Cowboys Ezekiel Elliott Going Overseas? The Joke's On The NFL
ATLANTA (105.3 THE FAN) - Ezekiel Elliott is taking a European vacation.
Elliott, the Dallas Cowboys star running back who this week saw yet another court rule that his six-game suspension is on again, is not allowed to be with his team in Atlanta for a game against the Falcons or otherwise.
So, as first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Elliott is leaving the country in order to "clear his head and train.'' That doesn't necessarily mean he's going to Europe, of course, or that he's "vacationing.'' But in this gallows-humor moment for the Cowboys, trying to build on their 5-3 record without their MVP candidate, the jokes tell themselves.
Now officially suspended, #Cowboys RB Zeke Elliott is leaving the country for an undisclosed location to clear his head & train, sources say
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 12, 2017
He's going to a snowy mountain to train, Rocky vs. Drago style.
He's going to Amsterdam, where all forms of "head-clearing'' are legal.
He's going wherever… only to come back looking like chubby offensive lineman Joe Looney doing his "Fake Zeke'' imitation.
One of the many, many, many problems with the NFL's "Law & Order'' rulebook - beside the fact that they seem to be making up some of these rules as we go - is that in most cases, a suspended player is not allowed contact with his team.
In the case of Elliott, that means a 22-year-old - who the NFL itself thinks is guilty of domestic violence and also has behavioral issues, and who admitted during the league's investigation of him that he enjoyed doing drugs in college and enjoys getting drunk, too - is now cast out of the building without an anchor, without guidance and without structure.
Maybe Ezekiel Elliott will find guidance and structure in his travels. But without that? You can understand why Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and other critics of this system think the joke is on the NFL.