DALLAS – UPDATE: Judge reinstates 6-game suspension for Cowboys' Elliott
A federal judge cleared the way Monday night for the NFL to enforce a six-game suspension of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott over domestic violence allegations.
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U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla denied the request for a preliminary injunction from players' union attorneys working for Elliott. Failla put the ruling on hold for 24 hours to give Elliott's legal team time to appeal, a likely move.
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Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys should soon find out if the running back will be eligible to play the rest of the season.
Elliott has another hearing Monday to decide whether he’ll serve a six-game suspension as a result of a yearlong NFL investigation that found he had multiple physical confrontations in 2016 with his girlfriend at the time.
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“We need him, but what is important is that he gets a fair shake,” owner Jerry Jones said Sunday after Elliott ran for 150 yards and two touchdowns in a 33-19 victory over the Washington Redskins. “Zeke has in no way, by any standard, done anything wrong. He’s done nothing wrong. We, the league, have tried to say that he’s done something that we disagree with. We all don’t agree with that. So I want him to get a fair shot. And he deserves that.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Elliott in August for six games, a ban that has been fought over in court since. Prosecutors in Ohio declined to pursue a criminal case, citing conflicting evidence.
“We’ve got a pretty good system in place in this country,” Jones said. “It’s called the legal system, and it has a lot of precedent and it’s made a lot of mistakes, but it’s the best one there probably is in the world in my view and for us to not basically recognize that, that’s a concern.”
With the 5-2 Kansas City Chiefs up next, the Cowboys hope they’ll have Elliott, who has run for 100-plus yards in three consecutive games and has four rushing touchdowns over the past two weeks. Elliott believes he’ll keep playing.
“I think we’re confident in our argument,” said Elliott, who will attend the hearing. “We’re confident I’ll be on the field for the rest of the year.”
"I mean it's really out of my hands," Elliott said. "There's nothing more I can control. Just trust my legal team that they're going to do their job and make sure I'm on the field next week."
Follow LIVE appeals court hearing updates below:
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Cowboys ‘Feed Zeke,’ capitalize on mistakes to beat Redskins
After letting the ball slip out of his hands on his first carry, Ekeziel Elliott was determined not to let his Dallas Cowboys teammates down again.
Elliott bounced back from his fumble to run for 150 yards and two touchdowns as the Cowboys took advantage of a blocked field goal and three turnovers to beat the Washington Redskins 33-19 in a wet, sloppy game Sunday to move into sole possession of second place in the NFC East.
“We always talk about when you got that ball in your hands, that’s the team, so you’ve got to protect it,” Elliott said. “I had to do something.”
Playing in a driving rainstorm that made it difficult to hold onto the ball, let alone throw it, Dak Prescott completed 14 of his 22 passes for 143 yards as Dallas (4-3) heeded the message on Elliott’s cleats to “Feed Zeke.” With another hearing on his NFL suspension coming Monday, Elliott carried the ball 33 times, scored twice for the second consecutive game and surpassed 100 yards for the third time in a row.
“He’s hard enough when you have holes filled, let alone when you’re giving him a clear running lane,” Redskins linebacker Ryan Kerrigan said. “It is never going to be easy.”
Elliott said he didn’t think about his pending hearing, which could determine whether he’s suspended the next six games or will be available for the rest of the season. He didn’t have the chance to because he called conditions so treacherous that he struggled to hold on to the ball late because of the rain and cold.
What could be Elliott’s last game until mid-December turned in the second quarter when Dallas’ Tyrone Crawford blocked Nick Rose’s field goal attempt and Orlando Scandrick returned it 86 yards to set up a 1-yard Elliott TD run two plays later. Instead of the Redskins (3-4) leading 16-7, the Cowboys went up 14-13 and never trailed again.
“That block was huge,” Prescott said. “That might’ve been the turning point and just the key play in the whole game.”
Washington QB Kirk Cousins lost one fumble and kick returner Chris Thompson lost another. Cousins was 26 of 39 for 263 yards and a 1-yard TD pass to Josh Doctson that cut it to 26-19, but Rose missed the extra point and Dallas sealed it with an interception return for a touchdown by Byron Jones with 21 seconds left.
NO PROBLEM, NUGENT
Signed to fill in for injured kicker Dan Bailey, Mike Nugent was wide left from 49 yards on his first attempt for the Cowboys. Nugent, who worked out for the Redskins last week when they decided to sign Rose to replace the injured Dustin Hopkins, shook it off and made field goals from 36, 48, 27 and 37 yards in the second half.
“It’s one of those ones you want back, but I feel like I learned from it,” Nugent said. “I was happy to connect on the rest.”
FEEL THE RUSH
The Cowboys took full advantage of the Redskins’ bevy of injuries along the offensive line, sacking Cousins four times. Washington was without starting left tackle Trent Williams, center Spencer Long and right guard Brandon Scherff because of knee injuries and had two rookies making their NFL debuts — Chase Roullier at center and Tyler Catalina at right guard.
“The D-line has done a great job getting a lot of pressure: strip sacks, making plays,” Dallas linebacker Sean Lee said.
Elliott has 690 yards rushing and six touchdowns and 210 yards receiving with two scores this season. Although the 22-year-old voiced confidence in fellow running backs Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden and Rod Smith, Dallas doesn’t have someone else who can do what Elliott does at his level.
Elliott, Cowboys await another hearing on 6-game suspension
Because of that, the Cowboys are eager for some clarity that is expected to come out of Elliott’s hearing Monday.
“We’ll deal with it and go on, but, yeah, it’ll be beneficial, I guess, to say we’ll know if we have him or not,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “Hopefully we can get it all out the way. But it’s out of my control and out of his control for the most part. It’s up to the people that make those decisions, and we’re going to take it as a team and I know he will the right way and move forward.”
“What is important is that he gets a fair shake,” Jones said. “Zeke has in no way, by any standard in this country, done anything wrong. He’s done nothing wrong.
“The league has tried to say that he’s done something that we disagree with. We all don’t agree with that. We don’t have the system in place for this and we’re trying to make one up in a few short months and it’s got too many ways to not be fair to a person like Zeke.”
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