Im going to enjoy all the crow eating this year

[Plankton]

It is not routine that a team gives a running back that many carries either.

My fiance's two cousins are Eagles fans. Last season around Thanksgiving, I made the statement during a meal that Dallas is running Murray to the ground because they plan on letting him go next year and everyone agreed with me. Dallas ran the guy to the ground---he stayed healthy and he was the "guy" but obviously he benefited from an insane workload. You can give another 10 backs in the league that many carries and they would get 1800 yards behind this line IF they managed to stay healthy.

There have been 9 players in NFL history who have carried the ball as many times or more than Murray did last season. Of those 9, only two outgained him - both in 1998 - Terrell Davis (392 carries for 2008 yards) and Jamal Anderson (410 carries for 1846 yards), who outgained Murray by 1 yard on 18 more carries.

With that data, it casts serious doubt on whether 10 others, if anyone playing today, would have gained more than Murray last year under the same circumstances.

 

[guag]

I did a poll a couple of months ago and it got merged or erased. never got an explanation why....it's not like a poll is the same as a regular thread.

I honestly didn't even know we could make polls on this site. I don't ever recall seeing one.

Just looked at the bottom of the New Thread page... well waddaya know!

 

[Apollo Creed]

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.

And on most of those 'big' runs - you and I could've jogged through them for 15 yards. Murray would have a 40-60 yard run and lay down, look for contact or go out of bounds. Was frustrating to see so many yards left on the field, or him plowing directly into someones back - he would run to darkness like Emmitt said.

Our line blew open some home run holes and guys with above average speed would've taken those opportunities to the house. Randall only had a handful of carries and showed he's more than capable of running behind this line.

 

[Doomsday101]

And on most of those 'big' runs - you and I could've jogged through them for 15 yards. Murray would have a 40-60 yard run and lay down, look for contact or go out of bounds. Was frustrating to see so many yards left on the field, or him plowing directly into someones back - he would run to darkness like Emmitt said.

Our line blew open some home run holes and guys with above average speed would've taken those opportunities to the house. Randall only had a handful of carries and showed he's more than capable of running behind this line.

yeah you could have done it just as well. lol I have no issue with the Cowboys not paying the money Murray got but I am not stupid enough to think anyone can do it. You guys are way overboard on this. 1,800 plus yards is not that damn easy and very few have done it.

If the team felt Randle was better Murray would not have gotten all the carries he did. Reason Murray started over Randle? Easy because he is fricken better than Randle

 

[DFWJC]

I honestly didn't even know we could make polls on this site. I don't ever recall seeing one.

Just looked at the bottom of the New Thread page... well waddaya know!

Yeah. I really don't think we use it nearly enough. It cuts through the garbage and gets to the bottom line.
You should test it out sometime. Maybe get the board using it again.

 

[5Stars]

Yeah. I really don't think we use it nearly enough. It cuts through the garbage and gets to the bottom line.
You should test it out sometime. Maybe get the board using it again.

I was just thinking if we could us a poll to get rid of a poster or two on this forum then thought, I better shut up because it might be me that gets voted off the island! lol

 

[robjay04]

There have been 9 players in NFL history who have carried the ball as many times or more than Murray did last season. Of those 9, only two outgained him - both in 1998 - Terrell Davis (392 carries for 2008 yards) and Jamal Anderson (410 carries for 1846 yards), who outgained Murray by 1 yard on 18 more carries.

With that data, it casts serious doubt on whether 10 others, if anyone playing today, would have gained more than Murray last year under the same circumstances.

Only 9 players out of how many starting running backs in history? That further verifies my claim he benefitted from the carries he received. I'm not trying to discredit him entirely, just stating a fact.

 

[Plankton]

Only 9 players out of how many starting running backs in history? That further verifies my claim he benefitted from the carries he received. I'm not trying to discredit him entirely, just stating a fact.

Of course he benefitted from the heavy workload - any player who gets more opportunities would have the potential to gain significant yardage.

But, potential and achievement are two totally different things.

Additionally, as I stated above, only 17 players in 96 seasons have run for more yards, and only 9 players in those 96 years carried the ball as frequently or more, with only two of those nine outgaining Murray, and of the two, one outgained him by one yard.

At some point, with many great players in the league's history, it becomes as much about a player playing outstanding football rather than it being about how many carries he had or what line he played behind. for many years, we heard that anyone could have succeeded playing behind Emmitt Smith's offensive line. In the entirety of Emmitt Smith's career in Dallas, he missed 8 games. In those 8 games, only one player rushed for over 100 yards. They ran behind the same offensive line, but couldn't duplicate the success.

None of this is to say that DeMarco Murray is irreplaceable. None of this is to say that Murray's production was not supported or enhanced a bit by workload and a terrific offensive line. But, it is foolish to knock his production from 2014 when a scant few players in NFL history have even approached or exceeded those numbers.

Yes, he doesn't play in Dallas anymore. I wish him nothing but failure and misery in Philadelphia. But, those who choose to marginalize his accomplishments and contributions from a season ago are completely misguided and not aware of how Murray's 2014 season stacks up historically.

 

[burmafrd]

Of course he benefitted from the heavy workload - any player who gets more opportunities would have the potential to gain significant yardage.

But, potential and achievement are two totally different things.

Additionally, as I stated above, only 17 players in 96 seasons have run for more yards, and only 9 players in those 96 years carried the ball as frequently or more, with only two of those nine outgaining Murray, and of the two, one outgained him by one yard.

