3 NFL Storylines to Watch in Week 10

Alfred Morris Takes a Swing at Atlanta

After an emergency injunction was denied in court Thursday, we now know -- for certain -- that Ezekiel Elliott will miss this week's game against the Atlanta Falcons. Elliott will appeal that decision, but it's looks extremely likely that he will be missing the next six games.

While all the specifics of Elliott's case -- in addition to the ongoing battles between the NFLPA and the league -- contain many elements to analyze, what it ultimately means on the field is a lot more Alfred Morris for the Dallas Cowboys. He's been the clear replacement all along whenever this suspension had to happen. Darren McFadden is 30 years old and has yet to be made active for a game this season. Rather, Rod Smith was serving as the third running back because of his contributions on special teams.

Last week's matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs was more enticing than what we now have with the Falcons, but not by much as Atlanta is also in the bottom top 10 of numberFire's metrics with regard to run defense.

However, the concern for someone using Morris in fantasy is his extreme lack of pass-catching ability. In 84 career games, Morris has only caught 51 passes on 75 targets. For an extreme comparison, Christian McCaffrey has caught 54 passes in only nine career games. If the game script gets away from Dallas -- a 3.0-point road underdog -- Smith may see the field to provide a better running back option in the passing game.