Im going to enjoy all the crow eating this year

[CF74]

Nope we kept Dez so if they stack the box that will leave Dez in single coverage and then Boom!!!

We still have a good one two combo..

Randle will probably break 1,200 yds if not more....

 

[Hardline]

The running game will.determine the success of the season.
That is what it all boils down to.

That was the reason for the success last year. This team will not pass it's way to a Super Bowl no matter how great the receiving core is.

 

[fishspill]

I see what you're saying, but Randle has already proven that. A solid amount of his carries last year were against 8 man fronts, and he averaged almost 7 yards a carry.

I see "tough yards" brought up a lot, and I don't think many of those people realize that Randle performed fine against 8 man boxes, which is probably going to be the "toughest" thing he's going to see.

The only question I have is durability since it's a relative unknown at this point. He's proven he can run against 8 man boxes, but can he do it for 150-200 carries?

I still have a question if he'll be arrested at a moment's notice.

 

[big dog cowboy]

It really irks me how many so called experts keep talking about how our running game is going to sputter with the "all world" Murray toting the rock in Philly. Im going to very much enjoy watching Randle storm through the monster holes this line provided for Murray last year. We will see bigger plays out of Randle. And certainly McFadden will have some big plays with his speed.

We may miss the physical element of Murray, but I truly believe our Oline will now take on that role and provide everything we need for a nasty running game.

Lets see how many of these cats fess up a quarter of the way through the season as our committee running back tandem is tearing it up every week.

Good post.

 

[Fmart322]

How do you feel about the head coach though?

It really irks me how many so called experts keep talking about how our running game is going to sputter with the "all world" Murray toting the rock in Philly. Im going to very much enjoy watching Randle storm through the monster holes this line provided for Murray last year. We will see bigger plays out of Randle. And certainly McFadden will have some big plays with his speed.

We may miss the physical element of Murray, but I truly believe our Oline will now take on that role and provide everything we need for a nasty running game.

Lets see how many of these cats fess up a quarter of the way through the season as our committee running back tandem is tearing it up every week.

 

[burmafrd]

If we end up with say McFadden with 900 yards and 5 TDs and Randle with 700 yards and 3 tds and say Williams with 400 yards and 3 tds we are actually as well off as with Murray and his production.

that could easily happen.

 

[AsthmaField]

If we end up with say McFadden with 900 yards and 5 TDs and Randle with 700 yards and 3 tds and say Williams with 400 yards and 3 tds we are actually as well off as with Murray and his production.

that could easily happen.

And we would be less vulnerable to an injury at that position. Any one of those guys gets hurt and the others just pick up his slack.

 

[dragon_mikal]

Murray was 40% of the offense because they allowed him to be. What about the previous 3 years that Murray did diddly? You are thinking as if Murray has done this for 4 years. One year. They gave him 400 carries. Did you see a ton of amazing runs by Murray? I didnt. I saw a guy running hard and getting the yards he was presented with. In 400 carries, how many big runs did he have? How many long TD runs? Not many. The big play element to Murrays game was almost rare. Low TD numbers also for the amount of carries he had. Thats because he didnt have any long TD runs to add to his short yardage ones.

Football is a game of inches not highlights. Breaking off a long run is great but the game is won when you can or can't gain a 1st on 4th and 1.

I'll take substance of flash any day.

 

[Hardline]

Football is a game of inches not highlights. Breaking off a long run is great but the game is won when you can or can't gain a 1st on 4th and 1.

I'll take substance of flash any day.

Right.
Give me a RB that can move the chains and eat up the clock over a RB that may break a long run one out of every 20 carries.

 

[NextGenBoys]

It really irks me how many so called experts keep talking about how our running game is going to sputter with the "all world" Murray toting the rock in Philly. Im going to very much enjoy watching Randle storm through the monster holes this line provided for Murray last year. We will see bigger plays out of Randle. And certainly McFadden will have some big plays with his speed.

We may miss the physical element of Murray, but I truly believe our Oline will now take on that role and provide everything we need for a nasty running game.

Lets see how many of these cats fess up a quarter of the way through the season as our committee running back tandem is tearing it up every week.

It could go both ways and we could miss Murray's short yardage production. Not saying it will, but Murray was a VERY valuable asset to this team last year, and we WILL miss his short yardage running, it's just a matter to what degree.

