Garrett: Dallas Cowboys have plan for Ezekiel Elliott ban

Pending appeal, Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will miss the first six games for violating the NFL’s domestic violence policy.
Pending appeal, Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will miss the first six games for violating the NFL’s domestic violence policy.

LOS ANGELES -- Dallas Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett said the team was hopeful star running back Ezekiel Elliott would not be suspended by the NFL after its year-long investigation of domestic violence allegations, but Garrett said the Cowboys entered training camp knowing it was a possibility.

"We suspected that something like this might happen," Garrett said after the Cowboys 13-10 loss Saturday to the Los Angeles Rams at the Los Angeles Coliseum. "We prepared our team accordingly by building it the right way and we're going to focus on what we control with our football team. As players and coaches, we're going to coach as well as we can and we're going to play as well as we can with the players we have available to us."

Garrett said he talked to the team about the situation and how they were going to handle it. Elliott was not asked to speak to his teammates.

Elliott was never arrested and not charged by the Columbus Ohio City Prosecutor, a situation that continues to befuddle the Cowboys as they try to wrap their head around the league's decision.

"For us it's very shocking," said running back Darren McFadden, the former Arkansas Razorback from Little Rock. "We didn't know what was going on exactly. To hear six games, it was definitely a surprise to us. We didn't expect anything to happen. But they made a decision. For us as a team, we are going to rally around him and keep going forward."

Elliott didn't play against Los Angeles Rams on Saturday night and Garrett has not determined if he will play in the preseason, though Stephen Jones indicated he might play against the Indianapolis Colts on Aug. 19.

Garrett said the Cowboys prepared to play without him.

"We feel that we've built our team the right way and we have some veteran experience, guys who have been productive in this league, at the running back position in Alfred Morris and Darren McFadden," Garrett said. "We feel good about Rod Smith. We're going to focus on the guys we have available to us. Zeke will be with us practicing as we go forward. He's going to get himself ready to play when the time comes."

Veteran Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, who grew up around domestic violence, took a tempered view of the situation.

Witten said he has discussed the situation with Elliott and is hopeful that he grows from it.

"Quite frankly, it's uncomfortable even having the conversation right now, but you go through it, and (you're) in a position to be a leader, and you continue to show the way and allow guys to grow, and I know that's been a tough year on him," Witten said. "I think that his mindset has been such what he's said, what he's already released, I think that that's a pretty good perspective on what he's trying to do moving forward."

Outside the Cowboys, Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk spoke to Elliott on the field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.

Faulk met Elliott five years ago when he was a junior at John Burroughs High School in St. Louis, and they stay in touch. The two also share the same agent, Rocky Arceneaux.

Faulk said Elliott is intelligent and "totally understands" he needs to mature and make better decisions. Faulk said Elliott has a strong support system around him. He said Elliott's engaging personality sometimes puts him "in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Obviously, we all have to grow up in life and make mistakes, and sometimes some of those mistakes cost you dearly," said Faulk, who was on hand to call the game for NFL Network. "It's another thing of just understanding the magnitude of what's around you and how things are."

Faulk said he wasn't surprised by the length of Elliott's suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.

"We're not talking about a kid who is dumbfounded and doesn't know," Faulk said. "It's not just about making the right decision, but when things start to go wrong knowing when to walk away. I say this to him often, this platform and this stage that you're on, it's bigger than you think. The Cowboys, the (NFL), it's bigger than Zeke. Sometimes it doesn't seem fair. We all want it to be fair, but sometimes it's not."

Faulk has walked in Elliott's shoes. Faulk was the second overall pick in the 1994 draft by Indianapolis. The Cowboys drafted Elliott fourth overall in 2016.

Faulk said he was fortunate to start his career in Indianapolis, where the microscope is not as intense.

"The circumstances sometimes and the choices you make sometimes put you in situations that even when you don't do anything wrong, something wrong happens," Faulk said. "After one or two incidents, people don't care whose fault it is when you're involved and that's not fair but that's just how it is.

"I always wonder, when you look at people walk around with bodyguards and they won't talk to fans and they won't meet people, we say mean things about them, how they don't embrace their fans. But then when you get a kid who will engage with people and things happen, how can he be engaging with people?"

Sports on 08/14/2017

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