Update on our rushing game compared to rest of league

[Jstopper]

There's a video out there with every single handoff to McFadden in 2014. I know he's "your boy", but that Raiders O-Line is nowhere near as bad as what the Eagles have shown these past two weeks. I don't think you are understanding how terrible that line looked the other day, if I was a Philly fan, I would have been embarrassed.

It was so bad that there are Philly players claiming we knew the plays with how we were getting into the backfield so fast. Their line is near non-existent in the running game, they might as well be on the bench.

How do we know that doesn't show how dominant our front 7 is? Maybe they've gelled after the Giants game

 

[mattjames2010]

How do we know that doesn't show how dominant our front 7 is? Maybe they've gelled after the Giants game

Seeing as how awful every other aspect of the Eagles offense is, I'm going to assume that it's not our defensive line. They looked quite terrible against the Falcons as well.

 

[JoeKing]

You can not compare last year to this year in any category and expect it to matter except in one... wins/loses. We are 2-0 versus last year's 1-1, nuff said.

 

[superonyx]

Our running game wouldn't be doing any better imo if Murray was still here. Not to mention other areas of our team would be weaker because of his taking up more money. And also were you in support of signing mcfadden? Because like you just said you can't blame a rb who gets hit in the backfield all the time right?

And I believe our running game would be improved with Murray over Randle and McFadden.
Was I in support of signing McFadden? No. Since I was in support of listening to Romo and Dez and Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith and Nate Newton ect I was in support of resigning Murray. I don't buy the story of signing Murray would mean we didn't get to sign Hardy. It's a story some try to use to make themselves feel better about losing Murray.

I understand it's not all about the RB...the difference is I also understand that it's also not all about the offensive line. At this level everyone is too talented and coaches are too good. You can't come at them with any weaknesses or they will make you pay. It's the combo and synergy between Murray and the OL that made us so successful.

One has to wonder if Romo would be injured today if we had kept Murray. We can't ever know for sure.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Now that week 2 is in the books, we have a little bit bigger sample size since 12.5% of the season has been played. I thought it would be interesting to track how our running game is going in comparison to the rest of the league each week with this being the first entry.

We are currently 20th in rushing offense at 94.5 yards per game.

Last season we averaged 147.1 yards rushing per game, which was 2nd in the NFL behind only Seattle.

So using my UT education I calculate that to be a difference of 52.6 yards less per game we are currently rushing for. Too early to tell exactly why we are struggling running the ball (dropping from #2 to #20), could be injuries affecting how teams play us, could be teams better game planning for us now that they have a year's worth of tape on our line and their tendencies, or it could be that we lost our bellcow and have replaced him with 2nd tier running backs rotating on a committee basis. Time will obviously tell.

We really need to start running the ball a lot better now that Romo is out. We don't have to be #2 in the league again, but we need to be better than #20 considering how many high draft picks were spent on this line.

Bill Callahan and DeMarco Murray are gone. Mystery solved.

Callahan is in Washington now. Go look at their rushing yards per game this season.

 

[perrykemp]

Our running game wouldn't be doing any better imo if Murray was still here.

Does anybody <really> feel that way?

I am comfortable with the Cowboys decision to hold the line on not paying Murray too much, however, I am not going to lie to myself and say Murray isn't much better than any of the current RBs.

 

[Future]

Did you not see LB's meeting Murray 5 yards in the backfield?

Wonder if that has anything to do with his struggles.

Not for nothing, but he hasn't made ANY of them miss.

Seriously, did he break a single tackle against Dallas?

 

[mattjames2010]

Not for nothing, but he hasn't made ANY of them miss.

Seriously, did he break a single tackle against Dallas?

You are asking A LOT for an RB to "break a tackle" when there are players meeting him in the backfield not even a second after a handoff or them running free on a sweep.

And he made a few of our players look like a fool in the receiving game. The guy still has it, the Philly O-Line is disgustingly terrible.

 

[Rockport]

Way too early to come to any kind of a conclusion on the running game. Factors in both games so far have negatively impacted production. Let's wait until at least mid season before reaching any knee jerk conclusions.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

In order for the run game to work there are multiple other things that must happen. First and foremost you have to convert third downs consistently, something Romo is fantastic at but only if the team isn't getting penalized every other play. Another is that you cannot get behind by multiple scores and have the clock working against you. In the first two games I've seen great effort and positive yards from the running backs, nothing they've done makes me think they cannot produce what's needed, however the other prerequisites have been missing.

Now we have new problems though, a backup QB who might not be able to deliver consistent third down conversions and opposing defenses who will surely be stacking the box without Romo or Dez to worry about. This team will need to do whatever is necessary to make first downs and to make opposing defenses respect the pass, so I won't be complaining if they have to pass more than run at first.

 

[BlindFaith]

Not for nothing, but he hasn't made ANY of them miss.

Seriously, did he break a single tackle against Dallas?

He jumped over one. Does that count?

 

[EST_1986]

We should get ready for more of these threads. With Dez out and a backup QB in, teams will be stacking the box. If we run we will have to really commit to it.

