It was a handful of days ago that Dak Prescott, the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, spoke with ESPN and stated that he wanted to do better than 13-3 in the upcoming NFL season (ie. aiming for at least 14-2). You would think that in addition to Prescott playing well that runningback Ezekiel Elliott would have to deliver on the field as well. However, the second-year man out of Ohio State is central to suspension talks as of Friday. ESPN's Adam Schefter did a phone interview, one that was published to Nfl Live's Youtube account on August 11th.

A short time after the interview Elliott was in fact suspended for six games.

Elliott's investigation over one year in length

In the interview Schefter, who is ESPN's NFL Football insider, speaks about the NFL and its larger presence in recent times of trying to punish players that commit acts of domestic violence. At one point in his interview he said that there was an "automatic six-game suspension" for domestic violence committed by players in the NFL. However, at another point in the interview ESPN's NFL insider said that the suspension could be "increased or decreased depending on the circumstances surrounding the case." There is a bit of a contradiction there as the potential for a "decreased" suspension suggests that a minimum six-game suspension is not a guarantee but that points could be argued to decrease the suspension's length.

But then the "circumstances" surrounding Elliott may not be all that mitigating for his suspension. The runningback has already garnered a bad reputation for off-field conduct despite the fact that he's only entering his second season in the NFL. Schefter regaled a couple points of consideration with Elliott, one of which involved the runningback pulling down a woman's shirt, an incident that Schefter says was caught on camera.

Furthermore, Elliott has a traffic violation that is of an egregious nature as he was caught going over 100 miles per hour.

14-2 off the table?

Discussing the merits of Elliott's now-confirmed six-game suspension is a difficult matter until all the facts of the investigation start to become public. However, when it comes to talking about NFL football and the 2017/18 season then the Cowboys are clearly worse off.

Arguably, Dallas will have to go to the air more often with Elliott suspended and that would make their offense a little less diverse. In a sixteen-game season, a six-game suspension is huge and 14-2 would arguably be off the table. The interview is below with the start time at about the one-minute mark.