• March 19, 2024

Was Joseph Randle Right About DeMarco Murray?

DeMarcoMurrayOTA2Eagles new running back DeMarco Murray isn’t going to be taking off on 50 yards touchdown sprints, where he just out runs everybody.  He’s not the most athletic of running backs and he knows it.  He’s knows he’s not going to be outrunning the defensive backs, so he punishes them rather than trying to put 15 moves on them.

You’re not going to see him make a change of direction on a defender that almost makes the defensive player break his ankles.  Many of his best runs aren’t very flashy.

Murray’s strength is his ability to grind down a defense by pounding them consistently with three, four and five yard runs.  Again, he’s not going to be taking runs outside, then sprinting away from everybody.  He’s a back who going to run for 110 yards on 20 to 25 carries with most of those runs being inside the tackles or off the corner.

This is why Andy Benoit of Sports Illustrated and Peter King’s MMQB.com agrees with Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle who said Murray “left a lot of meat on the bone” last year despite leading the league in rushing.  Randle wasn’t necessarily giving all of the credit to Dallas’ dominating offensive line for Murray’s success.  He was pointing out that a faster back could have had more yardage.

I can understand why Randle, who is faster than Murray would feel the way he did, but he shouldn’t have said it publicly.  Here you have Murray who led the league in rushing and a backup running back like Randle, who has done virtually nothing in the NFL, criticizing him.

Yes, I did see runs where a faster runner might have taken the run to the house, but there were many, many runs where Murray kept a drive going by carrying a defensive player for a couple of yards or breaking a tackle to get positive yardage on a play which should have lost yards.  You rarely saw Murray falling backwards on any carries.  He always fell forward.  Number 29 has a great sense and instinct for always getting positive yards regardless of how well the offensive line blocks.  This is something that Chip Kelly values.

Rather than just look at what a running back’s average per carry is, Kelly would want to know how many times he lost yardage.  Each time a running backs loses yardage, he put the offense in a bind because now they’re probably in a must passing situation.  This team with a gimpy-legged quarterback and a new interior of the offensive line needs to stay out of must passing situations.

Again, Murray isn’t going to make the great, athletic run, it’s the consistency of getting positive yardage, again and again and again.  That’s what wears down a defense physically and psychologically.  Chip Kelly wasn’t going after Frank Gore to take off on long sprint for touchdowns.  Gore is the same type of runner that Murray is, in that they are grinders.  Like Kelly, they’re into wearing down the opponent.  Chip will attempt to pound the defense with an uptempo, unrelenting attack on the ground and through the air.

It’s going to be very interesting to see which running game is more successful this season, the Eagles with their evolving offensive line and three Pro Bowl running backs, or the Cowboys with their powerful and physically-dominant offensive line with a question-mark filled group of ball carriers.

GCOBB

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paulman
paulman
June 11, 2015 11:47 am

A Good OL makes any RB Better ..
An Elite RB makes the OL Better…

D Murray and R Matthews are not “Elite RB”s on their own and will need
help from a Productive & Physical OL

Cowboys have an Elite OL, the Eagles do not…

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 11, 2015 11:50 am

Can somebody tell me why Randle only got 50some carries last year? If he could have taken that meat away from murray i’m sure garrett would have reduced murrays load a bit!

paulman
paulman
June 11, 2015 2:13 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

Because Randle was Murray’s back-up
Darren SProled got 57 Carriers last year behind LeSean McCoy…

Back-up RB’s get less Chances..

For 2015 I have the Eagles RB’s with a total of 450-500 Carriers between them

Murray – Approx 250-275 Carries
Matthews – Approx 150-175 Carries
Sproles – Approx 50 Carries

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 11, 2015 2:30 pm
Reply to  paulman

Fraud man, sproles is situational. Randle claims he can take the meat Murray left…. If he could he would have gotten 150 touches

paulman
paulman
June 11, 2015 2:44 pm
Reply to  haveacigar

Who cares what Cowboys back-up is spouting, bottom line- HC Jason Garrett’s ass was on the line for 2014 Season and DeMarco Murray was in a Contract Year.. They were made for each other for Garrett was going to ride that pony as far as it would take him which was to the Divisional Round of the Playoffs which was Garrett’s 1st Playoff Win and cemented a nice long-term deal for him as well.. As long os Murray was healthy behind that big OL of the Cowboys, why would he want to cut back and conserve Murray’s Carries… It was about Winning the Games and Making the Playoffs for Jason Garrett on why he used Murray so much..
..

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 11, 2015 3:01 pm
Reply to  paulman

fraudman thats the title of the article to which we are commenting… thats why its a story… you said ‘he’s the back up’ to which i replied (to the story) that if he was that good then garrett would have played him…

vinnietheevictor
vinnietheevictor
June 11, 2015 12:05 pm

449 carries

48 receptions

497 total touches

greenfan
greenfan
June 11, 2015 12:33 pm

Stupid article. The guy runs the ball 449 times and this writer points to 3 plays to highlight where he could have gained more with a different run.

Every back can be critiqued this way. He obviously made some good plays because he led the league in rushing. Just stupid and lazy reporting.

I would love to see a similar scrutiny placed on Shady’s rushes last year. There will always be plays that you would make a different move given the chance to review, but these are players making split second decisions. The successful backs are successful because they make more right decisions than wrong decisions. Randle was a backup for a reason, and the Cowgirls will learn this at some point early in the season…unless he gets arrested before the season and never makes it to the field.

greenfan
greenfan
June 11, 2015 12:36 pm
Reply to  greenfan

I was referring to the MMQB article, not GCobb’s piece.

Jon Hart
Jon Hart
June 11, 2015 3:53 pm

Evan Mathis released!!!

mhenski
mhenski
June 11, 2015 4:05 pm
Reply to  Jon Hart

yea thats really really really great news. lots to be excited about there. cut another pro bowl player

woooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooo

CHIP HATES WHITE PEOPLE

greenfan
greenfan
June 11, 2015 4:10 pm
Reply to  Jon Hart

You are right JH.

From the comments of Peters and Ertz this week, this is unfortunately not a surprise.

Kelly is a “you are either with us or against us” type of guy. If it works that will be great, and if not it will blow up and he will be gone.

Mathis has a lot of blame here, no doubt. To come back a year later and try and take a deal that he had already rejected, that is fantasyland shit. The money that he gets offered will show us how good or bad this move is. The bottom line is that we need this offensive line to be productive, and with them never addressing the OL during the draft is a major mistake if Chip had an idea that the Mathis situation would go this way.

mhenski
mhenski
June 11, 2015 4:05 pm

is chip taking side money from the cowboys, giants and redskins?

Biglion821
Biglion821
June 11, 2015 4:35 pm

He didn’t fit the culture, should’ve gotten a late rounder but again being a smartass is more important.

Gotta Luv It
Gotta Luv It
June 11, 2015 4:48 pm
Reply to  Biglion821

Dudes been shopping himself for 2 years now no one bit…

haveacigar
haveacigar
June 11, 2015 5:49 pm
Reply to  Biglion821

No one offered them a late rounder. Takes two to tango .