How McFadden Convinced Cowboys to Scrap Committee Approach

How good has Darren McFadden been in the past three weeks?

Good enough to change the Cowboys’ minds about how they approach the running back position.

Speaking this week after McFadden’s second 100-yard performance in three weeks, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett explained how when McFadden came to Dallas, he was viewed as a part of a committee--a committee led by Joseph Randle. Fast forward nine weeks into the season, Randle’s not on the team, McFadden is the starter, and the committee approach has been largely scrapped.

Per David Helman of DallasCowboys.com, McFadden has been getting more than three quarters of the carries over the past three weeks.

“Initially, we thought he was going to be more a part of a committee, but he has really taken this opportunity and we’re going to keep giving him more chances,” Garrett said. “It looks like he gets stronger and stronger as the game wears on and wants as many opportunities as we’ll give him.”

Garrett views McFadden as a symbol of who the Cowboys want to be as a team, which is very reminiscent of what he said about DeMarco Murray last year.

“I think he’s symbolic of our team in a lot of ways. He’s competing his ass off and fighting and scratching and clawing,” Garrett said of McFadden. “A number of those runs, at the end of runs, he’s about six inches off the ground, not letting his knee go down--fighting for those extra yards, always finishing forward.”