Signed by Cowboys Morris signs 2-yr deal with Cowboys

[big dog cowboy]

This basically doesn't change my opinion of the position at all.

I'm shocked.

 

[gimmesix]

Other way around. Rushing TD accounted for a bigger percentage of our total TD in 2015 than they did in 2014. The lack of a passing threat (and specifically, Weeden and Cassel combining for 1 TD pass from inside the 10-yard line in NINE games) allowed defenses to load up against the run, keeping our rushing TD total down.

Out away from the goal line, McFadden in short yardage was more effective than Murray the year before.

3rd or 4th and 1-2 to go, outside 5-yard line
2014 Murray 17 of 24 70.8%
2015 McFadden 13 of 16 81.3%

It seemed like (and I could be wrong about this) that McFadden got better at short yardage as the season progressed. Early on, he would hesitate, which would allow the defense to close on him. Later, he would just run hard at the hole, which allowed him to deliver more pop and get the needed yards.

I still don't see him as an optimal short-yardage option because of his build-up power. He also has never been much of a scoring back, with only one season in eight with more than 5 rushing TDs and most with 4 or less. Of course, some of that could correlate with a lack of rushing success since his 7-TD season also was his only other 1,000-yard season.

 

[Macnalty]

IMO this signing made us a better team time to move on to the draft. Hope to be surprised by his play but expect good things from him as his running style matches well with our Oline skills.

 

[Alexander]

That's a distinct possibility considering they now have Morris and McFadden in place. Maybe they use that 4th round comp pick on a utility back like Prosise?

Give me Ervin instead and I am good.

 

[KingintheNorth]

Give me Ervin instead and I am good.

I want to take the risk on Keith Marshall.

 

[Risen Star]

I want to take the risk on Keith Marshall.

Because you are seduced by speed. You're sportin' Al Davis wood.

 

[KingintheNorth]

Because you are seduced by speed. You're sportin' Al Davis wood.

Yeah and I'm a sucker for former 5 star recruits. I think his situation (injuries, playing with Gurley and Chubb) and his athleticism warrants the risk. Day Three of course.

 

[StarOfGlory]

I'm not hyped about this signing. Morris had his best year with RG3 at QB. The threat of RG3's running gave him space. When that space was gone, Morris's lack of speed was exposed. It's no coincidence that his first year was his best. I'm sure he can power his way to some first downs, but this doesn't mean we have gotten appreciably better in the backfield.

 

[KJJ]

Other way around. Rushing TD accounted for a bigger percentage of our total TD in 2015 than they did in 2014. The lack of a passing threat (and specifically, Weeden and Cassel combining for 1 TD pass from inside the 10-yard line in NINE games) allowed defenses to load up against the run, keeping our rushing TD total down.

Out away from the goal line, McFadden in short yardage was more effective than Murray the year before.

3rd or 4th and 1-2 to go, outside 5-yard line
2014 Murray 17 of 24 70.8%
2015 McFadden 13 of 16 81.3%

Your quest to try and convince everyone our running game was better last season than in 2014 is laughable! The facts are we ran the ball 100 fewer times last season than in 2014 because the running game wasn't as efficient. We had over 400 fewer rushing yards in 2015 than in 2014 and had half as many rushing TD's. The Cowboys were DEAD LAST in the league on 3rd and one and they found themselves in more long yardage situations than in 2014. Romo was injured on 2 long yardage situations where the defense was able to pin their ears back and come after him. Despite 239 carries McFadden only had 3 rushing TD's go compare that to some of the backs that rushed for fewer yards than he did last season. Even Todd Gurley who missed 3 games last season had 10 rushing TD's. McFadden was one of the reasons we had to settle for so many FG attempts.

Murray had 10 more rushing TD's in 2014 than McFadden and moved the chains more than McFadden ever did last season. McFadden was part of the reason we were so bad on 3rd and one. No one uses stats to try and make something appear better than it was like you. The stats you posts are misleading. The thread you started below shows how consumed you are by stats and how you try and mislead everyone with them. Stats don't show the entire picture but you always try and paint a better picture by using them. It wouldn't surprise me if you have an entire page full of stats that you could work to perfection to show the Cowboys were actually a better team last season than they were in 2014. Anyone who thinks last years running game was better than the running game we had in 2014 is completely lost. Even Randle in relief was highly effective in 2014. The rushing yards we gained in 2014 led to WINS because many of those yards led to TD's both rushing and passing. Even with Romo last season we struggled to run the ball efficiently in 3 of his 4 starts.

http://cowboyszone.com/threads/this-years-running-game-is-better.337436/

 

[kristie]

 

[percyhoward]

Your quest to try and convince everyone our running game was better last season than in 2014 is laughable!

