ARLINGTON, Texas -- Maybe an hour after the Dallas Cowboys beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night, there was nothing more popular inside AT&T Stadium than the oversize Salvation Army red kettle.

Brody Whalen, a 9-year-old from Garden City, N.J., whose dad, Matt, was a Princeton classmate of Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, was inside the kettle posing for pictures. And he wasn’t the only one.

Everybody, apparently, wants to be like Zeke.

The lasting memory from the Cowboys’ 26-20 win won’t be that it was the Cowboys’ 12th victory of the season. That Dak Prescott had just four incompletions in a resounding rebound from two subpar performances was probably more important but definitely not as eye-catching. The defense’s four takeaways played probably a bigger part than anything in the win, but it wasn’t as funny as Elliott’s quick disappearance.

In warm-ups, Elliott noticed the kettles in the end zone, and that gave him the idea. After his 2-yard touchdown run with 12:34 left in the second quarter, the rookie weaved through myriad photographers and jumped into one as part of the celebration.

It took the officials some time to throw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the act was as memorable a celebration as the Cowboys have had since Terrell Owens was with them, be it grabbing a bag of popcorn from somebody or pretending to fall asleep after scoring a touchdown.

Elliott meant no harm. It’s part of the Cowboys’ ethos this season.

“When we go out there, we have fun, but we get to work, and I think we’re at our best when we’re having fun,” Elliott said. “Having fun is key. But we knew what we had to do this week, and we had to come back out and execute.”

What some might not see in the fun is the work Elliott puts in and the effect he has on the Cowboys’ offense.

“He’s a really good football player, and he demonstrates that week in, week out,” Garrett said. “The obvious things are how well he runs the football, but his protection was good too -- saw him make a few good blocks. So he’s a complete player. He takes great pride in being a complete player.”

Elliott should become the second Cowboys back in three seasons to lead the NFL in rushing. DeMarco Murray ran for 1,845 yards in 2014. With two games to go, Elliott leads the NFL with 1,551 yards on 310 carries, good for a 327-yard lead on Murray, who is now with the Tennessee Titans.

"I think we're at our best when we're having fun," Ezekiel Elliott said after the Cowboys' win Sunday night. AP Photo/Roger Steinman

Elliott finished Sunday with a career-high 159 yards on 23 carries. It was his seventh 100-yard game of the season and second of more than 150 yards. Gaining the 258 yards necessary to break Eric Dickerson’s NFL record for rushing yards by a rookie (1,808 in 1983) doesn’t seem so impossible now.

Rarely does the fourth overall pick in a draft exceed expectations.

“I wanted to come here with all the right tools we have,” Elliott said. “I have a lot of great players around me. I have the best O-line in football. It’s what’s expected.”

As much as they have used Elliott, the Cowboys could actually stand to use him more. After his score, which set a franchise rookie record for most rushing touchdowns in a season, Elliott did not have another carry in the second quarter. He had five carries for a quiet 33 yards in the third quarter. Until 6:55 remained in the game, Elliott had one fourth-quarter carry for 2 yards.

And then he came alive.

“He gets stronger as the game goes on,” Cowboys right guard Zack Martin said. “He runs so hard. A couple of those at the end, he was dragging three or four people. We’ve got to feed him as much as possible.”

Elliott had 76 yards with his final seven carries, including a 42-yarder that took the Cowboys from their 24 to the Tampa Bay 34. On the next carry, he picked up 10 more yards. He finished a yard short on a third-and-2 carry, but the Cowboys were able to kick a field goal for a 26-20 lead with 2:58 to play.

“You’ve heard [Garrett] say all the time, those 3- and 4-yard runs turn into big runs down the stretch, and he’s built for that,” Dallas tight end Jason Witten said. “That says a lot about him. It looks like he continues to get stronger as December comes.”

The Cowboys will need more of it as December continues. They’ll need more of the fun too, even if it doesn’t include any more jumps into the kettle.

“The kickoff team had my back,” Elliott said. “They covered really well [after the penalty]. They didn’t even get to the 25. I thought they had my back. It worked out.”