Brandon Montana will make them respect the passing game

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Now that week 2 is in the books, we have a little bit bigger sample size since 12.5% of the season has been played. I thought it would be interesting to track how our running game is going in comparison to the rest of the league each week with this being the first entry.

We are currently 20th in rushing offense at 94.5 yards per game.

Last season we averaged 147.1 yards rushing per game, which was 2nd in the NFL behind only Seattle.

So using my UT education I calculate that to be a difference of 52.6 yards less per game we are currently rushing for. Too early to tell exactly why we are struggling running the ball (dropping from #2 to #20), could be injuries affecting how teams play us, could be teams better game planning for us now that they have a year's worth of tape on our line and their tendencies, or it could be that we lost our bellcow and have replaced him with 2nd tier running backs rotating on a committee basis. Time will obviously tell.

We really need to start running the ball a lot better now that Romo is out. We don't have to be #2 in the league again, but we need to be better than #20 considering how many high draft picks were spent on this line.

2 games is not enough sample to make a comparison. it doesn't normalize the statistics and at this point, game situations had had too much impact on the number. in the Giants game, with the turnovers and the score, we had to go to passing and abandon the run to have a chance at victory. that had direct impact to the rushing total. you also can't necessarily compare year to year. this year we have added a few wrinkles to the game, like screen passes and dump off to RB in open space. those are as good as rushing the ball.

you also have to take a look at number of rushes per game and the average ypc. one stat line is not enough. 2 games aren't enough.

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

People can come up with many reasons. Some may be legit...

However I can't pretend that what I see isn't actually happening. When you watch the games this year you can just feel the lack of impact our running game has.

this.

 

[Kevinicus]

No one has ever said the O-Line isn't needed. Point out a thread or post where someone indicated that you don't need a somewhat capable O-Line for the running game to succeed.

The Eagles line is terrible when it comes to run blocking. Not just bad, but terrible. I don't even have to look at grades to know they are most likely 30-32. You can't blame any RB not having success behind that line if they are letting LBs run free into the backfield.

So...you're saying you can't blame McFadden for his results in Oakland? Got it!

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

The QB won the first game.
The defense won the second game.
It's time for the OL to win one this Sunday.

 

[mattjames2010]

So...you're saying you can't blame McFadden for his results in Oakland? Got it!

Again, there is tape on every carry McFadden had in 2014. It was nowhere near as bad as the Eagles O-line looked on Sunday. Raiders line great or even good? Nope, but McFadden's problem was balance and going down on first contact. I'll post the video again if i can find it.

 

[Kevinicus]

Again, there is tape on every carry McFadden had in 2014. It was nowhere near as bad as the Eagles O-line looked on Sunday. Raiders line great or even good? Nope, but McFadden's problem was balance and going down on first contact. I'll post the video again if i can find it.

Raiders OL >>>> Eagles OL....okay. 3.3 YPC >>>> .5 YPC. Can I suggest that Sproles isn't struggling? He's averaging 7.7 YPC so far this season.

Yes, everyone gets that Philly's OL has not done Murray any favors. Oakland's OL didn't do McFadden many favors either.

It's also true that, the Dallas OL hasn't done a great job for the RBs this year. Randle has saved their butt a few times, and on several of those plays he did things Murray couldn't do.

Maybe we just need to let the OL get going, and give the RBs a little bit of a chance before we go all crazy?

 

[jazzcat22]

People can come up with many reasons. Some may be legit...

However I can't pretend that what I see isn't actually happening. When you watch the games this year you can just feel the lack of impact our running game has. Week by week teams will begin to scheme to make it even harder for our offense to succeed. I feel bad for Weeden because he may be coming into a tough situation where teams can forget about our awesome running game and can just scheme to make Weedens life miserable. And we may not have the ability to stop them.

People will come up with many reasons why we are 20th in the league...trust me almost none of them will be that we let our Power running back leave. They will talk about penalties, game situations, ect. This will continue all season as our running game continues to struggle..

I think Romo and Dez Bryant knew something when they campaigned and begged the FO to resign Murray.

So opposing coaches can come up with schemes to make life miserable for Weeden and the running game.
Do you think our coaches can come up with a plan to let Weeden and our running game have some success.
I mean, we do game plan also.

As Jason Garrett said, they will plan for this....they do not want Weeden to be Romo, they want Weeden to be Weeden...they have confidence in him.....
The reason they wanted the FO to keep Murray is obvious, he was a team mate. When was the last time you heard a QB & a WR, or any players come out and say, we don't want this guy.....no matter the performance, good or average or below average.

 

[jazzcat22]

There's a video out there with every single handoff to McFadden in 2014. I know he's "your boy", but that Raiders O-Line is nowhere near as bad as what the Eagles have shown these past two weeks. I don't think you are understanding how terrible that line looked the other day, if I was a Philly fan, I would have been embarrassed.

It was so bad that there are Philly players claiming we knew the plays with how we were getting into the backfield so fast. Their line is near non-existent in the running game, they might as well be on the bench.

And our players said it wasn't true.
Do you think maybe we just played better, and are better. Our OL didn't play stellar either against one of the best front 7 in the NFL.