Cowboys' Tony Pollard: 'Night and Day Difference' in Leg Injury from Start of Season

Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard suffered a fractured left leg and high ankle sprain last January, and he said Thursday he's noticed a major change in how that leg had felt throughout the season.

"I would say it's a night and day difference," he told reporters. "You think you're good. You think you're all the way back until you're actually out there making plays, full speed, feeling it. Once you get a feel for it and get your feet under you, then you start to realize, 'Oh, so I may have lost a little right there.' But I'm picking it back up."

Pollard added that he started to really feel like the injury was fully behind him "halfway through the season, a little bit after the bye week, something like that. I started to feel like I was starting to get into the groove of things."

For the season, Pollard has rushed for 848 yards and five touchdowns in his first full season as the unquestioned starter, with Ezekiel Elliott now in New England. He's added a career-high 51 catches for 290 yards and has a chance to go over 1,000 yards rushing for the second straight season.

The 10-4 Cowboys have been more effective through the air this season, but having Pollard at 100 percent gives them excellent balance as they seek to advance past the divisional round of the playoffs for the first time since 1995.