Cowboys vs. Chiefs: Alfred Morris will start in place of Ezekiel Elliott

The Dallas Cowboys have announced that Alfred Morris will be the starting tailback when the Cowboys host the visiting Kansas City Chiefs.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the recipients of some fortunate news in that they are the first team who will not have to face Ezekiel Elliott this season as he begins to serve a six-week suspension that’s been held up via appeal until Week 9 of the NFL season. For the Dallas Cowboys, they have to hope that his substitute Alfred Morris can make teams regret taking them lightly in case they’re overlooking Dallas after losing Elliott.

For the first four years of his NFL career, Alfred Morris was the bellcow back for the Washington Redskins, a role he earned from the very outset of his rookie year. He averaged 1,178 rushing yards in those four seasons and never missed a single game in the process, with a healthy 4.4 yards/carry average during that time. Ever since he arrived in Dallas, he’s yet to start a single game, which makes Sunday a big day for Morris personally.

This season in very limited duty, Morris has 13 carries for 105 rushing yards, good for an astounding 8.1 yards/carry. Of course the sample size is too little to make any assumptions, but the Cowboys feel good enough about Morris that they’re putting him ahead of other possible running backs on the roster, including Darren McFadden and Rod Smith.

The Cowboys host the Chiefs in Week 9 on Sunday afternoon at 4:25 p.m. C.T.