Murray Had 1 Good Year

[Sasquatch]

Still waiting for OPs 'one good post'. Forget that Garrett did not commit to the run on previous years?

That was my thought as well. In assessing Murray, we have to take into consideration playcalling which changed heavily in favor of the run his final year.

 

[CF74]

He's an above average back but to say he always made the most of his opportunities is flat out wrong. He left hundreds of yards on the field last year. He also left a huge opportunity sitting on the turf at Lambeau last January. We will be fine.

To his ability..

 

[Howboutdemcowboys31]

Backs I would take over Murray: AP, Charles, Bell, Lynch, Lacy

 

[Plankton]

Darren McFadden - a back who also had 1 good year (2011) before injury cut it short. Similar power runner as Murray. Similar fumble issues. Faster back with more breakaway speed. But like Murray 365 days ago, much concern about his durability. Can McFadden duplicate 2011? No reason to believe he magically will, but if his body is in as good of shape as Murray, no real logical argument to why he can't either.

By the standard you set for Murray, if he has only has one good season, then McFadden hasn't had a good season in his career. In 2011, McFadden was productive, but only played 7 games. In 2010, literally his best statistical season, his stats are a virtual clone for Murray's 2013 season. Yards are within 30 of each other (McFadden had 36 more), yards per carry were the same, and Murray had 6 more receptions. If that's wasn't a good season for Murray, then it wasn't for McFadden, either, meaning he has yet to have a good season in his career. Is that your stance?

And to say that McFadden is a similar power runner to Murray is laughable. McFadden bounces a lot of carries outside and has a bad habit of stopping his legs on contact. Murray does not run that way.

Murray is definitely replaceable, but the lengths that people are going to minimize his accomplishments are off the wall.

 

[iceberg]

One day Murray may be a HOFer. Maybe 2015 was his breakout year for a historical career. Perhaps he will have his # retired by the Philadelphia Eagles after leading them to their first of multiple SuperBowls where he will be win multiple SuperBowl MVPs. Seriously. Crazier things have happened in sports.

However, as of today, May 14, 2015, Demarco Murray has had 1 really good professional NFL year.

365 days ago, Murray was considered an average back - perhaps slightly above average - but a back that also had durability issues.

In 2014 Murray lead the league in yards. Although some important stats such as YPC and broken tackle average dropped significantly in the last 1/4 of the season.

Now we currently have:

Joseph Randle - a back that had more YPC than Demarco in 2014, albeit with far fewer carries. Can he maintain a better pace than Murray with 20-25 carries a game. No one knows. But Randle was much improved from 2013 to 2014. That was crystal clear in watching film.

Darren McFadden - a back who also had 1 good year (2011) before injury cut it short. Similar power runner as Murray. Similar fumble issues. Faster back with more breakaway speed. But like Murray 365 days ago, much concern about his durability. Can McFadden duplicate 2011? No reason to believe he magically will, but if his body is in as good of shape as Murray, no real logical argument to why he can't either.

Ryan Williams - signed multi year deal after being on PS and turning down interests from other teams. Not your typical PS back. Great pedigree. Low/no mileage. It's probably his last shot at rebooting his career. Physically no reason to believe he can't. But that's hardly a reason to believe he will either.

Dunbar - not an every down back so not in this discussion other than to say Dunbar could potentially shoulder more of the load than he did last year - which would not be difficult given that he only saw the field 5 or so plays a game.

Free Agent Possibilities:

Chris Johnson - former All-Pro that ran pretty good last year for the Jets.
Knowshon Moreno - another accomplished back that could be an option.

Overall: as far as "on-the-field" ability and injury risk/reward scenarios, I think the loss of Murray has a better chance than not of being made up for in some way - 1 back or multiple back performances.

Was there some Murray off-the-field intangibles - i.e. leadership or motivator that made Dallas better and cannot be replaced? Hard to know. It's always possible.

But in totality, I am not as worried as most. Why? Simply because, as of right now, Murray is still an NFL back that had ONE GOOD YEAR.

for the love of god and unholy midgets dancing in lower austrailia someone kill this topic already.

 

[Bleu Star]

Peterson singularly had more good years than every RB on our roster combined.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Hall of fame? Murray..... As in..... Eddie Murray!?

 

[DallasEast]

http://i356.***BLOCKED***/albums/oo4/DallasEast1701/Dorothy_zpsgilrv4rl.jpg​

 

[Dave_in-NC]

What made the offense in 2014 more than anything was the balance. What made it consistent was the predictability brought by the offensive line.

But, as much as yards before contact that seem to be the only leg to stand on for some, Murray moved the pile forward nearly always. For years we've watched one yard and a cloud of dust from every running back since Barber. Run into a pile of bodies and fall down.

Murray found a hole and get through, found a huge hole and got through, but didn't cave at the first contact.

There are some suggesting this team goes back to 8-8. That seems drastic, but with the RBBC Irvin is right. Teams will not sit on the pass and take that away and then the offense will have to attempt to catch lightning in a jar again this season.

What astounds me is all the people who were on board with a solid run game until this team got one and then allowed it to walk.

 

[spook930]

I think you're underrating him. I think he has been a very good running back since he got here. Underutilized and not terribly durable, but a very good running back.

