You can believe what you want but Murray would have started from day one health permitting he was fully entrenched as our starter. McFadden lost out to Randle as the starter and only got the opportunity to start due to Randle's injury and release. Adrian Peterson has faced defenses his entire career bent on stopping him and they can't despite the Vikings having a poor QB situation through most of his career. He put up almost 2100 yards despite Ponder putting up less than 3000 yards passing and only 18 TD's. You put a talented back behind the best OL in the league that had 3 pro bowlers this season and they'll gain 1500+ and I don't care how bad your QB situation is. Todd Gurley produced more yards and TD's as rookie than McFadden did this season despite his QB situation and missing 3 games.
Go back and read some of the excuses FANS gave as to why McFadden only avenged 3.3 a carry his last 3 seasons in Oakland. They put it all on his OL including his injuries. Even with Romo on the field the entire game in the opener McFadden averaged only 2.7 a carry on 6 carries. The Cowboys went away from him because he could barely get past the line of scrimmage. Despite Romo playing just over a half vs Philly in week 2 and Weeden lighting it up in relief McFadden only averaged 3.1 a carry on 10 carries so don't give me this crap our QB situation hindered his production this season.
The fact that you're calling McFadden's 1089 yard 3 TD season "remarkable" shows just how average he is. As for Murray no way does he struggle in Dallas like he did in Philly that's ridiculous. Even despite missing a game and playing in an offense that didn't fit him he still gained just over 700 yards and 6 TD's. He only received 19 carries the final 3 games. He was completely misused and still had more catches and scored twice as many TD's as McFadden.
Murray hit a wall toward the end of last year. His average YPC for the last six games (Inc.playoffs) was 4.0, as opposed to 4.9 for the first 12 games. AND, that last six-game average was skewed by two big games. The other four, however, he averagd less than 4.0, and in three of those games he averaged less than 3 YPC. That's every bit as relevant to the discussion as the YPC numbers you're throwing out there about McFadden.
You're obviously basing your guesses (and that's all they are, after all - same for mine) on the Murray and McFadden of 2014. Well, neither was the same back in 2015 as they were last year. McFadden, for the first time in his career, stayed healthy all season. Murray obviously is a step slower and less durable than he was last season. It's NOT just Chip Kelly's offense that held Murray back this year.
One other thing...McFadden didn't "lose out" to Randle for the starter's job. Randle was the implied starter as soon as Murray signed with Philly. McFadden was relegated to the backup role from the day he was signed as well, and thus was only going to 5-7 carries per game. His lack of production was understandable, but once the job was his, he ran like a different back.
And yes, McFadden's season was remarkable in light of all the challenges the offense faced. Well, guess what,...I'd be saying that about any back that put up 1100 yards in 11 games (as a starter), running in an offense with no passing game.
