Football fans all over the place have been confused about what’s going on between the NFL and Ezekiel Elliott. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been, too.
The latest news is that the NFLPA won a battle on Elliott’s behalf — the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Elliott a stay of his six-game suspension — that is allowing him to play in Week 9 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
After hearing that good news Friday, Jones appeared on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas and opened up about how crazy it’s all been.
“I’ve never seen such an ambiguous circumstance as to whether or not you’re going to have a player that can impact the game the way that Zeke does available or not,” Jones said, laughing, on 105.3 The Fan’s G-Bag Nation show [KRLD-FM] (h/t Jon Machota of SportsDay). “To have it done in this manner where it depends upon whether somebody wants to rule or not is a new experience for us.
“I’m having a lot of problems reconciling, going through, ‘What about this ruling? This court?’ I even have to sit down and decide when I read it whether it was good or bad for Zeke,” Jones said. “I have to get oriented every time I look at the situation.”
Speaking of impact, after a slow start to the season Elliott has been unstoppable the past few weeks. He’s rushed for over 100 yards the past four games while combining for 644 yards and seven touchdowns.
The big concern here for the Cowboys and their star running back has to be whether he ends up having to miss games late in the season, or potentially even in the playoffs. Jones said he believes the NFL would extend the suspension, if it’s ever enforced, into the postseason as well.
Certainly, the word ambiguous can be applied to this situation. Another word might be stressful. One thing we know for sure at this time is that Elliott appears to be handling the stress very well. Or at the very least, he’s been ensuring it doesn’t affect his play on the field.
Dallas will be hosting Kansas City Sunday, when it hopes to stay above .500 and keep from falling too far behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East.