9:47 pm: According to Hill, there’s no single incident at the core of today’s decision regarding Ezekiel Elliott.
Tension has been building between the team and the player over several weeks, leading to the choice to keep him out for Week 9.
Elliott did attend practice today, but it will be intriguing to see how this situation unfolds.
3:10 pm: The Cowboys will be without one of their primary rushers in Atlanta tomorrow.
Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott will not travel with the team for disciplinary reasons, as confirmed by ESPN’s Todd Archer.
Though Elliott’s absence might not appear critical, given his 149 rushing yards over seven games this season, he remains the only Cowboys running back to score a rushing touchdown this year, accounting for two of the team’s three rushing scores.
This highlights why the Cowboys currently rank as the NFL’s 32nd-best rushing offense.
With only 519 rushing yards on the season, they trail the 31st-place Raiders by 113 yards and the league-leading Ravens by 1,081 yards.
At 29, Elliott is far removed from his league-leading rushing years in 2016 and 2018, and he hasn’t surpassed 1,000 rushing yards since 2021.
While Elliott has missed games due to injury and has occasionally been a healthy scratch, this marks the first time he will miss a game as a healthy scratch for reasons unrelated to the season’s final week.
With Elliott sidelined, the Cowboys’ struggling run game will rely more heavily on starter Rico Dowdle, who has 246 rushing yards along with 131 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.
The only other running back on the active roster is the diminutive Deuce Vaughn, though the team has announced plans to elevate veteran rusher Dalvin Cook for tomorrow’s game.
Cornerback Josh Butler will also be activated from the practice squad for the week.
