Video: All of Darren McFadden's 2014 rushes (All-22) [39:25]

[Dodger12]

Yes, I had reviewed all of McFadden run from 2014 already and I tried to envision what Murray would have done on each of those runs. My conclusion is that it would have been almost identical.

You're crazy. People here seem to forget our starting OL in 2011 consisted of Doug Free (at LT), Bill Nagy, Phil Costa, Kyle Kosier and Tyron Smith (at RT). Derrick Dockery and Montra Holland (who was brought back after being cut in camp) were also part of that unit.

You know, this was before the vaunted rebuild of our OL that people here attribute to Garrett. Murray still had almost 900 yards on 164 attempts for a 5.5 YPC average in 13 games. How do you or anyone else account for those numbers behind those scrubs?

Let those names sink in for a moment and anyone that says Murray was successful because of the OL is plain nuts. Sure the line had a role but the guy had talent but his issue was staying healthy.

McFadden is the more talented back. Plain and simple.

People are turning Murray into a national hero because of Garrett's dirty run comments.

Murray wasn't trucking dudes in the backfield on those 3rd and 2 runs week in and week out.

Biggest myth this board has perpetuated. Converting in short yardage is part back... Sure... But it's more line. Darren/Randle combo will be fine.

Barring injury, Murray was successful behind absolute scrubs and broke the single game rookie rushing record in 2011. Was it the line then or was it Murray?

By the way, please pass around whatever it is you're smoking.

 

[cowboyschmps3]

This a guy has been worn down mentally over the years playing on a losing team and running behind a crappy line and jag QBs.
You can tell he had a hard time trusting them.

Radical change for him this year. I bet he's really excited.
Looking forward to seeing how it goes with both he and Randle.

He's going to be playing wth a chip on his shoulder

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Barring injury, Murray was successful behind absolute scrubs and broke the single game rookie rushing record in 2011. Was it the line then or was it Murray?

By the way, please pass around whatever it is you're smoking.

Murray ran in only favorable pass situations before last year.

Also the Murray's rookie year record was an aberration. Literally ran through wide open holes. I wouldn't call it an indication of his talent.

I mean look at Doug Martin's best pro game. He ran for 251 yards as a rookie. Is he headed to canton? Nope 2 years later and he's almost out of the league.

 

[theogt]

What really stands out, perhaps more so than the lack of any push in the run game, is the inability to maintain blocks. When there is a decent crease and McFadden would make cut to take advantage, the defenders just easily shed the block and get their hands on him. It's such a huge difference from watching our line play that you have to really appreciate just how good our guys are.

 

[CATCH17]

But that's a stilted observation. It's not about what you do behind the same line. It's about what you do behind the same EXACT plays, which is difficult to tell.

You can call the same play twice in a row and get two entirely different results with the same personnel. It's just not as simple as what Sturm suggested.

This... What is he supposed to do?

Man this guy will kill it here if he is healthy.

 

[PhillyCowboysFan]

and is a good candidate for the TC cut list.

I highly doubt that. He is the only real veteran at the position. Even to make that happen, the Cowboys would have to pickup someone else's TC cut which means that they probably are not that much better.

They will also lose all the playbook experience that DMC has spent the entire offseason learning.

 

[jazzcat22]

DMC was more likely to run over defenders earlier in his career. I think he can do it, but chose not to at times in 2014. Murray sometimes did it just to add extra yard when he already had a multiple yard gain which was unnecessary.

I think McFadden's role will be as a great pass blocker that has big play ability. I don't see them needing/wanting him to grind out yards with an overly physical approach. I expect Randle to get more of the grind it out opportunities.

And after he had the first down, then ended up fumbling.

 

[conner01]

With dmac I don't think the question is ability. He had the ability to be a solid RB
The question is availability
If he can stay healthy for the entire season he will be an effective runner
It's not about beating what Murray did last year, it's more about us being able to force teams go scheme for our run game and make them pay when they dont

 

[erod]

McFadden is the more talented back. Plain and simple.