I do think he has benefited a lot from being in Dallas as opposed to a team that has no passing game, like Philly will be next year. He also benefited from having a very good offensive line. I don't think he is as good as LeSean McCoy, and I think his career move to Philly will always be looked at as a mistake for him.

Hit the nail on the head here. It's been times where DM29 got off to a good start and we would not feed him (greenbay game we lost in the season half)... you could see the frustration outburst from time to time esp when they would get cute on the goal line.

 

[Fletch]

and this becomes an Adrian Peterson thread in

3.....
2.....
1.....

Maybe because it's fairly early in the morning, but you got a pretty good laugh out of me.

 

[Bleu Star]

 

[ufcrules1]

By the standard you set for Murray, if he has only has one good season, then McFadden hasn't had a good season in his career. In 2011, McFadden was productive, but only played 7 games. In 2010, literally his best statistical season, his stats are a virtual clone for Murray's 2013 season. Yards are within 30 of each other (McFadden had 36 more), yards per carry were the same, and Murray had 6 more receptions. If that's wasn't a good season for Murray, then it wasn't for McFadden, either, meaning he has yet to have a good season in his career. Is that your stance?

And to say that McFadden is a similar power runner to Murray is laughable. McFadden bounces a lot of carries outside and has a bad habit of stopping his legs on contact. Murray does not run that way.

Murray is definitely replaceable, but the lengths that people are going to minimize his accomplishments are off the wall.

Excellent post but it is going to go over most peoples heads.

 

[Nova]

He had two good years and if you watched him since the very beginning of his career, you'd know that he was pretty good. The o-line was crap back then and Murray was still able to get 3-4 yards with defenders in the backfield as soon as the ball was snapped.

Murray was always pretty good. A player with top 10 pedigree. But I've never looked at the guy as a special runner.

The OL only really sucked in 2012 and it showed in his YPC. In 2011, he ran behind what fiammetta set up for him. And the previous two years, the Cowboys have actually been pretty good on the OL.

What was great about Murray, and what I worry about replacing, isn't yards or ypc. It's the load bearing ability, leadership, and versatility he brought. And the dude could just punish the second level of a defense. He and that OL made defenses want to quit in the 4th quarter.

We don't have a guy on this roster who can do the same.

 

[superonyx]

If I am a fan of another team that plays Dallas this year I would be saying "thank god Dallas let that guy go".
There is a reason so many people were shocked we didn't draft a RB. There is a reason people are so concerned about our ability to run the ball as effectively this year as last. There is a reason that Stephen and Jerry Jones still say they may not be finished addressing the running back situation.

I know people need to come up with ways to make themselves feel better about letting a guy who was the focal point of our offense last year. Murray was a very good back and a great teammate who Romo and Dez both hoped we would resign.

Our front office wanted to resign Murray. This situation was a gamble and everyone knows it.
Let's hope it pays off.

 

[Doomsday101]

Murray made the Pro Bowl in 2013 and 2014. Murray in 2013 was 10th in rushing with a 5.2 ypc avg and 9 TD yet had much fewer attempts than those who were in front of him, Dallas choose not to run as much as they should have in 2013 and that was a big sticking point at this site with the weekly whining about Dallas needed to run more, here is a clue RB do not call the plays he can't call his own number. I understand why Dallas moved on instead of paying a big contract but this belittling of Murray acting as if he meant nothing to this team is a joke. I hope like hell we can get great production from out RB this year but right now we have 2 bust in McFadden and Williams and 2 RB who are JAGS up to this point and have not shown the ability as a work horse.

 

[DogFace]

I think Adrian Peterson is better. I'm curious what everyone else thinks about him.

 

[joseephuss]

Backs I would take over Murray: AP, Charles, Bell, Lynch, Lacy

Since Murray came into the league he has rushed for 4526 yards, had 5722 yards from scrimmage, scored 29 TDs and fumbled it 12 times.

During that same four years Jamaal Charles has rushed for 3912 yards, had 5141 yards from scrimmage, scored 40 TDs and fumbled it 15 times.

 

[MRV52]

Murray is a good back not a great back. He has lousy vision and speed. I am not sure why many in here think he was the second coming of Emmitt Smith. I for one was happy to see him leave for that price tag. I honestly feel that at times last year he held us back by not having that home run speed and taking it to the house. We would have scored more points without him having so many carries if Randle would have had more touches. I would like to pose a question to some of the Murray diehards out there. If Randle carried the ball for 400 rushes and was able to remain healthy all year "Big if" but lets just say he was able to do it, "How many yards would he have finished with?" I can guarantee you that he would have hit the 1800 mark also.

 

[tyke1doe]

At this point, I'm just going to sit back and wait and see how this develops. I won't lie; I wanted us to take a running back in the draft. But we didn't.
Instead, we strengthened our defensive line and our offensive line - the most important units on our teams.
I have to ask myself this question: if we had to strengthen one position/unit, which would I pick:

1. defensive line
2. offensive line
3. running back

Ill take No. 1. But we not only strengthened No. 1 but No. 2 also.

Behind this line, that sports three No. 1 picks and a rookie free agent who should have bee a No. 1 pick, I'm okay with whoever we put in the backfield. And if McFadden, Randle, Dunbar and Williams don't work out, it's not like we can't pick someone up on the free market. Running backs are a dime a dozen.

So basically what I'm saying is, CHILLAX!