 

[waving monkey]

please correct me if I'm wrong and I know you will but wasn't there a stat showing
a great number of plays Murray wasnt hit till 5yards

 

[Alexander]

Murray's LONGEST run last year was 32 yards. No home-run threat what so ever in his best year. Randle ran one for over 60 yards and will do so consistently with our OL.

You do realize that few top backs break the home runs consistently, right? That is not what a great RB does.

A great RB does what Emmitt Smith did. Be consistent and maximize each and every carry.

I do not care what the "long run" is when I have a bell cow back. I want the control and influence that is established by the offense inflicting it's will on the defense. If that back consistently gets me five yards on a first down carry, he and the OL are doing what they are paid for.

The big play threat from the RB position is highly overrated and seems to be the fallback when people want to console themselves about this current group of RBs on the roster.

 

[AtlCB]

I don't care about any crow I will say when looking at this team top to bottom the only concerns I have is with the running game and the current RB we have. I hope Randle and McFadden go out and play great I'm not anti either player but when you take away a player who represented 40% of the entire offense and now replacing him with players who have had little impact then anyone with some sense would have at least some concerns.

The Cowboys will be fine at RB. I'm much more concerned about the secondary.

 

[Dodger12]

I see what you're saying, but Randle has already proven that. A solid amount of his carries last year were against 8 man fronts, and he averaged almost 7 yards a carry.

I see "tough yards" brought up a lot, and I don't think many of those people realize that Randle performed fine against 8 man boxes, which is probably going to be the "toughest" thing he's going to see.

This is why I have a real hard time liking Garrett as a HC. He just can't identify the greatness that is Joseph Randle and only gave him 51 carries last year even though the guy averaged 7 YPC. You'd think Garrett would have seen the same thing you saw.

 

[Jarv]

I think back to that Randle statement of "Murray left a lot of meat on the bone"...and I think that was quite profound. Too profound for Randle, I think he was repeating something he heard form the coaches in the film room. Having said that, I still have high hopes for Williams, who I think will surprise many this season. I think Randle/Williams will be RB-A and RB-B with McFadden being the 3rd back since he is the best a blitz pickup.

Just as many were surprised with our 12-4 record last year, many more will be even more surprised to find out we a better running team this year than last...why?

1) The Oline will be better with another year of experience under their belt, La'el Collins will start at RT and Free will become the swing tackle.
2) As stated before, Williams will surprise many, giving us those "tough yards" Murray gave us last year.
3) RBBC will not allow opposing defenses to prepare for one "bell cow" RB.
4) With Romo the healthiest he has been through the OTA's and training camp, I expect and even better start to our passing game along with another year of the Oline gelling in pass protection. With Romo healthier I see more run/pass combos from under center where the safeties will have to respect the play action pass, which will make them hesitate stepping up for the run.
5) With a better defense, we will emulate the 90's team even more. Building and holding leads in the first half, which will lead to even more running situations even though we were 3rd in attempts last year.

Did I mention the OL...lol

 

[CowboyRoy]

They allowed him and he helped produce 1,800 plus yards rushing and this team got over the 8-8 hump with a 12-4 record. In 2013 Murray went to the Pro bowl as well and many were down on Garrett because despite the rushing of Murray he did not run the ball enough to win some critical games. As for big runs he was 2nd in the NFL in runs of 20 plus yards and tied for 1st in rushes of 40 plus yards.

that would completely shock me if he was first or second in those categories. The only explanation would have to be that he simply ran the ball more than anyone so naturally those totals are high.

No doubt that this was the first season where Murray really got a chance to prove what he could do. As Garrett would abandon the run nearly every week. I would see Murray getting pissed on the sidelines in some games when we lost and he wasnt given a chance to run the ball.

If Murray could stay healthy, then I would consider him a top 5 RB in the NFL. But over 4 years, he has not been able to. Without big holes, he is not the type of RB that has the vision or play making ability to create on his own. Give him some holes and he can do some damage.

I look forward to this year proving once and for all that when it comes to running the football, its more about the Oline than it is the RB.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Maybe you should worry more about your fellow cowboys fans rather than the experts. Plenty of them think the same thing.

