Jean-Jacques Taylor

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IRVING – Felix Jones is the Dallas Cowboys' most dynamic running back since Tony Dorsett.

Understand, this doesn't mean Jones is better than Emmitt Smith – only that he's more exciting.

Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, used subtle moves instead of dazzling jukes that had folks reliving them around the water cooler every Monday. Smith, the ultimate fourth-quarter closer, pounded teams into submission over the course of four quarters.

LOUIS DeLUCA / DMN

Felix Jones has touchdown runs of 60 and 33 yards and a kickoff return of 98 yards in his two seasons with the Cowboys.

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As a kid growing up in Oak Cliff, I never missed a play when the Cowboys had the ball because who could predict when Dorsett was going to do something unforgettable?

The 99-yard run against the Vikings. The 84-yard run against the Eagles. The spin move against the Cardinals.

Three decades later, each of those runs remains a vivid memory.

Jones gives off the same vibe.

He provides a "wow" moment every game. Sometimes, more than one.

And with Marion Barber's status for Monday night's game against Carolina in jeopardy because of a strained quadriceps, Jones should get considerably more opportunities than he usually does to impact the game.

That's both exhilarating and nerve-wracking.

It's exhilarating because Jones' career average per carry is 8.9, which is insane. Yes, he's had only 43 career carries, but more than a quarter of those carries have gone for 10 yards or more.

Anytime he touches the ball, he's capable of scoring.

Jones already has touchdown runs of 60 and 33 yards and a kickoff return of 98 yards in his two seasons with the Cowboys. He had a 56-yard run against the Giants, but was caught from behind.

"He had two guys chasing him, so he had to run in a straight line," running backs coach Skip Peete said. "If one guy had been chasing him, he would've just kept running at an angle away from the guy and scored."

The big plays come because Jones has tremendous speed that forces defenders to take poor angles, and he has excellent vision that allows him to quickly find seams in the defense and attack them.

He also has an uncanny ability to make hard cuts and immediately be at full speed again instead of having to take a step or two to gather himself. That's the skill Jones used on a 60-yard touchdown run against Green Bay last season, when he made a hard cut to get away from Charles Woodson before outrunning him to the end zone.

Still, the thought of feeding the ball to Jones is nerve-wracking because he has been hobbled with injuries several times since the Cowboys selected him in 2008 with the 22nd pick of the first round.

He missed 10 games last season with hamstring and toe injuries, and he dinged his thigh on his first carry of the year against Tampa Bay, limiting his role in that game.

All you can really do is hope that these are coincidences – not a trend. Perhaps, it's better to treat him like a 1960 Corvette and give him the ball occasionally as opposed to driving him like a Ford F-250 and giving him the ball 20 times a game.

The Cowboys, of course, could make a one-game exception and feed Jones the ball as much as possible since they don't expect Barber to be out for an extended period.

Jones is such a dynamic player that he makes you want to see him with the ball in his hands as much as possible.

This is nothing new.

It was like that at Arkansas, where he rushed for 1,168 yards on 154 carries as a sophomore and 1,160 yards on 134 carries as a junior. Only once at Arkansas did Jones carry the ball as much as 20 times in a game.

Nothing has changed in Dallas.

He's never carried the ball more than nine times in a game, and that's only happened twice.

That's a trend that should stop Monday night.