At some point, with many great players in the league's history, it becomes as much about a player playing outstanding football rather than it being about how many carries he had or what line he played behind. for many years, we heard that anyone could have succeeded playing behind Emmitt Smith's offensive line. In the entirety of Emmitt Smith's career in Dallas, he missed 8 games. In those 8 games, only one player rushed for over 100 yards. They ran behind the same offensive line, but couldn't duplicate the success.

None of this is to say that DeMarco Murray is irreplaceable. None of this is to say that Murray's production was not supported or enhanced a bit by workload and a terrific offensive line. But, it is foolish to knock his production from 2014 when a scant few players in NFL history have even approached or exceeded those numbers.

Yes, he doesn't play in Dallas anymore. I wish him nothing but failure and misery in Philadelphia. But, those who choose to marginalize his accomplishments and contributions from a season ago are completely misguided and not aware of how Murray's 2014 season stacks up historically.

of those nine who had all those carries- how many of them had a comparable season afterwards? THAT is the point.

 

[Plankton]

of those nine who had all those carries- how many of them had a comparable season afterwards? THAT is the point.

Actually, it isn't.

The point is that some people on this forum have been diminishing Murray's performance from a season ago as not being a big deal, or that he left a ton of yards on the field, and they don't have the historical perspective to know just how rare his production last year was.

How a player performs the next season has nothing to do with whether the player missed holes the prior year or ran too loose with the football.

And, without the list in front of me, Eric Dickerson is the one guy who followed up a heavy workload season with multiple big seasons afterward.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

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.

No doubt Murray was relied upon heavy but it was a contract year and we rode him for everything he had. That being said we will spread the ball around and we have more then enough options. Dez, Witten, Williams and Beasley must be accounted for so there for our RBs will see little in terms of stacking the box. We will be fine at running the ball

 

[chagus]

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 seems to me that belittling the Cowboys and their chances is the preferred and proven method to attract attention to your site and or article. Cowboy hate = click bait.

 

[zrinkill]

My only problem with all this bull-hockey is that nobody predicted we would have a good running game last year. Now suddenly it is irreplaceable.

 

[Bleu Star]

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.

I'll be the first one here to eat crow but I won't do so until we have won at least 10 games and solidified a playoff spot. We need to give McFadden time to slide into his annual role on the injured list. 4 games is not enough.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I'll be the first one here to eat crow but I won't do so until we have won at least 10 games and solidified a playoff spot. We need to give McFadden time to slide into his annual role on the injured list. 4 games is not enough.

Why would record matter? Although they may wind up being directly linked it has little bearing on our conversation here. If Romo were to go down early and the backs are rushing for 150 per game and we're 2-5, there would still be crow eating going around for this conversation.

 

[DFWJC]

There have been 9 players in NFL history who have carried the ball as many times or more than Murray did last season. Of those 9, only two outgained him - both in 1998 - Terrell Davis (392 carries for 2008 yards) and Jamal Anderson (410 carries for 1846 yards), who outgained Murray by 1 yard on 18 more carries.

With that data, it casts serious doubt on whether 10 others, if anyone playing today, would have gained more than Murray last year under the same circumstances.

I'm not one that had major issues with Murray--he had a great year.

But maybe a better measure is to look at all the players that had more yards than he did and see how many carries it took.

There have been 16 times where RBs have had more yards in a season than Murray.
In 15 of them, the player had needed less carries to do it...and in many cases is was 40-50 less.

But it was a really nice year. Most impressive to me was that he actually held up for that many carries.

 

[tyke1doe]

Yah, its baffling to me. How do these guys get jobs as experts? And all the people thinking the Eagles are going to win the division and not the Cowboys with the questions they have at QB and corner and offensive line and wide receiver.

FTFY.

 

[Doomsday101]

No doubt Murray was relied upon heavy but it was a contract year and we rode him for everything he had. That being said we will spread the ball around and we have more then enough options. Dez, Witten, Williams and Beasley must be accounted for so there for our RBs will see little in terms of stacking the box. We will be fine at running the ball

Contract year had nothing to do with it. They ran him because he was producing and we had the OL that he was able to work behind. As for how we run the ball that will be a big question but one that is unknow. People hollering the running game is fine with absolutely no proof is nothing but hope and wishful thinking. It may end up that the run game does great, I hope it does but it is an unknown at this point

 

[DeaconMoss]

Put it this way................If they cant average over 4 yards per carry and we dont rush for at least 130 yards per game then our RB's are terrible. Randle I think in particular will have the most consistent success. I like his vision and I like his burst through the hole. Mcfadden wont make anyone miss, but if he gets a seam, he will be gone. No one is catching him from behind. I also believe that Linehan will adjust the offense to more swing passes and screens to the RB's to take advantage of the speed of Mcfadden and Dunbar on the outside. Probably more draws also.

Does Run DMC still have the same speed he used to? I would think he would be a tad slower now at this point in his career.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Contract year had nothing to do with it. They ran him because he was producing and we had the OL that he was able to work behind. As for how we run the ball that will be a big question but one that is unknow. People hollering the running game is fine with absolutely no proof is nothing but hope and wishful thinking. It may end up that the run game does great, I hope it does but it is an unknown at this point

Yah, I agree. I dont think the contract year had anything to do with it other then they new they werent going to resign him, so why did they care if they over worked him. However, the biggest reason was that it was working and working well. Then you also get caught up in the consecutive 100 yards rushing game record, the Cowboys rushing yardage for one season record, then the all time NFL one season rushing total.