Awesome!
But I have even better news; it is not Elliott’s statement to kick off the new year, but the work he put in over the past four months that make the Cowboys’ triumph a statistical certainty Saturday night.
How’s that?
Well, I’m glad you asked!
Consider this, the third-year Dallas back ran for 1,434 yards in the regular season, which was good enough to give him a second NFL rushing crown. That is the seventh time a Cowboys rusher has topped the yardage chart with Emmitt Smith doing so in 1991, 92, 93 and 95; DeMarco Murray grabbing his crown in 2014 and Elliott doing the same as a rookie in 2016.
Hmmmmmm … 1991, 92, 93, 95, 2014 and 2016 … what do all of those Dallas seasons have in common?
“The Cowboys won the Super Bowl all of those years,” my co-host Cory Mageors jokingly … I hope … said on Monday.
No! We all know that isn’t right.
However, the Cowboys did win the Super Bowl in three of those years and more importantly, at least as far as this weekend is concerned, Dallas advanced to at least the divisional rounds in each of those seasons. Sure, the naysayers may point out that in most of those campaigns, the team had a bye directly into the divisional round – I say, don’t let that minor detail slow ya down and instead focus on this … prior to this season, the Cowboys had six rushing champs and were in the divisional round of the postseason all six corresponding years.
Numbers never lie and neither do I, so on Saturday night - history says we’ll reach lucky No. 7! Bring on New Orleans … or maybe Los Angeles.
Dallas Cowboys Rushing Champions
1991: Emmitt Smith -- 1,563 yards
1992: Emmitt Smith -- 1,713 yards
1993: Emmitt Smith -- 1,486 yards
1995: Emmitt Smith -- 1,773 yards
2014: DeMarco Murray -- 1,845 yards
2016: Ezekiel Elliott -- 1,631 yards
2018: Ezekiel Elliott -- 1,434 yards