The Dallas Cowboys are ready to unleash Zeke.
After keeping the restrictor plate on Ezekiel Elliott for the first two weeks following his training camp holdout, the Cowboys say they're ready to ride their workhorse in Week 3.
"This is our third game," offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said, via the Dallas Morning News. "I think he's at that point where we're pretty much playing this thing out at this point. It was good those first two weeks just to be aware of it and then also trust Zeke's response and how he feels and all those things and just balancing that stuff out."
Elliott played just 35 snaps in Week 1 as the Cowboys slowly worked him back into shape. The season-opening blowout over the Giants afforded Dallas the ability to sit Zeke for the entire fourth quarter. In last week's win over the Washington Redskins, Elliott played 50 of 65 snaps. Moore gave the running back a rest before bringing him back to ice the game in the four-minute drill.
"We still feel great about Zeke," Moore said. "We were just making sure we don't overdo it in the second game back. It was perfect. Tony (Pollard) got in there, started playing. Get Zeke back in there, kind of balancing back and forth. I think it ended up pretty balanced and pretty on point as far as play snaps that we would have loved to have."
Through two games, Elliott has played 66.1 percent of the team's snaps. In 2018, Elliott played 82.9 percent of the Cowboys snaps, per Next Gen Stats (that number leaps to 89 percent through 15 games -- Zeke didn't play in the team's final regular-season tilt). Moore sounds ready to close the gap.
Moore might be ready to ride Elliott, but facing the tanking Miami Dolphins on Sunday could lead to another day of early rest for the running back. Regardless of how much Zeke plays this week, Moore's comments indicate the Cowboys are no longer worried about easing the back in.
Feeding Zeke will become a regularity once the schedule stiffens.
