Dallas Cowboys

Should Tony Pollard start over Ezekiel Elliott in Dallas?

Published Nov. 4, 2022 11:24 a.m. ET

The Dallas Cowboys improved to 6-2 on the season after a dominant double-digit road win over Chicago in Week 8, where Tony Pollard popped off for 131 rushing yards and three scores in place of an injured Ezekiel Elliott.

Pollard has 81 carries for 506 yards and five touchdowns — tied for the sixth-best mark in the league among RBs — on the season. He has also reeled in 12 catches for 121 yards (10.1 average yards per reception).

That said, is it time for the Cowboys to officially start Pollard over Elliott?

It's a no-brainer, if you ask Skip Bayless.

"Tony Pollard is special," he said on Thursday's "Undisputed." "Tony Pollard is criminally underutilized. He is now stuck as the backup running back, the clear No. 2 to an Ezekiel Elliott, who is a favorite — like a son to Jerry Jones, who overpaid him and will not give it up. [Jones] will not swallow his pride and let go of the fact that Zeke, to this day, is the highest-paid running back in pro football. He earned it for the first three years, [and] then he got paid for what he had done — past tense — as opposed to what he was about to do.

"Zeke’s best days are behind him," Bayless added. "If he stays on the path he's been on so far this year, and it goes just the way it [has] been going, I'm not sure Zeke [is] gonna be in the league next year."

Should Cowboys start Tony Pollard over Ezekiel Elliott?

Skip Bayless explains why he believes it's time for Dallas to start Tony Pollard.

On the other hand, Shannon Sharpe isn't convinced that Pollard should be featured over Elliott in the run game.

"Pollard has been with the Cowboys for four years, and he [has] stayed relatively in the role that he had as a rookie — and I think that's the best role for him" Sharpe said. "He's not used to being an every-down back. Zeke averaged 19 carries a game. Tony Pollard averages seven carries a game. … You think you're gonna be able to hand this guy the ball 20, 25 times a game?

"I do not. … He's not built like that. … You can't run him like that."

Pollard is averaging 6.2 yards per carry in eight games (two starts), while Elliott is averaging just 4.1 per attempt. Elliott has 109 carries on the season for 443 yards and four touchdowns in seven games.

Heading into a bye in Week 9, Dallas will have some time to iron out which back will take center stage in Week 10, when the Cowboys take on the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field (Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX).