ARLINGTON, Texas — Ezekiel Elliott was fired up. Hollering at the top of his lungs as he ran to the locker room, after the Dallas Cowboys 44-21 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
And he had good reason -- the Cowboys may have just found something.
This week, head coach Jason Garrett showed the team clips of their own success.
"He was just giving us a reminder of who we are," Elliott said.
Well, the reminder worked. A dominant run game returned for Dallas, and it was on full display on a 14-play, 97-yard touchdown drive in the 2nd quarter to go in front 21-7.
"The big fellas, man," Elliott said. "The big fellas. They were feeling it. They were moving 'em off the ball, and just having their way."
Of the 14 plays, 11 were runs. And the Cowboys averaged 4.7 yards per carry on the drive.
"It just came down to us running the ball," left tackle Tyron Smith said. "That's what we're built for."
An identity found? Re-established? Affirmed?
"I think the identity has always been there, it's just for us, you know, doing it as a team, knowing what we've gotta get done," Smith said.
"You know, the o-line, I don't know what they ate for breakfast, but they did a hell of a job, and made it easy on us backs," Elliott said.
"I would say that's our best game," Tony Pollard said, "all around, best all around game this year."
Oh yeah -- don't forget Pollard. The rookie back was huge. The perfect compliment to Elliott, ripping off 131 yards of his own.
"Couple of his runs, I think he was stopped in the backfield, and he broke a bunch of tackles and ran for extra yards," Elliott said. "I mean, he had a hell of a day, man. I'm happy for him."
Perhaps most importantly, the Cowboys are saying things like this again... and believing themselves when they say it:
"When we go out and handle our business, when we go out there and execute," Elliott said, "we're hard to stop."
Whatever identity may have been found by the Cowboys today, there is still one obvious, lingering question, after just the latest example, in a season's worth of mercurial football.
Who is this team?
And if you're sitting there telling me you know, you're full of it... because they're not sure themselves.
"You want to believe that the team that played today is who this team is," tight end Jason Witten said. "You've got to build on it, but that same self-evaluation is what you have to do after wins that you do after losses. And I think that's what this team will do. As you grind through a funk, you hope that a game like this can help propel you to where you want to be."
They may be out of the funk... but they're still yet to be fixed. They can do a little more to prove they are, though, if they can beat Philly next week and clinch the division.