People are turning Murray into a national hero because of Garrett's dirty run comments.

Murray wasn't trucking dudes in the backfield on those 3rd and 2 runs week in and week out.

Biggest myth this board has perpetuated. Converting in short yardage is part back... Sure... But it's more line. Darren/Randle combo will be fine.

Dallas offered Murray $6 million a year and didn't get him.

They got McFadden for a bag of Funyuns.

I'm not a huge fan of Murray, but I will give him more credit than that.

 

[xwalker]

It's not that players with fewer than 100 attempts have inflated averages, it's that they are more likely to be higher OR LOWER than the norm. The more carries a player gets, the more likely it is (but not certain) for his average to trend closer to the norm.

For example, over the past three years, players who had more than 100 carries in a season had an average between 3.50 and 4.50 YPC 54.6 percent of the time. But players who had only 20-99 carries in a season averaged 3.50 to 4.50 YPC only 44.5 percent of the time. Both groups were higher than 4.50 at about the same rate -- 28.8 percent for players with more than 100 carries, 29.3 percent for players with fewer carries. But players with fewer than 100 carries were actually more likely to be below 3.50 YPC -- 26.2 percent, compared with 16.7 percent for players with more than 100 carries. A larger sample size (more than three seasons) might have found more low-carry players with higher averages, but the overall trend would be similar -- they'd be more likely to be higher or lower than the normal range, compared with players who get a lot more carries.

So, for example, Randle got 51 carries last year and averaged 6.7 yards per carry. Dunbar got 29 and averaged 3.4. If they had each gotten more carries, it is likely (but not certain) that Randle's YPC would have gone down and Dunbar's would have gone up. For the Raiders last year, Latavius Murray averaged 5.2 on 82 carries, and Maurice Jones-Drew averaged 2.2 on 43 carries. If they had gotten more carries, again, it's likely that Murray's average would have gone down and Drew's up.

You don't have to look any deeper than the 5.53 ypc number that Sturm came up with for the Raider's backup RBs over 3 years to know that it is nonsense.

DeMarco Murray and Marshawn Lynch averaged 4.7 ypc in 2014. Nobody in their right mind would believe that the Raider's rushing attack with their RBs not named McFadden was better than the rushing attack of Dallas and Seattle.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Dallas offered Murray $6 million a year and didn't get him.

They got McFadden for a bag of Funyuns.

I'm not a huge fan of Murray, but I will give him more credit than that.

Different circumstances. Murray isn't getting his big deal if he stated his career in Oakland. That I'm sure of. Who was the last highly sought after Oakland free agent?

Also given Darren's immense talents he's already made more money than Murray will throughout the course of the rest of his career.

McFadden would probably play here for free given the opportunities that our team presents for a rb.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

You're crazy. People here seem to forget our starting OL in 2011 consisted of Doug Free (at LT), Bill Nagy, Phil Costa, Kyle Kosier and Tyron Smith (at RT). Derrick Dockery and Montra Holland (who was brought back after being cut in camp) were also part of that unit.

You know, this was before the vaunted rebuild of our OL that people here attribute to Garrett. Murray still had almost 900 yards on 164 attempts for a 5.5 YPC average in 13 games. How do you or anyone else account for those numbers behind those scrubs?

Let those names sink in for a moment and anyone that says Murray was successful because of the OL is plain nuts. Sure the line had a role but the guy had talent but his issue was staying healthy.



Barring injury, Murray was successful behind absolute scrubs and broke the single game rookie rushing record in 2011. Was it the line then or was it Murray?

By the way, please pass around whatever it is you're smoking.

You're going to hang your hat on that 2011 Rams game?

That game was fools gold. First let's look at the starters: Smith Kosier Costa Holland Free Witten Marty B Fiammetta. Witten, Costa, Holland, and Smith had excellent games. They may have been scrubbish at various times after but not on that day. Free and particularly Kosier had not fallen off the cliff yet. Kosier had leg problems that had him out of the game of football but not yet. Quinn was a rookie and our rookie started his domination of him that day.

