FRISCO, Texas — There are many variations of the famous Oklahoma drill, but it basically comes down to two players squaring off against each other. The ball carrier is looking to break a tackle, and the defender is trying to make a stop. The players are lined up only a few yards apart. The head-to-head collisions that often occur have led the NFL to no longer allow the drill in practices.

For Ezekiel Elliott, the drill played a major role in his running style. The Cowboys’ Pro Bowl back says he finishes runs the way he does because of something that happened to him during a youth football practice when he was 7.

“My little league coach was always saying, ‘You’ve got to run with your pads down,’” Elliott said. “Honestly, my first time doing the Oklahoma drill, I was trying to run high, and the guy hit me and knocked the wind out of me. I was crying. And ever since then, I run with my pads down.”

Elliott’s mother tweeted that on the way to practice the next day, Elliott told her to ask the coach if he could play only defense.

The Cowboys are glad he stayed a running back.

The NFL’s leading rusher two of the last three seasons appears to be hitting his stride. Monday night’s win over the New York Giants marked Elliott’s third consecutive 100-yard rushing game and fifth of the season. He is tied with Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook and Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey for the most this year.

No one, however, is close to the number of 100-yard games Elliott has accumulated since entering the league in 2016. Monday night marked his 24th. Philadelphia’s Jordan Howard is second with 14.

Elliott is also tied for the league lead in runs of 10-or-more yards with 22. The only thing missing this season is the big runs he’s pulled off in previous years. Through the first eight games, Elliott only has one run of 20-or-more-yards. He had 30 in 40 career games entering this year.

“I just know that he’s playing really good football,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “Anybody who watched the game (Monday) night would say, ‘Wow, that guy’s a football player.’ I think it starts up front. Our guys did a really good job blocking them. But when 21 got the ball, he was stretching the defense and then putting his foot in the ground and going north and south and finishing runs. He’s a hard guy to tackle.

“I don’t know how many explosive runs he had, how many plus-20-yard runs he had, but I know he had a huge impact on the ball game.”

Garrett’s face lights up when talking about Elliott. Ever since the Cowboys made the decision to draft the former Ohio State star fourth overall, Garrett has wanted him to be the bell-cow back Emmitt Smith was for the franchise in the 1990s. Those teams went as far as Smith could carry them. The same can be said for this team with Elliott. Garrett’s job is on the line as he enters the final year of his contract. There isn’t a player on the roster he trusts with the ball more than Elliott.

In the last two games, both lopsided victories over division rivals, Elliott has totaled 250 yards and a touchdown on 45 carries, putting him on pace to rush for over 1,400 yards for the third time in four years.

While holding out for a new contract, Elliott missed all of training camp and the preseason. Considering how little the team hits in practices during the season, the game repetitions are where the group can most improve. And at the midway point of the season, the running game appears to be hitting its stride.

“We’re finally getting into a groove, we’re finally playing to our potential, we’re finally just putting it all together,” Elliott said. “With the talent we have in the O-Line room, if we can go out there and play to the best of our ability, there aren’t going to be a lot of defenses that can stop them.”

Elliott has found his most success the last two games running wide right, carrying 15 times for 111 yards in that direction. He has gone wide left 14 times for 58 yards, inside right eight times for 43 yards and inside left eight times for 38 yards.

Having the starting offensive line back to full strength has obviously helped. Elliott was so appreciative of their work Monday night that he called it the easiest 139 yards he’s ever had.

“Those guys just mauled them up front,” he said. “There’s no other way to put it. We had our way … You’d think 23 carries, 139 yards, you’re going to come out super sore. But I feel really fresh. I didn’t take that many hits. It looked like a grinder when you look at the stats, but they honestly did a really good job blocking.”

Elliott described the group of Tyron Smith, Connor Williams, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin and La’el Collins as a bunch of “gritty, super-talented dudes.”

“When you hear the other team getting disappointed in themselves because literally they can’t do anything to stop you, that takes a toll on them physically and mentally,” Elliott said. “When they’re going out there and beating up on guys like that, it’s tough for a defense to play four quarters, if you keep getting hit in the mouth every play.”

Sunday night’s game will likely come down to Elliott and those five offensive linemen. Minnesota has a top-10 run defense, holding opponents to 96 yards per game. The Vikings also have the NFL’s leading rusher in Cook, who has 894 rushing yards. Elliott has 153 fewer yards in one less game.

“I’m trying to out-rush him, and I know he’s trying to do the same thing,” Cook said. “This game is going to be won in the trenches. My offensive line against their defensive line, and it’s the same thing with him.”

Elliott prides himself on being the NFL’s best running back. It’s why he felt he should become the league’s highest-paid running back. But he doesn’t feel like he has performed like the best back this season.

He’s aware that Cook and McCaffrey have had better starts.

Does that bother him?

“No, I don’t think it bothers me,” Elliott said. “It just kind of adds a little fuel to the fire. I’ve got some more work to do, that’s all.”

He has similar feelings about the rushing title. He’d like to win it for the third time in his first four years. The only players to win it three times over the last 35 years are Smith, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders and Adrian Peterson.

But that’s a secondary goal right now for Elliott.

“I don’t think it’s really that important,” he said. “Like, we love it, but it’s like, if it happens, it happens. What’s important to us is the Super Bowl, you know what I mean? Everything else will handle itself along the way.”

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images