I can only correct you so often before it starts to become obvious that you're ignoring it.

 

[KJJ]

I think the numbers speak for themselves.

If the numbers you post spoke the way you try to get them to speak the Cowboys wouldn't have missed the playoffs 5 of the past 6 years and wouldn't have only one winning season during that period. What speaks for itself is the teams record over the past 20 years and the lack of playoff appearances and playoff wins they've had.

You're so ridiculous you'll compile a page full of stats from some of the best teams the Cowboys have had and compare them with stats from some of our bad teams to try and show our bad teams are actually comparable to some of our great teams in many areas. LOL

What's really hilarious is there's a bunch of FANS/SUCKERS who are so desperate to find something positive from a miserable season they lap up all these misleading stats you post and buy into all of it. They ignore the Cowboys record and the fact they averaged the second fewest points per game last season because you get many to believe the stats you're consumed by don't lie it's the Cowboys performances and record that's lying. lol

 

[percyhoward]

It seemed like (and I could be wrong about this) that McFadden got better at short yardage as the season progressed. Early on, he would hesitate, which would allow the defense to close on him. Later, he would just run hard at the hole, which allowed him to deliver more pop and get the needed yards.

I still don't see him as an optimal short-yardage option because of his build-up power. He also has never been much of a scoring back, with only one season in eight with more than 5 rushing TDs and most with 4 or less. Of course, some of that could correlate with a lack of rushing success since his 7-TD season also was his only other 1,000-yard season.

When you get close to the goal line, the defense can use the end line as an extra defender. With such a small area to defend and no passing threat to fear in 2015, defenses could focus on stopping our run. It wasn't that way early in the season, however.

from 5-yard line or closer
% of runs resulting in TD
2014 (all 16 games) 9 of 17 (53%)
2015 (games 1-6) 5 of 7 (72%)
2015 (games 7-16) 0 of 3 (0%)

In the first 6 games of 2015, our goal-line running was very good. Of that 5 of 7, Randle was 3 of 4, and McFadden was 2 of 3. So McFadden wasn't having much trouble around the goal line in those games, and probably would have had more TD if Randle hadn't been the main short-yardage back at that time. After game 6, we hardly even tried to run near the goal line. I think this had to be a reaction to defenses loading up on the run when they realized we had no goal-line passing threat. They saw that our running game had a 72% success rate, and chose to take that away from us, and take their chances with Matt Cassel throwing into the end zone.

I never would have pegged McFadden for a short-yardage runner either, but I have to keep saying that's how good our OL is. They took a back who was under 50% converting for his career and helped him go 13 of 17. He actually converted on his first five short-yardage attempts, then struggled a bit in the middle of the season (3 of 6), then converted 5 of his last 6.

 

[KJJ]

I can only correct you so often before it starts to become obvious that you're ignoring it.

You corrected yourself and deleted your comment but you didn't delete it soon enough because I had already replied and quoted you. You said the numbers you posted speak for themselves because you believe and try to get others to believe that the Cowboys aren't what their record says they are they're what your stats say they are and it's become obvious you're ignoring it.

 

[percyhoward]

You corrected yourself and deleted your comment but you didn't delete it soon enough because I had already replied and quoted you. You said the numbers you posted speak for themselves because you believe and try to get others to believe that the Cowboys aren't what their record says they are they're what your stats say they are and it's become obvious you're ignoring it.

I changed the quote to make it more specific. Of course the numbers speak for themselves, but more specifically there's a pattern that's developed where you make a statement like "McFadden was part of the reason we were so bad on 3rd and one," then I correct you with something like this:

All short-yardage & goal line plays, 2015
McFadden 15 of 21 (71%)
rest of team 14 of 29 (48%)

and you ignore it completely, and go on with your narrative. Believe what you want to believe, but that's what happened on the field. What you or I say about it doesn't change anything.

