Will Ezekiel Elliott play tomorrow? Cowboys RB's status revealed for Week 9 clash

The Dallas Cowboys had some things to sort out regarding Ezekiel Elliott's availability for Sunday's duel against the Atlanta Falcons. After a Week 8 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, they go against a Falcons team that beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the second time this season and improved to 5-3.

Jon Machota of The Athletic reports that the veteran running back won't be traveling with the team to Atlanta for the Falcons game.

Todd Archer of ESPN adds that the decision is related to disciplinary reasons. He re-joined the Cowboys on a one-year deal that could get him up to $3 million and included $2.15 million guaranteed and a $600,000 signing bonus.

He hasn't had the best start to his second stint with the Cowboys, attempting 48 rushes for 149 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He's caught seven passes too, racking up 40 receiving yards in seven games.

After refusing to even offer a deal to Derrick Henry, the Cowboys turned their attention to an old face, Elliott, while keeping Rico Dowdle on the roster and adding Dalvin Cook, who played for the Jets and Ravens last season.

Elliott scored his 70th rushing touchdown for the Cowboys and now is two rushing scores away from tying Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett, who ranks behind Emmitt Smith on the all-time list.

Jerry Jones took issue with Ezekiel Elliott's comments about participation in Cowboys' offense

At the start of October, Ezekiel Elliott was in hot water with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones after voicing his discomfort with his participation in the offense. At the time, he had 36 total touches (30 carries and six receptions), averaging 7.2 touches per game.

He was he was "dumbfounded" by his lack of opportunities, which didn't sit well with Jones.

"That's an exaggeration. Dumbfounded is a mischaracterization and a bad description of how he feels about things. We're saving him, and we should be. Rico is an outstanding running back. He's always had the challenge because of his size of doing his blocking and protecting the quarterback.

"But his problem has been what? He's has injuries over the course of his career. So it would be madness to depend on [that.] Zeke is there and we want to protect him over this particular period of time."

Elliott has found himself in trouble again, as the Cowboys made him a healthy scratch for the first in his career with the Cowboys when a playoff berth isn't secured.