FRISCO, Texas _ Ezekiel Elliott's pursuit of the NFL rookie rushing record is all but done.
Elliott needs 178 yards in Sunday's regular-season finale at Philadelphia to break the mark of 1,808 yards set by Eric Dickerson in 1983.
With the playoffs looming, Elliott didn't play in the fourth quarter of Monday's win over the Detroit Lions. It's likely he won't play all of the game in Philly, too, since there is nothing at stake.
Elliott on Wednesday shrugged off questions about the record. He had brought it up a week earlier and admitted it would be meaningful, but said it wouldn't come before team goals.
"I really don't focus on it," Elliott said when asked if he had given up on the record.
Elliott said that he wants to play Sunday. He said the coaches also knew he wanted to keep playing Monday night, but that it's not up to him.
"You guys say meaningful games," he told reporters. "Everything is meaningful _ even though it may not matter if we win or lose it _ but it matters in the total grand scheme of things. We're trying to stay sharp, trying to have a sharp edge every week so we can go into this playoffs like a high-octane machine. We're not taking weeks off. We're not looking at it as games that aren't meaningful. Every game we play is meaningful."
Quarterback Dak Prescott also brushed by talk about the rushing record.
"I don't think that's a big deal to him," Prescott said. "Obviously it's something he wants to do. I'm sure the competitor in him wants to go break as many records as he can. But he knows the importance of getting ready for this postseason and he's going to be ready to do that."
