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Is Cowboys' committee approach about to change?
Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys have gone with a running back by committee approach the entire season until Sunday.
An oblique strain suffered by Joseph Randle after two carries forced the Cowboys to go with Darren McFadden, who responded with 152 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries.
But what happens to that committee going forward?
“We will get back to work (Tuesday) and we will give [McFadden] his opportunities and keep the whole thing competitive for everybody,” coach Jason Garrett said. “But he has certainly earned some more touches.”
Health could play the final determination. The Cowboys aren’t sure how Randle will recover, although Garrett said he wasn’t sure if this strain was related to the strains that bothered Randle at training camp.
And the Cowboys don’t know how McFadden will react.
The 29 carries were the second most he has had in his career, and it was the first 20-carry game he has had since midway through the 2013 season. He hasn’t had back-to-back games with at least 20 carries since 2011. In fact he’s had 20 or more carries in consecutive games twice in his career.
Toe, knee, hamstring, foot and ankle injuries caused him to miss 29 games in his seven-year run with the Oakland Raiders.
“We will see how he comes out of the game,” Garrett said. “He looked good (Sunday) night. And he certainly played well throughout the game. So we will see how he responds.”
Randle was to get the bulk of the work before he got hurt. Christine Michael did receive more work (five carries) but not as much as many expected entering the game. McFadden had moved into Lance Dunbar's role.
McFadden was too good to remove.
“I think anybody who watched the game had to have been impressed by his performance,” Garrett said. “Again, he’s been a guy playing mostly on third down for us and mixing him in on first and second down. When Joe went down he got more opportunities and he took advantage of them. I think you saw him run inside, you saw him run off tackle and you saw him run outside. He made a lot of big plays in the game, he had a lot of dirty runs in the game. just really, really played a complete football game and I think you saw a lot of positive things from him, doing a lot of different things to help our football team.
“I think the guys up front responded well to him. That’s a well as we’ve run the football all year long and we have to continue to build on that.”
Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys have gone with a running back by committee approach the entire season until Sunday.
An oblique strain suffered by Joseph Randle after two carries forced the Cowboys to go with Darren McFadden, who responded with 152 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries.
But what happens to that committee going forward?
“We will get back to work (Tuesday) and we will give [McFadden] his opportunities and keep the whole thing competitive for everybody,” coach Jason Garrett said. “But he has certainly earned some more touches.”
Health could play the final determination. The Cowboys aren’t sure how Randle will recover, although Garrett said he wasn’t sure if this strain was related to the strains that bothered Randle at training camp.
And the Cowboys don’t know how McFadden will react.
The 29 carries were the second most he has had in his career, and it was the first 20-carry game he has had since midway through the 2013 season. He hasn’t had back-to-back games with at least 20 carries since 2011. In fact he’s had 20 or more carries in consecutive games twice in his career.
Toe, knee, hamstring, foot and ankle injuries caused him to miss 29 games in his seven-year run with the Oakland Raiders.
“We will see how he comes out of the game,” Garrett said. “He looked good (Sunday) night. And he certainly played well throughout the game. So we will see how he responds.”
Randle was to get the bulk of the work before he got hurt. Christine Michael did receive more work (five carries) but not as much as many expected entering the game. McFadden had moved into Lance Dunbar's role.
McFadden was too good to remove.
“I think anybody who watched the game had to have been impressed by his performance,” Garrett said. “Again, he’s been a guy playing mostly on third down for us and mixing him in on first and second down. When Joe went down he got more opportunities and he took advantage of them. I think you saw him run inside, you saw him run off tackle and you saw him run outside. He made a lot of big plays in the game, he had a lot of dirty runs in the game. just really, really played a complete football game and I think you saw a lot of positive things from him, doing a lot of different things to help our football team.
“I think the guys up front responded well to him. That’s a well as we’ve run the football all year long and we have to continue to build on that.”
