Archer: The Film Don't Lie - Cowboys

The Film Don't Lie: Cowboys
October, 21, 2014

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

A weekly look at what the Dallas Cowboys must fix:

DeMarco Murray leads the NFL in rushing with 913 yards on 187 carries. No other running back in NFL history has opened the season with seven straight 100-yard games. He should be in any MVP talk as the Cowboys head into Monday night's matchup against the Washington Redskins.

He is doing it when defenses know the Cowboys want to run the ball.

Despite defenses loading the box to stop the run, the Cowboys have run the ball surprisingly well. It has led to more “dirty” yards, as Jason Garrett has called runs of 0, 1, 2 or 3 yards. After averaging at least 5.4 yards per carry in three of the first four games, Murray has put up at least 4 yards per carry in the past three games. The ability to get chunks of yards has changed from otherworldly -- Murray had 17 runs of at least 10 yards or more in the first four games -- to a still respectable 10 in the past three games.

There will come a time when the Cowboys will have to rely more on their adjustments to the eight-man fronts they are seeing through scheme or passing the ball early in games to free Murray up as the game goes on. The Cowboys countered some of that against the New York Giants with more three-tight-end sets knowing the versatility of tight ends Jason Witten, James Hanna and Gavin Escobar allows them to run and throw the ball.

The Cowboys don’t really need to “fix” much about what they’re doing offensively, but they need to stay ahead of the game for the times when the running game does not succeed.

Iamtdg said:

The Film Don't Lie: Cowboys
October, 21, 2014

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

A weekly look at what the Dallas Cowboys must fix:

DeMarco Murray leads the NFL in rushing with 913 yards on 187 carries. No other running back in NFL history has opened the season with seven straight 100-yard games. He should be in any MVP talk as the Cowboys head into Monday night's matchup against the Washington Redskins.

He is doing it when defenses know the Cowboys want to run the ball.

Despite defenses loading the box to stop the run, the Cowboys have run the ball surprisingly well. It has led to more “dirty” yards, as Jason Garrett has called runs of 0, 1, 2 or 3 yards. After averaging at least 5.4 yards per carry in three of the first four games, Murray has put up at least 4 yards per carry in the past three games. The ability to get chunks of yards has changed from otherworldly -- Murray had 17 runs of at least 10 yards or more in the first four games -- to a still respectable 10 in the past three games.

There will come a time when the Cowboys will have to rely more on their adjustments to the eight-man fronts they are seeing through scheme or passing the ball early in games to free Murray up as the game goes on. The Cowboys countered some of that against the New York Giants with more three-tight-end sets knowing the versatility of tight ends Jason Witten, James Hanna and Gavin Escobar allows them to run and throw the ball.

The Cowboys don’t really need to “fix” much about what they’re doing offensively, but they need to stay ahead of the game for the times when the running game does not succeed.

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This is absolutely true. We will have to throw the ball heavy at times. Obviously that happened in the second half on Sunday. It seems that we have that part covered.

They threw the ball because it seemed apparent they didn't trust anyone but Murray in the ground game. This was their way of giving him some relief after the near injury to his ankle. I don't mind this approach when needed but sooner or later the backup running back is going to have to be tested. To me the sooner the better in order to have time to make any needed personnel adjustments.

L.T. Fan said:

They threw the ball because it seemed apparent they didn't trust anyone but Murray in the ground game. This was their way of giving him some relief after the near injury to his ankle. I don't mind this approach when needed but sooner or later the backup running back is going to have to be tested. To me the sooner the better in order to have time to make any needed personnel adjustments.

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The passing game was unstoppable for the Giants. Nothing wrong with using it when the other team can't stop it. Especially when they were basically getting zero pressure on Romo because of the respect they had for our running game.

skidadl said:

This is absolutely true. We will have to throw the ball heavy at times. Obviously that happened in the second half on Sunday. It seems that we have that part covered.

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Wut? We threw the ball 9 times in the second half.

NoDak said:

Wut? We threw the ball 9 times in the second half.

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I guess you are right but we gained a crapton of yards passing though.

skidadl said:

I guess you are right but we gained a crapton of yards passing though.

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ELITE!

Dallas is throwing to set up the run and vice versa. This is a truly balanced offense, though not balanced in RB depth and carries.

ravidubey said:

Dallas is throwing to set up the run and vice versa. This is a truly balanced offense, though not balanced in RB depth and carries.

