What was different about the running game yesterday?

[vlad]

To my untrained eye I saw better results from the runner, but nothing different in terms of the way he ran. Very Powerful, one-cut and go, little "wiggle" and on long runs he gives up a few yards (perhaps smartly to avoid the fumble?). I like Murray, love his attitude and toughness - he's like a faster Marion Barber to me though overall, roughly speaking. I was hoping Dunbar would turn out to be a in-between the 20s guy and then Murray can come in in the red-zone or in the 2nd half and just smash people.

So what was different? Was it because they played so few in the box? Did our line block differentlly or run the same plays and just block more effectively? Did Murray read holes and react differently?

In weeks and games past if we were consistently getting 5 yards a pop we'd be running all day long - but its usually 1-3 yards with the occasional 7 yarder mixed in (at least taht what it feels like).

thanks

 

[Doomsday101]

I think one simple reason, he had holes to run in. OL I felt did an outstanding job both in run blocking and pass protection. Heading into the game Rams had only given up 57 yards a game vs the Run.

 

[CATCH17]

He had huge holes to run through all day and Demarco was a little more patient with his blockers instead of just running up someones back.

There is no way you can block with that kind of consistency in the NFL but Demarco can still be a patient runner so hopefully we see more of that.

 

[Frozen700]

Murray was a bit more patient, and trusting his O-line.

Instead of just running full speed to where the play was called he actually took it back to his early days and was more patient, and cut it back more.

 

[jrumann59]

Rams were committed to stop our passing game and consistently only had 6 or 7 guys in the box.

 

[Lazyking]

I think it was combo of the rams defense and Murray's aggressiveness attacking the hole.

 

[Doomsday101]

Rams were committed to stop our passing game and consistently only had 6 or 7 guys in the box.

And Cowboys made them pay. This is why I want to see a solid run game by this team so that no matter what the defense trys to shut down you have the ability to attack them else where.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Fewer Stretch plays, more man up blocking and we ran the Delay much more then we have in the previous two games. Yesterdays game looked much more like a game that Garrett would have called when he was an OC then what we've seen in the previous two games. Also, we did not abandon the run. We stuck with it and that allowed us to make plays in the passing game. The balance simply kept the Rams off balance defensively and that made it much easier in both phases. That's what I saw.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

He was a more patient runner. And I am SURE he heard all the whispers this week about his vision at RB. When the coaches turned on the film I am sure he saw all the yards he left on the field. And as happy as I am with his production yesterday....he still left yards on the field. Luckily for us we did not "need" them....but against KC we needed them and in the end it came back to bite us.

Maybe he has been in a rush (like Romo) because the OLINE has been bad for so long. But I hope the coaches are telling both him and Romo to show a "little" more trust and patience in this OL and let the plays develop. The OL looks to be vastly improved this year.

 

[sbark]

Couple of references to OLine pulling and counter plays.......vrs the zone blocking scheme

 

[boysfanindc]

Murray was running through some nice holes, whether that was due to the fact the Rams where not stacking the line or more movement by the O Line, it was nice to see Murray actually have some holes to work with.

He won't run for 175 every week, but he does not need too, if we can just make D's have to respect our run or they pay for it, will make the O much more productive, it will be nice to have play action actually scare someone.

 

[Doomsday101]

Murray was running through some nice holes, whether that was due to the fact the Rams where not stacking the line or more movement by the O Line, it was nice to see Murray actually have some holes to work with.

He won't run for 175 every week, but he does not need too, if we can just make D's have to respect our run or they pay for it, will make the O much more productive, it will be nice to have play action actually scare someone.

As Randy White said on the Cowboys post game show there is nothing more demoralizing for a defense than to have the ball ran down your throat. I agree it is not realistic to expect 175 rushing games but it is realistic to produce in the running game to keep defense from just pinning their ears back and going after the QB. I think it also benefits the mindset of this much maligned OL they were able to go out and attack not sit back in pass protection

 

[Idgit]

Honestly, I know the Rams defense had been beaten badly by those ATL WRs, but I don't know what they were thinking with that defensive game plan yesterday. 6 in the box and huge cushions on some obvious key passing downs. Not a lot of blitzing. They probably thought they'd be able to keep pace with us on offense, and that keeping the ball in front of them and letting us nibble with the ground game would be acceptable. When they couldn't move the ball at all on offense, that plan turned out to be a disaster. But I don't know why they didn't change things up more dramatically once they went down by three scores. Maybe they thought they'd come out after halftime and be more efficient again, and that the hurry-up would only hurt them given the pressure we were getting, but they just let us have our way with them the whole second half. Other than going for it on 4th downs, there wasn't a serious attempt made to flip the script.

On a side not, Murray made some pretty great jump-cuts to get through some quickly-closing holes this week. Other than the one play where he wasn't holding the ball tightly enough and recovered his own fumble, he looked great.

