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There was a whole lot of consternation about Ezekiel Elliott after he ran for only 51 yards on 20 carries in the first game of his career and then followed that up with a game where he carried 21 times for only 83 yards.

Three weeks later, those concerns look rather silly. Elliott has ripped off three consecutive games with at least 130 rushing yards, the latest being a 15-carry, 134-yard effort against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday that included a preposterous 60-yard jaunt on which he reached 21.5 miles per hour, per the CBS broadcast of the game.

This 134-yard game came on the heels of a 23-carry, 138-yard performance last week, which itself followed a 30-carry, 140-yard day back in Week 3, making Elliott's three-game stretch one of the best for any rookie running back not only in Cowboys history, but in NFL history.

Elliott's 546 rushing yards lead the NFL after five games and his five rushing touchdowns rank third. As if that weren't enough, there's also this:


And then there's the fact that he just keeps getting better every week. Take a look at his yards per carry averages this season:

  • Week 1: 2.6
  • Week 2: 4.0
  • Week 3: 4.7
  • Week 4: 6.0
  • Week 5: 8.9

Some of that improvement is the offensive line coming around after an uncharacteristically poor start to the season in their run-blocking (Elliott averaged only 0.7 yards before contact per carry in Week 1), but he's also done a better job of making hay after first contact pretty much every week as well. Consider his yards after contact per carry averages, per Pro Football Focus:

  • Week 1: 2.1
  • Week 2: 2.0
  • Week 3: 2.6
  • Week 4: 3.3
  • Week 5: 7.4

How does Zeke himself feel about all this?

Yep. Sounds about right.