DeMarco Murray led the NFL and set a Cowboys’ single-season rushing record in 2014 with 1,845 yards. Now that he’s flown to Philadelphia in free agency, how does Jerry Jones summarize his team’s running game in 2015?
“We're better,” the owner told reporters at Wednesday’s sponsors golf tournament in Grapevine.
Even for a man steeped in hyperbole, that’s setting the bar pretty high. The Cowboys will go into the season with a committee led by Darren McFadden, Joseph Randle, Lance Dunbar and Ryan Williams.
Not that Jones doesn’t recognize the team missing Murray, but he obviously thinks the overall running game will improve between a young, improving, dominating offensive line that added a free agent with first-round talent in La’el Collins.
“Murray certainly is in that thought,” Jones alluded. “But what we've got a chance to do with our depth, what we've got a chance to do with the talent, the competition that we have, and I'm assuming we can protect Tony Romo, which standing here last year, the concerns about his surgeries were more so than today. So if Romo can have the kind of year he had last year, then our running game will benefit from that. I'm talking about his individual abilities, his decision making throwing the ball.”
Sure the Cowboys’ running game can be effective again this year. But I’ll be shocked – and so will Jones, if he’s being honest – if it produces the same kind of numbers.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