That was also the 32nd ranked run defense. They had not drafted Brockers nor the Beast from Pitt yet.

It was obvious watching it too because Murray could only score on long runs. The supposed power back wasn't able to power in in the red zone or in short yardage that day either. Romo was still checking out of runs on heavy boxes and Murray only ran into easier fronts.

 

[iceberg]

Murray ran in only favorable pass situations before last year.

Also the Murray's rookie year record was an aberration. Literally ran through wide open holes. I wouldn't call it an indication of his talent.

I mean look at Doug Martin's best pro game. He ran for 251 yards as a rookie. Is he headed to canton? Nope 2 years later and he's almost out of the league.

i was going to point out several RB's who had a great GAME but that seldom translated into a great career.

it happens all the time. people get so focused on the stats of a player they're trying to prove good, or bad, but fail to look around to see how common what they see really is.

 

[Dodger12]

Murray ran in only favorable pass situations before last year.

Where do you get this from? Murray was successful for a team that treated the run like the plague. Folks (maybe you) claim we didn't run because the line was old and needed to be rebuilt. Murray was relatively successful behind those lines and his only real question mark was health.

Also the Murray's rookie year record was an aberration. Literally ran through wide open holes. I wouldn't call it an indication of his talent.

Aberation? Running through wide open holes that were created by the line that we needed so desperately to replace and thus was the excuse to finish near the bottom in rushing attempts? It's mind numbing how some folks just dismiss what a RB accomplished here behind an OL that they criticize in the next breath and then go on to claim that that same OL opened wide open holes for Murray to run through.

I mean look at Doug Martin's best pro game. He ran for 251 yards as a rookie. Is he headed to canton? Nope 2 years later and he's almost out of the league.

People need to start looking at Murray's overall body of work, not just one year like Martin.

Murray is the first Cowboy RB since Emmitt Smith to record back to back thousand yard seasons. The Cowboys have recorded a thousand yard rusher 25 times in 55 seasons. DeMarco Murray is only the 4th RB in Cowboy history to record multiple thousand yard seasons. DeMarco's 2013 thousand yard season was the 2nd highest in Cowboy history for average yards per carry of 5.17 behind Emmitt's 5.25 YPC in 1993.
Last season Murray broke the Cowboys single season mark for total yards from scrimmage which was 2261 (13 more yards than Emmitt's 1995 Super Bowl season). DeMarco Murray is ranked 3rd in Cowboy history for RB's first four seasons of rushing yards. Again, this was partially done during a time when people claimed we had a horrendous OL (which we did).

For transparency, I got the above from another poster who's argument swayed me on Murray and his value to the team. I can absolutely undersatand why he was not resigned by the team and Murray may have priced himself right out of Dallas. As critical as I've been of Jerry and company, I can see the team's reasoning on this one although I'm not sold on the team's overreliance and over confidence in our OL. But that doesn't mean I'm going to minimize what Murray brought to the table or how important he was to our success last year.

 

[Dodger12]

You're going to hang your hat on that 2011 Rams game?

That game was fools gold.

I'm not looking at just the Rams game. That season behind that putrid line he had 897 yards in 13 games (7 starts) for a 5.5 YPC average. In 2 of his 4 seasons here he had above a 5.0 YPC average and never below a 4.0 the other two.

If anyone on this board had claimed in 2014 that McFadden was a better and more talented RB than Murray, they would have been laughed off the board and lost all credibility in the process (as well they should have). Now that Murray is no longer with the team and McFadden wears the star, McFadden is a stud. Talk about fools (gold).....

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I'm not looking at just the Rams game. That season behind that putrid line he had 897 yards in 13 games (7 starts) for a 5.5 YPC average. In 2 of his 4 seasons here he had above a 5.0 YPC average and never below a 4.0 the other two.

