When DeMarco Murray left the Dallas Cowboys for the Philadelphia Eagles, there was obviously a lot of frustration from Cowboys Nation. You never want to lose one of your best players to free agency, yet alone to one of your biggest rivals. While things have cooled down a bit, at least until the two teams meet in Week 2, a few players have actually called out Murray for his 2014 performance. It seems crazy to call out a player after leading the league in rushing with 1,845 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns, right? Well, maybe not.
As FOX Sports reports it was Joseph Randle, who said that “there was a lot of meat left on the bone,” when speaking about Murray’s 2014 performance. Then came Emmitt Smith just a few days ago saying that Murray could have rushed for 2,500 yards. After that? Another great NFL running back LaDainian Tomlinson. Tomlinson was pretty in-depth with his argument, breaking it down a bit more than the first two guys did.
“As a guy that watches a lot of film, Emmitt is correct. There was a lot of times, and DeMarco is a very physical runner and instead of making that last guy miss and taking it for 50 or 60, he would try and run him over. That’s just his style and he would end up getting tackled for 20 instead of 50. So Emmitt is right in that sense, but at the same time, one thing that I do respect about DeMarco is he knows his strengths. He is not a juke guy, he’s a downhill, physical runner.”
Pretty amazing to think that three running backs all have this same belief across the board. The question is, are the arguments true?
Well, when it comes to the case of Randle and Smith, you have to assume that both were almost touting themselves a bit. Randle obviously is saying (in a way) that he’s ready to fill the void left by Murray’s departure. For Smith, it’s more of a reminiscing type of situation. But Tomlinson? Well, that’s where it gets interesting. He makes a strong argument for why Murray could have ended the season with more yards. His quote about Murray trying to run guys over instead of making the last guy miss hits the nail on the head.
With all due respect to all three of these backs though, Murray had a stellar year. Whether you’re a Cowboys fan, an Eagles fan or simply just a fan of the NFL in general, you have to give praise to him for an incredible year. Yes, even if you think his stellar year could have been even more stellar.
Follow Jeff on Twitter @JSM8ith.
