morasp
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- By Kimberly Jones
- NFL Media reporter
ARLINGTON, Texas -- DeMarco Murray is the NFL's leading rusher, has eclipsed Jim Brown's record of consecutive 100-yard rushing games to start a season and would be a leading MVP candidate were the vote taken today.
But the way Murray tells it, every one of his 913 rushing yards -- only three teams in the league have more -- represents a group effort.
DeMarco Murray
"They lay it out there for me, I lay it out there for them," Murray said of his offensive teammates, the line in particular. "I think we're all playing together."
You could say the same for the entire Dallas roster. Through seven weeks, the Cowboys are first in the league to six wins, are making a joke of preseason predictions and seem every bit a complete team. Let's take a look at three of the reasons why:
The offensive line
Throughout his years in the NFL, Jason Garrett has developed a theory about great offensive lines: "They kind of move in packs." No one would argue with that, particularly in his own locker room.
The Cowboys' offensive line dines together weekly, exchanges frequent group texts when away from the facility and is the closest unit left tackle Tyron Smith says he's ever been part of.
"Pretty much anything you think about doing with your brothers growing up, we do together," left guard Ronald Leary said. "We're a group that leans on each other. We never want to let the man next to us down. That's a big thing."
Center Travis Frederick: "We do spend a lot of time together. I think that really helps us on the field, being able to communicate and be able to know each other inside and out so that we don't always have to make all the calls, or don't have to help each other out in certain situations. We have great trust in each other."
The Cowboys lead the league in rushing (159.7 yards per game), with Murray and his linemen appearing to work in near-perfect concert. The running game is benefiting from considerable investment in the offensive line -- Smith (2011 NFL Draft), Frederick (2013) and right guard Zack Martin (2014) were all first-round picks -- but the last piece to that puzzle was added partly due to happenstance.
According to someone familiar with the Cowboys' 2014 draft strategy -- and aside from Jerry Jones's apparent infatuation with Johnny Manziel -- the plan was to help their defense in the first round. But after linebacker Anthony Barr (ninth to Minnesota), defensive tackle Aaron Donald (13th, St. Louis) and linebacker Ryan Shazier (15th, Pittsburgh) flew off the board, the Cowboys selected Martin at No. 16.
"We felt he was a really, really good player," Garrett said. "We had an immense amount of consensus about him in our building; everybody loved him."
The Cowboys have outrushed their opponents by a total of 324 yards, an average of 46.3 per game. They've won time of possession in six of seven games. And the byproduct of a strong offensive line is that the defensive line was challenged through the spring and summer.
"Ain't nothing better out there; that's what's shaped our D-line," defensive end Jeremy Mincey said. "We work them hard, they work us hard, we all get better."
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...-rise-keyed-by-offensive-line-rolando-mcclain