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Feh.

I am not going to bitch about "RB depth and carries" when the guy who gets most of them is kicking ass.

I love what Murray is doing, but if he had better vision, wow. This OL is fricking dominant.

boozeman said:

Feh.

I am not going to bitch about "RB depth and carries" when the guy who gets most of them is kicking ass.

I love what Murray is doing, but if he had better vision, wow. This OL is fricking dominant.

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Murray is great but I don't think I can get behind him for MVP talk. He's good, but he's not MVP-good. I don't want to say the OL is "entirely" responsible for the success we're having, but it's too large a part of it to give Murray the MVP. Too many other backs would be doing the same. He's not truly having an Adrian Peterson 2000 yard season with no QB to speak of. He does lack a second gear to really bust big runs and be a homerun threat. He doesn't have many long runs, he gets a lot of 20 yarders, seems like not enough 40 yarders.

NoDak said:

Wut? We threw the ball 9 times in the second half.

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That's it? lulz.

I always bitch when we only run it 9 times in a half, but nobody was bitching about too few passing plays.

mschmidt64 said:

Murray is great but I don't think I can get behind him for MVP talk. He's good, but he's not MVP-good. I don't want to say the OL is "entirely" responsible for the success we're having, but it's too large a part of it to give Murray the MVP. Too many other backs would be doing the same. He's not truly having an Adrian Peterson 2000 yard season with no QB to speak of. He does lack a second gear to really bust big runs and be a homerun threat. He doesn't have many long runs, he gets a lot of 20 yarders, seems like not enough 40 yarders.

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If he reaches 1,800 yards, Murray deserves the MVP.

mschmidt64 said:

Murray is great but I don't think I can get behind him for MVP talk. He's good, but he's not MVP-good. I don't want to say the OL is "entirely" responsible for the success we're having, but it's too large a part of it to give Murray the MVP. Too many other backs would be doing the same. He's not truly having an Adrian Peterson 2000 yard season with no QB to speak of. He does lack a second gear to really bust big runs and be a homerun threat. He doesn't have many long runs, he gets a lot of 20 yarders, seems like not enough 40 yarders.

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You mean like Emmitt?

Iamtdg said:

You mean like Emmitt?

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Early in his career, Emmitt had more burst than Murrary does. Emmitt had a good number of 60 yard TD runs.

I feel like other than that 91 yarder Murray had, he doesn't really rip off long TD runs.

mschmidt64 said:

Early in his career, Emmitt had more burst than Murrary does. Emmitt had a good number of 60 yard TD runs.

I feel like other than that 91 yarder Murray had, he doesn't really rip off long TD runs.

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As far as breakaway speed, Emmitt and Murray are very similar.

Iamtdg said:

As far as breakaway speed, Emmitt and Murray are very similar.

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In terms of vision, they are not, especially on the second level.

mschmidt64 said:

Murray is great but I don't think I can get behind him for MVP talk. He's good, but he's not MVP-good. I don't want to say the OL is "entirely" responsible for the success we're having, but it's too large a part of it to give Murray the MVP. Too many other backs would be doing the same. He's not truly having an Adrian Peterson 2000 yard season with no QB to speak of. He does lack a second gear to really bust big runs and be a homerun threat. He doesn't have many long runs, he gets a lot of 20 yarders, seems like not enough 40 yarders.

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Yeah. Jim Brown wouldn't vote for him either.

boozeman said:

In terms of vision, they are not, especially on the second level.

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Oh, it's not even close when it come to vision.

Iamtdg said:

As far as breakaway speed, Emmitt and Murray are very similar.

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This is not remotely true, Murray has much more breakaway speed than Emmitt.

Outside of Peterson what back breaks off long TD runs, he was leaving everybody on that long run in the rams game until he tripped over Frederick.

The reason Murray is not breaking the long TD runs is because he is not making people miss at the second level and his balance is not that great after contact.

Jiggyfly said:

This is not remotely true, Murray has much more breakaway speed than Emmitt.

Outside of Peterson what back breaks off long TD runs, he was leaving everybody on that long run in the rams game until he tripped over Frederick.

The reason Murray is not breaking the long TD runs is because he is not making people miss at the second level and his balance is not that great after contact.

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I would have said that but they wouldn't believe me.