Was Joseph Randle Right About DeMarco Murray?

Eagles 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.