People want to hate him. People want to take credit away from him. People want to knock him off the top. But lets face it, Ezekiel Elliott is the best running back in the league right now.

‘Zeke’ has been leading the NFL in rushing yards since October 9 when the Cowboys beat the Cincinnati Bengals. He still is leading the NFL in rushing with 891 yards, and is tied for third in rushing touchdowns with seven.

Remember that Elliott is a rookie.

Many people are going to take away Elliott’s stats by giving all of the credit to his lineman. Now, he does have a great line, but you cannot take away his stats and give 100 percent credit to his lineman. Hurdling people every game and running over defenders does not happen because of the lineman.

Let’s reminisce to week 8 against the Eagles when he took a handoff, had zero space to run so he bounced outside, out ran Leodis McKelvin and hurdled a defender before being pushed out of bounds. McKelvin is no scrub, either. The guy runs a 4.39 40 yard dash, and a 4.10 Pro Agility.

Zeke has numerous plays like this. Just watch any of his highlight films on YouTube.

Hurdling is no new thing for the St. Louisan though. During his senior year in high school, Elliot went four for four at the state track meet and won the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, as well as the 100 and 200 meter dashes.

Elliott has been putting crazy numbers up since high school, which is why I can’t understand why people say it’s all because of his lineman.

In his senior year at John Burroughs, he rushed for 2,155 yards on 203 carries, and scored 50 total TDs. FIFTY Touchdowns. No one has scored 50 TDs in the last 20 years in the St. Louis area, and I would be willing to bet it has never been done before.

He is a beast. Plain and simple.

Ezekiel Elliott has had a phenomenal athletic career dating back to high school, and he shows no signs of stopping in the NFL. Zeke is a St. Louis native, so the fact that anyone around here is throwing hate his way absolutely baffles me.

Let’s appreciate and cheer on this incredible athlete as he becomes successful in the league. With the St. Louis Rams leaving, we don’t have much to be proud of and cheer for as far as the NFL goes. I guess we have the Chiefs, but that’s just not the same.

You can hate on the Hero in a Half Shirt all you want, but his stats speak for themselves.