Murray had a great year. Those types of years usually don't happen year after year and he was not the reason for those big numbers.
Murray is great at finishing runs and he was great in short yardage situations but Romo and the OL had a lot to do with his numbers being what they were.
The guy has no vision and managed to get 1800 yards. He's not a 7-8 mill a year type of player and he'll keep proving that in Philly.
Yes Bell and Charles got injured and as good as they are it just shows the risk you have when you pay that position.
I'm all for upgrading the RB but i'd much rather pay McFadden 2 mill then pay a guy like Murray who is overrated money like he is one of the best in football.
Murray was a big part of the reason he put up those yards in 2014 along with the OL. He had a terrific OL and helped make it look terrific. Some grumbled about our OL this past season because we didn't have as talented a runner behind it. Murray ran through some big holes and he also made some excellent runs on his own with his change of direction and cutback ability. During his rookie year when the OL was in it's earliest stages of transition he had a 3 game span where he rushed for over 600 yards and would have easily had a 1000 yard season if an injury didn't cut his season short. The only thing that held him back his first 3 seasons was injuries. In 2013 he had 1121 yards and 9 TD's in 14 games. You could tell by his 3rd season he was the real deal it was the injuries and missed games that were holding him back. He was the perfect fit on this team and had great chemistry with our OL.
Him staying healthy in 2014 was the main reason the Cowboys surprised everyone and began looking like a contender. A big reason Romo had a career year and was in MVP contention was being able to lean on Murray. Romo had the fewest passing attempts of his career in 2014 in which he played at least 15 games. He only had one 40 attempt passing game in 2014 and was on pace for two 40+ passing attempt games in a row when he was injured in week 2 of 2015. Had he had to carry the team in 2014 he would have never lasted to week 8 after just coming off back surgery. You could tell in the opener vs the Giants WITH ROMO the Cowboys weren't going to be able to run the ball as consistently as they did in 2014 especially in short yardage situations.
Romo was having to dump passes off to Dunbar because neither McFadden or Randle was running the ball well. Murray wasn't a 7-8M player in PHILLY because he didn't fit their offense that ended up getting Chip Kelly fired. He picked the wrong pieces for his offense and it cost him his job. We had a championship caliber offense in 2014 with Murray but Jerry decided we didn't need a big money back with a talented OL he felt that any back could run wild behind and he was WRONG! Any back could have put up under 1089 yards and 3 TD's behind our OL even Randle would have done that had he not been cut. He only had 76 carries and had more TD's than McFadden. The Cowboys being the worst offense in the league on 3rd and one had nothing to do with Romo not being in there.
Practically every team pounds the ball on 3rd and one and if you have a solid OL and a solid back you should move the chains more times than not in that situation. With our OL there was NO EXCUSE for being the worst team in the league at grinding out a yard on 3rd and one that falls squarely on the backs we have. I have no issue with McFadden being part of our rotation next season but if we want to keep Romo healthy and be a championship team we have to do better than an average RB as our workhorse. The Raiders got rid of McFadden because they wanted to get better and if a back can't produce more than 1089 yards and 3 TD's when healthy behind the best OL in football they're not the answer.
