News has emerged as to why the Cowboys decided to leave running back Ezekiel Elliott home from their road trip to Atlanta.
Multiple outlets reported on Saturday that Elliott would be a healthy scratch for unspecified “disciplinary reasons.”
NFL Media reporter Jane Slater reported Sunday that the benching was for a body of work as Elliott is said to have been “distracted” this season.
“Aside from habitual tardiness, he’s missed three team meetings with Friday’s meeting the final straw. Both parties decided it was best he didn’t make the trip to Atlanta,” Slater wrote on X.
The 29-year-old Elliott spent his first seven NFL seasons with the Cowboys and returned to Dallas this year after playing last season in New England.
It has not been a productive reunion, as Elliott has 48 rushes for 149 yards — 3.1 yards per carry — and two touchdowns in seven games this year.
The Cowboys are slated to go with Rico Dowdle and Dalvin Cook at running back in Atlanta.
Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones has been scrutinized for not going after star running back Derrick Henry in free agency this past offseason.
After signing with the Ravens in March, Henry revealed in a radio interview that the Cowboys had “never called at all.”
Henry has 145 rushes for 946 yards — a whopping 6.5 yards per carry — and nine touchdowns in eight games this year.
During a fractious interview on local radio in Dallas in October, Jones was still not of the belief that Henry would have been a major difference-maker for the Cowboys this year.
“In my mind, we’re not playing very good football right now, and it’s beyond whether we have Derrick Henry or not. He’s having a career year. I don’t know if he’d be having a career year in our situation,” Jones said. “He’s a real good complement to the type of offense they run. We don’t run that type of offense at all.”