As he watched video of Ezekiel Elliott making a jump cut in the midst of a 30-yard run against the Minnesota Vikings, Emmitt Smith shouted at the 55-inch monitor.
“Did you see that jump cut?” said Smith, sitting in a conference room at EJSmith Enterprises in north Dallas watching several of Elliott’s best plays this season with a reporter.
“Watch how far he gets outside and he doesn’t break stride. That’s a beautiful thing.”
It was one play among several that turned Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, into a fan who thinks that Elliott has the potential to be one of the game’s best for a long time.