 

[KJJ]

I changed the quote to make it more specific. Of course the numbers speak for themselves, but more specifically there's a pattern that's developed where you make a statement like "McFadden was part of the reason we were so bad on 3rd and one," then I correct you with something like this:

All short-yardage & goal line plays, 2015
McFadden 15 of 21 (71%)
rest of team 14 of 29 (48%)

and you ignore it completely, and go on with your narrative. Believe what you want to believe, but that's what happened on the field. What you or I say about it doesn't change anything.

You changed the quote because the numbers you posted don't speak for themselves like you claim they do and the Cowboys record not only in 2015 but in 5 of the last 6 years prove it. No one on this board proves that stats don't tell the whole story like you do. For example you'll take the Cowboys average yards per gain on first and second down during a bad season and compare that average to the average of one of their championship teams to try and show they're not only comparable on first and second down but are actually more efficient on first and second down during parts of the 3rd and 4th quarter than they were when they won the SB in 95. LOL Your MO is like no other I've seen on this board if someone says Romo isn't clutch you'll post a page full of stats that show he's the most clutch QB in Cowboys history. The running game last season was CLEARLY not as good as it was in 2014 and NFL Network had a segment dissecting all the issues we had running the ball that we didn't have in 2014 but with a page full of stats you tried to spin our running game last last season was actually better than it was in 2014.

The facts are neither McFadden or the rest of our backs were efficient in short yardage and goal line situations which is why the Cowboys were the worst team in the league on 3rd and one and only scored 8 rushing TD's compared to 16 rushing TDs in 2014. Their inefficiency running the ball put pressure on our passing game which resulted in having to settle for a lot of FG attempts. This is why the Cowboys only averaged just over 17 points a game which was the second lowest in the entire league. You can post all the misleading stats you want to try and make it appear the team was more efficient than they were but their record and lack of TDs and points proves all these stats you post don't mean a damn thing in the big picture and is a waste of your time.

Any area of the team that looks bad and is gaining criticism you'll come up with a page full of stats brain washing all the FANS here into believing the Cowboys aren't that bad as a matter of fact they're actually good and even better than some of their championship teams so don't let all these losses and their crappy record fool you. LOL We saw what happened on the field last season and it led to a 4-12 record. Even with Romo and Dez on the field you could see the running game wasn't the same.

Everyone can talk about our QB situation but no one will ever convince me that our QB situation last season was as poor as the QB situation we suffered through from 2000 to 2002 and none of those teams ever finished with a poorer record or had a longer losing streak than we had last season. I'm sure you could provide a couple of pages of stats to show the Campo teams weren't really that bad. You'll have stats showing that in some areas our 2002 team was superior to our 1977 championship team and that in the 3rd quarter Quincy Carter actually had a higher completion percentage than Roger Staubach.

 

[percyhoward]

The facts are neither McFadden or the rest of our backs were efficient in short yardage and goal line situations which is why the Cowboys were the worst team in the league on 3rd and one and only scored 8 rushing TD's compared to 16 rushing TDs in 2014. Their inefficiency running the ball put pressure on our passing game which resulted in having to settle for a lot of FG attempts. This is why the Cowboys only averaged just over 17 points a game which was the second lowest in the entire league. You can post all the misleading stats you want to try and make it appear the team was more efficient than they were but their record and lack of TDs and points proves all these stats you post don't mean a damn thing in the big picture and is a waste of your time.

I understand why one might look at the fact that Dallas ranked 31st on 3rd and 1, and conclude that it must be because of McFadden. What you need to do is go a little deeper than surface level, and realize first that the ranking applies to both run and pass plays on 3rd and 1. When you remove the pass plays on 3rd and 1, the ranking goes up to 27th. Then when you stop and think, "Why just 3rd and 1? Isn't 3rd and 2 also short yardage?" you see the ranking go up to 22nd. Then you think a little more, and you realize this completely leaves out 4th down -- an even more critical short-yardage situation than 3rd down. Now the ranking goes up to 17th.

All of a sudden, you realize our short-yardage run game wasn't the league's worst after all, but instead was middle of the league. Maybe you still think, "Well that was the McFadden effect. We dropped from the 10th-best short-yardage running team in 2014 down to 17th in 2015 because McFadden replaced Murray." You can find out if that's true by comparing their conversion percentages on short-yardage runs.

