LINK

When New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins watches film of Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot, three things stand out above the rest.

First: The patience. It might be Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell who is most famous for slowly letting a play develop before finding a crease, but Rankins puts Elliott right up there in his class.

“He’ll kind of hop, skip, stutter his feet and let things develop, let his guys keep on driving their feet and moving blocks,” Rankins said. “And the next thing you know he spurts through a hole for 15, 20 yards.”

Second: The strength. At 6-feet, 225 pounds, Elliott is a load, and he plays like it. Rankins remembers watching one of Elliott’s first professional games, a preseason game against Seattle in 2016, and seeing Elliott bore right through Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor.

“He’s powerful,” Rankins said. “The first guy never really brings him down. He’s running through arm tackles — he’s running through head-up tackles.”

Finally, the finishing touch: The speed. Big, physical running backs are not supposed to be able to move the way Elliott does. In 36 career games, Elliott has broken off 27 runs of 20 or more yards. His 4.72 career yards per carry is the third best figure in the NFLsince 2016 among running backs with at least 300 carries in that span.

“You wouldn’t think of a guy that runs as powerful as he does to have the breakaway speed he has,” Rankins said. “But he’s able to run away from guys, get to the edge and create huge plays for their offense.”

To sum it all up, yes, this week is going to be a tough one for Rankins and the rest of the Saints’ top-ranked run defense. Elliott has showed off all those traits this season while rushing for an NFL-leading 1,074 yards through 11 games.

“It’s going to be a tremendous challenge,” said Saints linebacker Demario Davis.

The Saints have only allowed two teams to rush for 100 or more yards this season — the Buccaneers gained 112 yards on the ground in Week 1, and the Bengals rushed for 110 yards in a blowout loss to New Orleans a few weeks ago.

More than a calendar year has passed since the last time the Saints allowed an individual 100-yard rusher. That was Washington’s Samaje Perine, who gained 117 yards against the Saints in Week 11 last season.

In 2018, no running back has managed more than the 69 yards rushing put up by Tampa Bay’s Peyton Barber in Week 1. That list includes Los Angeles Rams star Todd Gurley, who was limited to 68 yards rushing.

Improving the run defense was a point of emphasis for the Saints this offseason. New Orleans was a middle-of-the-pack rush defense a year ago, giving up 111.7 yards per game to finish No. 16.

“The only thing you know about this league is if you allow teams to be multi-dimensional … you’re in for a long day with the way offenses are set up now, with how creative they get and with the way the rules are that allow offenses free reign all over the field,” Rankins said.

“You allow teams to run the ball and throw it on you, you just better pray you have a guy like No. 9 (quarterback Drew Brees) over there who’s on every week, because you’re going to be in some shootouts.”

When asked what has made New Orleans’ run defense so strong, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said the Saints have strong, fundamentally sound players at every level of their defense.

Saints coach Sean Payton said a large part of the Saints’ defensive success stopping the run can simply be attributed to a swarming defense, getting 11 players to the football to snuff out big plays before they have a chance to develop.

New Orleans has given up just nine runs of 15 or more yards this season, and it has not given up a single rushing play of more than 30 yards.

“This will be a challenge this week with the way they run the ball and their ability to not only give it to (Ezekiel) Elliott, but their ability with the quarterback and some of the designed runs, so we’ll have to be on point this week.”

The Saints had a lofty goal at the beginning of the season, Rankins said. They did not want to be a top-10 or top-five rush defense. They wanted to lead the NFL in the category.

Through 11 games, they are on their way to doing just that. Their 73.2 rushing yards per game allowed is the best figure in the NFL by more than seven yards.

The run defense will have its hands full this week with Dallas’ patient, strong and speedy running back, to be sure. But it is looking forward to the test.

“It’ll be fun,” Rankins said.