa. Mike, Tony Pollard was telling me this week about his relationship with Ezekiel Elliott. He told me when he touched down in Dallas, Zeke was the first person to take him under his wing, that Zeke taught him everything. He said they are competitive with each other, but only at call of duty. On the field, they always have a goal together as a whole and they go into every game with a combined number of yards that they want to rush for. He didn't give me an exact number tonight, he said it's high. Really the key of it has been Ezekiel Elliott because it's hard, right? When you're the guy, you're the bell cow, you're the superstar, all that sort of stuff. And it would be real easy for Ezekiel Elliott to shun Tony Pollard. He never did. And now they have that one-two punch in the backfield that is setting them apart. 39 here, Zeke running inside, see Jason Peters playing left tackle again on this drive. Motion by CeeDee Lamb coming across the field, Dax got him on the run past Franklin, picking up blocks, CeeDee Lamb. So is that one change as opposed to two change? Football League, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, any of them is the leader of this team. On the run, Pollard got a block back inside to the end zone for another Cowboy touchdown. And Tyler Smith led him to the end zone. Check this out. Our guy, Tyler Smith, out in front, leading the way once again. He can move, but he can't move like Tony Pollard. Check out CeeDee Lamb down here. He's gonna come down and make the key block on this play. He took care of Zaire Franklin and then off to the races right there. This is a Dallas Cowboys point. So the score is 40 to 19. And a couple of the scores have come from Tony Pollard. Two touchdown runs tonight. This one to put the Cowboys up 21. He did. He was afraid to unleash his defense. Ezekiel Elliott spinning and turning. Minutes. Oh, that's gonna help me there a little bit. Here's Elliott. Zaire Franklin with the tackle. It'll be third down. We're having a bonding moment right here. Absolutely. Zeke turns the corner. High steps to the five-yard line. Dallas just pouring it on here and having some fun. But Chris said something as we were watching film of last week, that Zeke looked like he was gliding again. You saw a little bit of it as he hit another gear turning that corner there. Yeah, he even threw a little Dion high step at him right here. Look at that little boy. If he'd just tuck in his chain, he'd be my all-time hero. No, but I, you know, Mike, you're right. I thought Ezekiel Elliott, when he's at his best, they're not like heavy cuts. It's just a glide. It's not quite Marcus Allen, but you know what I'm saying. To the crowd, they're chanting for Zeke. He's got it. And he gets inside the four. Like they love Pollard, but Zeke is still their guy. And there are so many Zeke jerseys around. There's a little connection with Zeke and the fans here that they appreciate his greatness so much. And if you've ever been to a Cowboys training camp practice or whatever, he's the personality of the team. I mean, he's always cutting up and having fun. And he's the one that welcomes in Tony Pollard. He's the one that made it work. Listen to him. That's like simmer down. I got, I got a call here. You're going to call, call the plate. Switch Zeke over. He's got it. And he's got it. Elliott, touchdown. Over to the kettle. Kettle time. So watch Prescott here. He's going to move them over here. Got a little bubble right here. Let's run back to the bubble. Now we don't want to go the other way where there's three big D linemen. Let's go that way to the bubble. Good job by Dak Prescott. Good job by Zeke. Good job by the Salvation Army. Going to make some more money off of the fact that the NFL fined all those players. So you knew payback was coming from the Cowboys. Dak Prescott in the mix as well. Crank them up, get them out there. Here was Thanksgiving. The whack-a-mole was fantastic. We've, we've seen, it was Zeke originally who jumped in it, right? So now here goes all four of them, but you got to have something. You can't just jump in it. So what do you got to do? Whack-a-mole. And there it is, with the shake them up. Fabulous. Now that's what pro football players do when they have some spare time. They sit around, get the camera, get out of here. What are you doing? Let's crank it up. And then you go, you feed me, yes. But you got to be happy, right, for Zeke, because this team's going to be under pressure next year. He has a big salary and they're not committed to it for the first time. But nothing's guaranteed. Nothing's guaranteed. And it's, it's going to, there are a lot of interesting decisions about this Cowboys football team next year. 47 to 19. Look at Dak, he did the same thing I was thinking, because when Zeke got up out of the kettle, he gave it this little wobble, like the Jalen Waddle thing, you know? This is a very different year than was anticipated by most in the NFC. Over here in Arlington. Second highest scoring fourth quarter in NFL history.