Cowboys' odd decision from preseason opener felt a bit disrespectful to best RB on the team

The Dallas Cowboys had plenty of interesting decisions when it comes to the snap counts from the preseason opener, but none stands out more than the way they approached the running back position.

On Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams, the Cowboys sat pretty much every starter with a few exceptions like center Brock Hoffman, who has little experience and needs the reps. But other than that, established starters got rest, and that even includes Jalen Tolbert, who was expected to have to battle in August to stick at WR3.

But most notably, the Cowboys sat Ezekiel Elliott for the day. Meanwhile, they gave Rico Dowdle six snaps in the lone drive he had in the game. Dowdle got three rush attempts good for 14 yards and stood out in pass protection allowing Cooper Rush to hit a 43-yard bomb in the first drive of the game.

Here's the thing though: Elliott getting the "rest" starting treatment while asking Dowdle to play came off as somewhat disrespectful from the outside looking in.

This might come off as an overreaction but bear with me. Yes, it's true we're comparing six snaps to zero snaps here, which might not mean a whole lot in a football game. But ultimately, there is no denying the decision has meaning behind it. Again, every starter not named Brock Hoffman sat on offense.

That's certainly an odd decision to make when Dowdle has proven to be highly versatile and was with the Cowboys last year, a season in which the offense significantly changed for the team as Mike McCarthy overhauled the pass protection scheme while noting it would be much more demanding on running backs.

Additionally, Dowdle has been significantly more explosive than Zeke as of late (the latter even finished dead last in explosive play rate among running backs with 100 attempts last year per Sports Info Solutions) and averaged more yards per rush than his veteran teammate.

And if you're going to take care one, why wouldn't it be the guy with a long injury history like Dowdle? He's the one you should probably be putting in bubble wrap if that's what you're doing.

To be fair, it's true that Zeke has experience with heavier workloads, and the Cowboys might not be excited about tasking Dowdle with a high snap count.

It's been pretty difficult to figure out what the Cowboys make of their running back room, which might see a new face join the group before the season starts in September.

But Sunday's decision to sit Zeke and play Dowdle might've been the strongest hint of who they're leaning on to be RB1. And quite honestly, I'm not sure they're betting on the right guy. Dowdle is the best running back on the roster.

Related: Trey Lance among 3 winners and 3 losers from Cowboys' loss in preseason opener vs Rams