The Dallas Cowboys' ever-struggling running game finally showed signs of life this season. Javonte Williams is playing the best football of his career, and he's given the team its best running back production since prime Ezekiel Elliott.
Rookie Jaydon Blue was also expected to have a big role as his backup, but it wasn't until Miles Sanders suffered a season-ending injury that he finally got a chance. Even so, as reported by Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, head coach Brian Schottenheimer still isn't sold on him.
Brian Schottenheimer Callas Out Jaydon Blue
“[Jaydon Blue] is a young back learning the speed of the game and the physicality of the game. But to me, I'm always going to go back to the consistency. You can't put the ball on the ground. You have to be on top of your blitz pick ups. You have to do those things." Schottenheimer said, per Harris.
This isn't the first time that Schottenheimer has been critical of the rookie out of Texas. He's preached consistency since the start of the season, and given his ball-security issues, he may not be ready to give him a bigger role.
Schottenheimer Wants Competition in Cowboys' Backfield
Schottenheimer wants Blue to take a page out of Javonte Williams' book and soak in as much information as possible. But with Malik Davis also getting some work done, it sounds like the Cowboys head coach is ready to demote Blue:
"The big thing I've told him about is you've got the perfect guy sitting right to your left, in Javonte, to learn from -- who was you a couple of years ago as a young rookie trying to figure it out. Lean on him. Javonte does everything right and so Jaydon's doing that, but again, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Malik Davis and the job he's doing for us. We're all about creating competition. It's not just creating competition on the defensive side of the ball for jobs and who's going to play. It's on offense as well and that would be another battle to watch," added Schottenheimer.
So far, Blue has logged just 22 carries for 66 rushing yards. Even so, it sounds like Schottenheimer's comments aren't motivated by his production or lack thereof. And if Davis makes the most of his opportunities, this could be the end of the line for the former Longhorn, at least for this season.