There will be plenty of eating crow on this site as well.

 

[Doomsday101]

that would completely shock me if he was first or second in those categories. The only explanation would have to be that he simply ran the ball more than anyone so naturally those totals are high.

No doubt that this was the first season where Murray really got a chance to prove what he could do. As Garrett would abandon the run nearly every week. I would see Murray getting pissed on the sidelines in some games when we lost and he wasnt given a chance to run the ball.

If Murray could stay healthy, then I would consider him a top 5 RB in the NFL. But over 4 years, he has not been able to. Without big holes, he is not the type of RB that has the vision or play making ability to create on his own. Give him some holes and he can do some damage.

I look forward to this year proving once and for all that when it comes to running the football, its more about the Oline than it is the RB.

In the last 2 season he has missed a total of 2 games for that position that is not bad. Early on he did have injury issues since then Murray has been durable. Injury prone RB do not carry the load he did last season. As for the big hole? lol he was stuck behind a line that had no true center in 2011 and 2012 and overall a pretty poor OL yet avg 5.5 and 4.1 per carry in each of the season. He has been productive when given the chance. I grant you he is not a homerun hitting RB but he is consistent. I don't care about the RB who will have 1 great run in the game and outside of that does not produce. I want a RB who can move the chains, who can take on blitzer and a guy you can lean on when you are late in the game needing to put it away.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Sure I'm ready for the season right now. I hope the RB we have can go out and prove themselves to be top RB, I hope to see a much improved defense that can shut teams down. I like Murray I have nothing against the guy he went out and gave his best, he was a great guy in the locker room and established some close ties to players like Romo, Witten and Dez who all respect him, as a fan why would I not feel the same.
What I will not do is act like a brat fan and act as if Murray role was nothing and anyone could have done it because if Dallas felt that way then Randle would have been getting a lot more of the workload than Murray. The reason Murray started and took the large load is because they felt he was the better RB.

The point is quite simple. Murray is a better RB than Randle and anyone else the Cowboys have here. I dont think anyone is disputing that. But Murray is NOT the big reason we had a great RG last year. The Oline was the big reason. Then you can look at other reasons for the RG. Murray finally stayed healthy for an entire season. Murray finally got the opportunity to run the ball more with the gameplan. Linehan didnt abandon the run like Garrett always would.

There is two factors here for me:

1. The Oline is 70% of the reason for the great run game
2. With Murray's injury history, no way can you give him a monster contract based on one good/healthy year.

So I was very happy to see the Cowboys do the right thing and let him walk. It would have been financially irresponsible to not do so. Essentially they thought it was more important to sign a 15 sack per year guy than Murray. I completely agree with them. And I saw what some of the experts saw about Murray. That his vision was average and he left a lot of yards on the field when he ran. A back with more speed will create much bigger plays than Murray did.

 

[Doomsday101]

The point is quite simple. Murray is a better RB than Randle and anyone else the Cowboys have here. I dont think anyone is disputing that. But Murray is NOT the big reason we had a great RG last year. The Oline was the big reason. Then you can look at other reasons for the RG. Murray finally stayed healthy for an entire season. Murray finally got the opportunity to run the ball more with the gameplan. Linehan didnt abandon the run like Garrett always would.

There is two factors here for me:

1. The Oline is 70% of the reason for the great run game
2. With Murray's injury history, no way can you give him a monster contract based on one good/healthy year.

So I was very happy to see the Cowboys do the right thing and let him walk. It would have been financially irresponsible to not do so. Essentially they thought it was more important to sign a 15 sack per year guy than Murray. I completely agree with them. And I saw what some of the experts saw about Murray. That his vision was average and he left a lot of yards on the field when he ran. A back with more speed will create much bigger plays than Murray did.

Well there are a lot of people around the NFL who would not agree with you on the impact Murray had which is why he won OPY. OL is a big help but that is and has been the case for any top RB. Emmitt Smith was great he also played behind one of the all time great OL in NFL history yet other RB did not fair as well when Emmitt missed. Before you start up about Murray is not Emmitt, I agree but the point remains the same even the best RB to play the game need OL help.

As for Dallas letting him walk given the price tag that Philly was offering I fully understood Dallas not overpaying and how it may effect this season we will soon find out.