Michigan State Shocks Ohio State in Columbus, 17-14
November 22, 2015Kyrie Irving “destroyed” LeBron James in recent game of 1-on-1
November 22, 2015There will be much made of Ezekiel Elliott’s “rant” about the play-calling. There will be a lot of people who ask questions about what this does to his draft stock. It’s all a bunch of silliness and a trumped up distraction, if you ask me. If you read any of the coverage of his comments on Twitter as they were happening, you would have thought that Ezekiel Elliott was spitting mad and screaming. Here are some samples.
So @EzekielElliott rips coaches on the way out the door. Dumb, kid. Really dumb.
— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) November 22, 2015
Ezekiel Elliott went on a Twitter rant w/o Twitter. No I in team, but there are two in #EzekielElliot
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) November 22, 2015
pretty embarrassing what Ezekiel Elliott pulled, Im sure some on twitter will support him…but that is why they are on twitter
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) November 22, 2015
And what are the chances that this tweet was sent without actually seeing or hearing the clip?
Sounds like Ezekiel Elliott is burying his coaches in postgame comments. That's a bad, bad look. Victory has fathers, defeat has orphans.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) November 22, 2015
While his words did pierce through far more than a standard post-game quote, anyone who actually watches the clip will see a frustrated kid who wanted to win a game and felt like he wasn’t given that chance. You saw it on Twitter, but watch the actual clip for yourself.
[Also See: Michigan State shocks Ohio State 17-14 in the Shoe]
I’ll grant you that it’s a little different for a guy to say he’s definitely not coming back at an emotional moment. I’ll also grant you that questioning the play-calling is generally frowned-upon. But, anyone who questions Ezekiel Elliott and his draft stock based on those comments is searching for something to create controversy. Elliott was frustrated after a loss and even in his questioning, he didn’t lose control and say anything all that bad.
We’re talking about a kid that ran for 700 yards over his final three games in a championship run a year ago. Seven-hundred yards.
So yeah, he was frustrated. He was critical. His draft stock is fine. This is also a reminder to choose your Twitter follows wisely. There are plenty of good follows out there.
Ezekiel Elliott spoke for the masses, really, when he questioned the OSU playcalling, but also pledged supreme effort in The Game.
— Tim May (@TIM_MAYsports) November 22, 2015
Please, tell me more about how Ezekiel Elliott is gonna have to explain his honesty to NFL teams that condone domestic violence 🐸☕️
— Elika Sadeghi (@elikasadeghi) November 22, 2015
16 Comments
Nothing but love for Zeke. He was emotional after a frustrating and embarrassing loss in which he was largely ignored despite his consistent contributions over the past season plus. That was a total team loss, but the coaching staff is at the top of the list.
All that matters now is The Game. I hope we see an angry and focused team come out and obliterate the competition. Anything beyond that doesn’t matter anymore.
Terrible play calling. It’s not hard to defend the qb option when it’s your only play. No passing game, Elliot was barely used and no use of Miller.
In college sports, especially football, I give almost all the credit to the coaches. I agree with Zeke, the coaches (starting with Meyer) did not try to win that game. The only question is why.
Totally agree. One of the things I don’t like about sports media is that they criticize athletes for having canned answers to everything, but then when an athlete speaks honestly from the heart they just get castigated.
The kid didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. If anything it was tame. While football players questioning play calling is generally frowned upon, how could you not comment on it in this particular game. It was the worst called game I may have ever seen. Putrid. QB runs into the strength of the defense over and over and over and over. Ridiculous.
Agree completely, Craig. This is a case where a player is quoted accurately, but the quotes are actually taken out of context — or given no context.
I admit that when I read the comments in the this morning’s PD, I thought they sounded like an angry rip job. But after seeing the video, of course, they take on a different meaning.
The people who write things would do everyone a service if they would describe the context of the quotes, such as “A dejected, subdued Elliott said . . .” rather than just transcribing isolated quotes and leaving readers to put their own interpretations on them.
thanks for posting the video. i supported his comments initially, and i continue to do so, though more vehemently, since i can see and hear his words in context.
If nothing else, this reminds us of how many college football sportswriters just mail it in on Sunday mornings.
I think it’s impossible to like people who cover college sports’ beats. Or who criticize college athletes. Or the NCAA…College football is garbage. Everyone should quit or kill themselves.
Whoever thinks this will affect his draft stock either has no clue about the NFL or is trolling for clicks. Zeke is pretty special as far as RB’s go, got the power to grind out 4 yard runs in
between the tackles, and can break off an 80 yarder on any given play. Should be the 1st RB off the board (I dont think Henry is fast enough to make it in the NFL
I felt icky having to root for not Michigan State to win that game. From a Michigan fans perspective, OSU losing last night is all bad.
His game was worse than the 6-7 season we endured a few years ago. Very beatable team with backup qb and coached laid an egg with one of the best rb in ncaa
“[A]nyone who questions Ezekiel Elliott and his draft stock based on those comments is searching for something to create controversy.”
But that’s pretty much what draft scouts do. They aren’t looking to affirm the character of a life-long friend, they’re looking for little hints about the character of someone they don’t know. They don’t like risks, and little things scare them.
And there were little hints of several bad things, like (1) He’s a quitter (what about next week’s game?), (2) he doesn’t take responsibility for his own failings, and (3) he’ll throw his teammates under the bus in a tough spot.
You think Elliott is the first star player ever unhappy with play-calling? Yet I’m trying to hard to remember, in my 50 years of watching sports, ANY star for ANY team in ANY sport who explicitly blamed a big loss on the team’s coaches. Yeah, if I was a draft scout I would take this seriously, and I’m sure many will. If you guys wanta whistle your way past the graveyard, have at it.
Great article. Eze is an all-timer. Kid played with as much guts and passion for the scarlet and gray as anyone whose ever put the uniform on.
Clarrett also comes to mind..
Ummm… did you watch the video? Or just take the quotes out of context, like everybody else?
1 – He stressed making the best of his time left on this team and coming out harder next week
2 – He apologized to everyone for this embarrassing loss and thanked everyone for making his time there so special
3 – All he said about the play calling was that “it didn’t work out, it wasn’t working” and he was very hesitant to even say that
I think it’s more symptomatic of the landscape of all media. It’s about controversy, page clicks, stirring things up to get clicks and pageviews. Content and accuracy is secondary when you can get some cheap clicks by stirring things up and making a story out of nothing.
“And there were little hints of several bad things, like (1) He’s a quitter (what about next week’s game?), (2) he doesn’t take responsibility for his own failings, and (3) he’ll throw his teammates under the bus in a tough spot.”
Which quote, specifically, does any of those things?
To me, the only reason any scout would want his draft stock to fall would be if they’re picking lower in the first round and hoping they can somehow make him fall down to them.