The Dallas Cowboys were brought back down to Earth in their Week 2 game against the Denver Broncos.
The Cowboys, who owned the NFC’s best record at 13-3 last season, were pummeled by the Broncos 42-17 at Sports Authority Field. Several Dallas players were criticized following the blowout loss, none more than Ezekiel Elliott, who was accused of quitting on a play.
In wake of Elliott’s all-around forgettable performance, Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas offered some solid advice to the star running back. In an interview with ProFootballTalk on Wednesday, Thomas explained how important losing is to the growth of a young NFL player.
“The problem when you’re a young player, and some people will take this the wrong way, but you have to learn how to lose,” Thomas told PFT. “Because in college a lot of times these guys come from programs where they didn’t lose a lot, and so as soon as things are going poorly it’s easy for those guys to just throw in the towel, and I think we saw that with Ezekiel.
“Obviously (the Cowboys) had a tremendous season last year. He came from an organization in college at Ohio State that hardly ever lost, and if you find yourself in a situation where you’re losing sometimes those guys don’t know how to handle it and they don’t understand you have to play at the highest level and give everything you have on every single play no matter what the scoreboard says because that’s your job and that’s what you owe to your teammates.”
Thomas certainly knows how to handle defeat, as the star lineman hasn’t missed a game since the Browns drafted him No. 3 overall in the 2007Â NFL Draft. Cleveland is 48-114 since the 2007Â campaign, and look doomed for another lackluster season in 2017.
We’ll have to wait and see how the Cowboys rebound from last Sunday’s loss when they take on the Cardinals in Arizona in a “Monday Night Football” clash.
Thumbnail photo via Patrick McDermott/USA TODAY Sports Images