2014 Murray 19 of 26 (73.1%)
2015 McFadden 13 of 17 (76.5%)

Add in runs from the 1- or 2-yard line on 1st or 2nd down (which are also short-yardage plays), and it looks like this:

2014 Murray 25 of 32 (78.1%)
2015 McFadden 15 of 21 (71.4%)

I think it's important that the only thing separating the short-yardage performances of the two backs is their 1st- and 2nd-down goal-line runs. It tells me that there must have been something different about the goal line runs, but what? Did Murray just have more of a nose for the goal line? That sounds good, but it doesn't make sense that he wouldn't also have had more of a nose for the first down marker. So it must have been something besides the RB. I think it was the QB, and the different ways that defenses approached short yardage, based on who the QB was. I think that near the goal line in 2015, defenses were able to concentrate their resources on stopping the run because they didn't have a large area of field to cover. In 2014, we had a QB and a #1 WR who were able to exploit defenses near the goal line when those defenses cheated toward the run.

I can test this theory by comparing the early part of the season with the rest of the season. How often did we run early in the season, and how successful were we, before defenses started taking away the run? Was there any difference compared to the rest of the year? Well, yes, there was a huge difference both in how often we ran, and how successful we were.

from 5-yard line or closer
% of runs resulting in TD
2014 (all 16 games) 9 of 17 (53%)
2015 (games 1-6) 5 of 7 (72%)
2015 (games 7-16) 0 of 3 (0%)

We'll find out more by thinking and talking about football, than by thinking and talking about posters' motivations or personalities. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I believe. Football is fascinating. You and I aren't, so much.

 

[KJJ]

I understand why one might look at the fact that Dallas ranked 31st on 3rd and 1, and conclude that it must be because of McFadden. What you need to do is go a little deeper than surface level, and realize first that the ranking applies to both run and pass plays on 3rd and 1. When you remove the pass plays on 3rd and 1, the ranking goes up to 27th. Then when you stop and think, "Why just 3rd and 1? Isn't 3rd and 2 also short yardage?" you see the ranking go up to 22nd. Then you think a little more, and you realize this completely leaves out 4th down -- an even more critical short-yardage situation than 3rd down. Now the ranking goes up to 17th.

All of a sudden, you realize our short-yardage run game wasn't the league's worst after all, but instead was middle of the league. Maybe you still think, "Well that was the McFadden effect. We dropped from the 10th-best short-yardage running team in 2014 down to 17th in 2015 because McFadden replaced Murray." You can find out if that's true by comparing their conversion percentages on short-yardage runs.

2014 Murray 19 of 26 (73.1%)
2015 McFadden 13 of 17 (76.5%)

Add in runs from the 1- or 2-yard line on 1st or 2nd down (which are also short-yardage plays), and it looks like this:

2014 Murray 25 of 32 (78.1%)
2015 McFadden 15 of 21 (71.4%)

I think it's important that the only thing separating the short-yardage performances of the two backs is their 1st- and 2nd-down goal-line runs. It tells me that there must have been something different about the goal line runs, but what? Did Murray just have more of a nose for the goal line? That sounds good, but it doesn't make sense that he wouldn't also have had more of a nose for the first down marker. So it must have been something besides the RB. I think it was the QB, and the different ways that defenses approached short yardage, based on who the QB was. I think that near the goal line in 2015, defenses were able to concentrate their resources on stopping the run because they didn't have a large area of field to cover. In 2014, we had a QB and a #1 WR who were able to exploit defenses near the goal line when those defenses cheated toward the run.

I can test this theory by comparing the early part of the season with the rest of the season. How often did we run early in the season, and how successful were we, before defenses started taking away the run? Was there any difference compared to the rest of the year? Well, yes, there was a huge difference both in how often we ran, and how successful we were.

from 5-yard line or closer
% of runs resulting in TD
2014 (all 16 games) 9 of 17 (53%)
2015 (games 1-6) 5 of 7 (72%)
2015 (games 7-16) 0 of 3 (0%)

We'll find out more by thinking and talking about football, than by thinking and talking about posters' motivations or personalities. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I believe. Football is fascinating. You and I aren't, so much.

Sorry but didn't read a word of that it's a complete waste of my time but I did scroll it and at least gmoney112 bought it hook-line and sinker. I'm sure he and the rest of the FANS who eat up all these comparison stats you post will be looking forward to your thread later this offseason showing how the Cowboys 1989 1-15 team wasn't nearly as bad as some think it was. You'll provide a page full of detailed statistical comparisons offensively and defensively showing that in may areas that team was actually better than the Cowboys 1971 championship team. lol