Breakout performance is “coming”, says Cowboys running back Tony Pollard

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The Dallas Cowboys missed a chance to close the gap between themselves and the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East this past weekend, losing 28-23.

Mike McCarthy‘s Texas coast offense had another strong outing, putting up 406 total yards, but couldn’t slow down the Eagles pass rush, conceding five quarterback sacks.

The Eagles are near the top of the league regarding offensive yards per game, and the Cowboys came up just a little short.

Tony Pollard’s manifestation

With 66 points in their last two games, the Cowboys offensive unit have taken a giant leap forward and had a chance to win it late on Sunday.

Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb are starting to find their stride, while the passing game has put up over 250 yards in back-to-back games.

One area that has struggled to get going is the Cowboys running game, which is averaging fewer than four yards-per-carry.

When the club decided to move on from Ezekiel Elliott and franchise-tagged Tony Pollard they essentially went all in, hoping that the 26-year-old out of Memphis would be a worthwhile investment.

Thus far, that investment of over $10 million has yet to pay off as Pollard has rushed for 474 yards in eight games.

He’s only reached the century mark for rushing yards in a game once in 2023 (28-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals) and has only run for over 50 yards twice in his last three contests (53 versus the Rams and 51 against the Eagles).

It could be argued that he’s being underutilized, as his only 100-yard game came when he got 25 carries, but he’s only gotten over 20 touches out of the backfield in two outings all season.

In the loss to Philly Pollard only had a dozen touches out of the backfield, averaging 4.2 yards-per-carry.

The Eagles’ secondary with the likes of Darius Slay, Avonte Maddox and James Bradberry are more than capable of making it difficult for Cowboys receivers, which is where one would have thought Pollard would get more touches.

Despite a tough start to the season, Pollard says he’s confident he can turn it around.

“Most definitely! Yeah, it’s coming,” Pollard said regarding a breakout performance. “I just know it is. Speak it into existence.”

As for how to get the run game going, Pollard noted that it’s about “Just trying to find opportunities.”

“Find weak points in the defense where it’s a good look for us to run and getting a little more at-bats at the plate.”

One thing they did a little too much against the Eagles was giving their explosive offense too many possessions and they showed an ability to score quickly.

Long sustained drives while taking time off the clock, didn’t happen as much as they would have liked, though they had a shot to win it late, only to fall short with a sack in the red zone late on their final drive.

The Cowboys next will battle the New York Giants, who Pollard had some success against at the start of the season, as he averaged over five yards per carry in that victory, one of only two times in 2023 that he’s had over five yards per carry in a game.