'Keep It Warm': Dallas Cowboys Create New Rest Plan for RB Ezekiel Elliott

"That sucked.''

Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has developed a very frank verbal short-hand to describe life in the NFL. Positive or negative, he tends to be able to summarize a situation with two words, plus a habit of a chuckle followed by a sort of snort.

"That sucked.''

Two words.

Chuckle.

Snort.

What "sucked'' big-picture was Sunday’s "Red, White and Blew It'' 30-16 loss to the Broncos at AT&T Stadium, ending Dallas' six-game win streak.

“We have to play the cards we are dealt and not worry about things we can’t control,'' Elliott said of the ups and downs experienced in the Week 9 outing. "Worry more about how we play and how we execute.”

Worry? Speaking of that one word, Elliott exited the game for a time with a nagging knee injury that saw him sit on the bench when a warm wrap over his leg.

“Yeah, it helped, just to keep it warm,” said Elliott, who finished with 51 yards on 10 carries. “That’s the biggest thing, keeping it warm.”

More "help'' on Wednesday, as under coach Mike McCarthy have developed a "Veterans Rest Day'' for mid-week work. Elliott, scheduled for limited practice reps, is joined in the group of guys either dealing with minor ailments or simply being managed for wear and tear: Amari Cooper, Randy Gregory and Zack Martin in category.

As 6-2 Dallas prepares for Sunday's visit from the 4-4 Falcons, Tyron Smith is still working through rehab and will not practice today. He is, however, "making progress" from ankle injury,'' McCarthy said. ("Tyron and the O-line change'' story is here.

That suggests this isn't a long-term issue, something confirmed by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who said in review, “I thought the way he finished the game, just his intensity, the way he was running in the game, eases my mind on a going-forward basis. And the trainers didn’t give any indication there was an issue going forward.”

Once behind 30-0 late in the game, Elliott finally retired for good for the day. He insists the concern going forward isn't about his knee, but rather, about his team.

“I think we came out and didn’t play very well, didn’t execute,” Elliott said. “We felt ready, we felt prepared going into this game, but at the end of the day, they were more physical than us and we didn’t execute good enough.”

Did the Cowboys (now 6-2) make the mistake of taking Denver (now 5-4) too lightly? Did they, in the vernacular, "Eat the cheese''?

“No, I don’t think we came out thinking we already had the game in the bag,” Zeke said. “We just didn’t play good football. We did not play well. And that’s simple. We have to get back to work, learn from this loss and pick it up next week.”

All of that, with the hope that Ezekiel Elliott's nagging knee allows him to work, learn and pick it back up. ... and chuckle and snort about more Cowboys victories.

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