If anyone on this board had claimed in 2014 that McFadden was a better and more talented RB than Murray, they would have been laughed off the board and lost all credibility in the process (as well they should have). Now that Murray is no longer with the team and McFadden wears the star, McFadden is a stud. Talk about fools (gold).....

Nice strawman. I don't think anyone is saying that. I certainly am not.

Murray is talented without question. I am speaking to your statement implying that Murray did it on his own because his teammates were 'scrubs.' near 30% of his yards that year came from that one game and in that humongous game he had, he had a lot of help from some very good and some not so good players.

I think DMC is a different back than Murray. I also don't think he is going to be used the same way. It's looking like Dunbar is getting snaps in the nickel and the other guys are rotating for the base. I don't know that DMC is getting any nickel snaps yet.

I'm curious to see what Randle, Williams, DMC, and Dunbar can do in this offense. I don't think any back on the roster will come close to what Murray did. I think the team can be just as or even maybe more successful this year on offense in terms of scoring points and controlling the ball when needed anyway. Then there is the defense.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MurrDe00/gamelog/2011/

That's Murray's games from 2011. The week before that Rams game was the NE game. I remember that one well. We couldn't run the ball to control games. Rob Ryan's defense choked early and often in his tenure.

Anyway, what I remember most was Wilfork destroying Costa. Thus Murray's line. We now have Fred in there. Thank goodness.

 

[Dodger12]

Nice strawman. I don't think anyone is saying that. I certainly am not.

The "strawman" routine must be a go-to argument for you and yet you have no concept of what it is. I responded directly to your statement, "You're going to hang your hat on that 2011 Rams game? That game was fools gold."

Murray is talented without question. I am speaking to your statement implying that Murray did it on his own because his teammates were 'scrubs.'

Talk about strawman. I never said Murray did it on his own but that line was made up by a bunch of scrubs. That's not really debateable witht he exception of a young Smith and Free who certainly improved but he was horrendous that season if I recall. But guys like you can't point to how bad the line was and how it took years to rebuild (under Garrett's direction) yet disregard any success RB's had behind that line or, greater yet, attribute Murray's success last year to the line and think we can plug and play a guy who has been pretty much a failure considering where he was picked and what the expectations were. I mean, the whole argument for some after reviewing the all-22 is just how bad Oakland's line was and how that was the cause of Mcfadden's failures. Murray had relative success behind a bad line but somehow the memo has changed to the OL made Murray. Make an argument.....I really don't care what it is. But be consistent.

I'm curious to see what Randle, Williams, DMC, and Dunbar can do in this offense. I don't think any back on the roster will come close to what Murray did. I think the team can be just as or even maybe more successful this year on offense in terms of scoring points and controlling the ball when needed anyway. Then there is the defense.

Having a back like Murray changes a team's offensive philosophy, especially considering the team wanted to keep the D off the field and let Romo's back heal. I'm not so confident that the team can be as successful on offense, not that I would think any back or a combination of backs could do what Murray did. My biggest concern is how not having a steady lead back may affect the play calling and game management. For us to be successful, it's just my opinion that one of the RB's has step up and be the lead that teams need to respect and wear a D down.

 

[EPL0c0]

Thanks for the post, i will need a lot to drink to watch that much raiders footage

Save your liver, here's a summary: OAK Oline stunk it up.

 

[jordan4vols]

You don't have to look any deeper than the 5.53 ypc number that Sturm came up with for the Raider's backup RBs over 3 years to know that it is nonsense.

DeMarco Murray and Marshawn Lynch averaged 4.7 ypc in 2014. Nobody in their right mind would believe that the Raider's rushing attack with their RBs not named McFadden was better than the rushing attack of Dallas and Seattle.

That was the issue I had with the sturm piece as well. You don't have to look any further than your signature photo to realize any RB in the NFL could have ran for a TD on that play. ANY RB. I know people will dislike this because they love Murray and I like the guy too but Randall was right in saying Murray left a lot of yards out there. Yes he did have some dirty runs but how many dirty runs are needed if you take more of them to the house?