Time for Cowboys to face facts: Tony Pollard is their best running back, and here’s why the debate is over

It’s time that we had a real, considered discussion about Tony Pollard. No, probably not the one you’re thinking of. The so-called debate between Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott is over. It has been over for a while, and nearly everyone outside of the Jones family has long since recognized it. 

Put very simply: Pollard is and has been for some time the better, more effective player. He’s the more efficient runner both between and outside the tackles. He creates more yards after contact and more explosive plays, and he has the higher success rate on his rushing attempts. All of this is true despite Pollard’s having run into heavy boxes quite a bit more often than Elliott this season. He’s also the better pass-catcher and yards after catch threat; and yes, despite what you may have heard, he is at least a comparable pass-blocker, if not an outright better one at this point. (Leaving aside this fact, the idea that playing time should be doled out based on which running back is the better pass-blocker when the two players in question have combined for 58 pass-blocking snaps in 10 games is rather ridiculous.) 

None of the foregoing means Elliott should be made inactive or that he’s useless or that he should never touch the ball or any of the other various straw-man arguments people try in vain to refute; it just means that the days of his getting more snaps and/or touches than Pollard should be in the rearview mirror. If the Cowboys want to be a serious team, they need to give their best players the most playing time, and Pollard is rather obviously the best player on the team at his position. But one of the reasons that the Cowboys’ refusal to use Pollard more often is so frustrating is that he’s not just the best back on the team. He’s one of the very few best in the league.