 

[odog422]

He was a more patient runner. And I am SURE he heard all the whispers this week about his vision at RB. When the coaches turned on the film I am sure he saw all the yards he left on the field. And as happy as I am with his production yesterday....he still left yards on the field. Luckily for us we did not "need" them....but against KC we needed them and in the end it came back to bite us.

Maybe he has been in a rush (like Romo) because the OLINE has been bad for so long. But I hope the coaches are telling both him and Romo to show a "little" more trust and patience in this OL and let the plays develop. The OL looks to be vastly improved this year.

For his career he averages almost 5 yards a carry (4.8). I hardly think Murray is the issue IMO. He doesn't drop passes, run wrong routes, miss blocks, or tackles or blow coverage assignments. I think the difference in the run game was we were committed to it because of all the "whispers" how we abandoned it. When Jerry says on radio we will run the ball, count on the game plan to be heavy on the run the next week. By the way, today Terrell Davis who said he "runs to darkness" said that Murray "gets more yards than the play gives him."

 

[bucktoof]

This is kind of off-topic, but I think noticed that Murray changed his running style in this game. He used to be a violent runner, finishing runs with authority and seeking out someone to lay the wood on. In this game he looked to run out of bounds after getting his yards. Maybe the coaching staff sat him down and had a nice talk with him, told him that if you want to have a long career, you can't go all human battering ram on every play. Although, I did see on one run near the goal line, when he had no other option, trapped in the backfield, I noticed he did go back to his old self, and lowered his head and tried to truck the defender.

I just thought it was interesting. I like to think he might be saving himself, saving the violence for the big games in the (hopefully) playoffs.

 

[jday]

To my untrained eye I saw better results from the runner, but nothing different in terms of the way he ran. Very Powerful, one-cut and go, little "wiggle" and on long runs he gives up a few yards (perhaps smartly to avoid the fumble?). I like Murray, love his attitude and toughness - he's like a faster Marion Barber to me though overall, roughly speaking. I was hoping Dunbar would turn out to be a in-between the 20s guy and then Murray can come in in the red-zone or in the 2nd half and just smash people.

So what was different? Was it because they played so few in the box? Did our line block differentlly or run the same plays and just block more effectively? Did Murray read holes and react differently?

In weeks and games past if we were consistently getting 5 yards a pop we'd be running all day long - but its usually 1-3 yards with the occasional 7 yarder mixed in (at least taht what it feels like).

thanks

The difference was simple. The Rams decided to take away the pass, which left us a running game. It won't be so easy to run in weeks to come, I'd wager.

 

[ThreeandOut]

Rams were committed to stop our passing game and consistently only had 6 or 7 guys in the box.

We were willing to run out of three WR sets. When you have three WR's on the field, the defense has to respect the pass.

 

[ShiningStar]

To my untrained eye I saw better results from the runner, but nothing different in terms of the way he ran. Very Powerful, one-cut and go, little "wiggle" and on long runs he gives up a few yards (perhaps smartly to avoid the fumble?). I like Murray, love his attitude and toughness - he's like a faster Marion Barber to me though overall, roughly speaking. I was hoping Dunbar would turn out to be a in-between the 20s guy and then Murray can come in in the red-zone or in the 2nd half and just smash people.

So what was different? Was it because they played so few in the box? Did our line block differentlly or run the same plays and just block more effectively? Did Murray read holes and react differently?

In weeks and games past if we were consistently getting 5 yards a pop we'd be running all day long - but its usually 1-3 yards with the occasional 7 yarder mixed in (at least taht what it feels like).

thanks

someone kicked someone else in the butt , plus Demarco seems to have the Rams number. Lets see what happens next week.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

To my untrained eye I saw better results from the runner, but nothing different in terms of the way he ran. Very Powerful, one-cut and go, little "wiggle" and on long runs he gives up a few yards (perhaps smartly to avoid the fumble?). I like Murray, love his attitude and toughness - he's like a faster Marion Barber to me though overall, roughly speaking. I was hoping Dunbar would turn out to be a in-between the 20s guy and then Murray can come in in the red-zone or in the 2nd half and just smash people.

So what was different? Was it because they played so few in the box? Did our line block differentlly or run the same plays and just block more effectively? Did Murray read holes and react differently?

In weeks and games past if we were consistently getting 5 yards a pop we'd be running all day long - but its usually 1-3 yards with the occasional 7 yarder mixed in (at least taht what it feels like).

thanks

The diff was a COMMITMENT to the run. Murray saw this and gave it his all.

 

[Doomsday101]

someone kicked someone else in the butt , plus Demarco seems to have the Rams number. Lets see what happens next week.

Rams run defense was doing good over the frist 2 games giving up an avg of 57 yards per game that changed . SD currently ranked 28th vs the run. Main thing for me is the Cowboys running the ball good enough to keep the defense off balance.