bkeavs

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Murray's Proven He Can Carry The Load

Posted by jellis at 6/18/2012 5:20 PM CDT on dallascowboys.com


Speaking to the local media a couple weeks back, DeMarco Murray bristled a bit when asked, again, about the broken ankle that cut short his 2011 season. It's clear the running back has about had it with questions about his durability.

He's heard it enough over the last five years. Late in his redshirt freshman season of 2007, he suffered a dislocated kneecap that kept him out of spring drills. Then in 2008, he injured his hamstring on the opening kickoff of the Big 12 Championship, missing the remainder of that game and the BCS Championship in January, 2009.

A knee injury in 2010 created some doubt that he would miss the Big 12 Championship.

Despite those injuries, Murray is steadfast that durability is not a problem for him. He played four seasons in college and missed only four games.

As a senior, he had 282 rushes and 71 receptions, giving him 353 total touches on offense. Few players entering the NFL in recent years can boast such durability in a single season.

Last year, Murray was injured for half of the preseason, slowing his ascent to the role of lead back. But when he took over the job, he showed how strong he was again, averaging more than 22 touches over the next seven games, including two squeezed into a matter of five days on the week of Thanksgiving.

The injury against New York, early in Week 14, was a freak one.

Back to that question from Monday morning as to whether anyone can catch up to Emmitt Smith's record? Don't necessarily count out Murray just yet, other than the obvious long odds that stand against any back. At least over the course of consecutive games and for a whole season, Murray has shown durability similar to Smith.

Murray's 897 yards last year (on 164 carries), were the most by a Cowboys rookie since Smith's 937 (on 241 carries) in 1990.

Yet Murray is already 24. Smith played his second NFL season at age 22. And while there might be a couple nifty pieces on this Cowboys offensive line, it's hard to envision any team putting together a crew quite like the front five Smith was able to run behind.

There was also Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin to keep defenses from loading up the box. And the Cowboys' own defense in those days was so good it helped the offense, and Smith, control the time of possession.

Smith had a great fullback or two, most notably Daryl Johnston. Interestingly enough, Jerry Jones was asked last week whether he was comfortable with Murray continuing with the formidable workload he had last year. Jones thought the protection Murray will get from new fullback Lawrence Vickers would be a reason to continue feeding Murray rather than taking it easy on him.

"Especially with where we are now with Vickers and possibly our young fullbacks, yes," Jones said. "I like what our running backs have a chance to benefit from, with what we're doing at fullback. This could be the best we've been at fullback since Daryl."

It's impossible to say whether Murray will have the staying power to rush for even half as many yards as Smith's 18,355. And Smith's career carries record of 4,409 carries - nearly 600 more than second place - is probably secure for a long time to come.

But maybe this year Murray could challenge Smith's team record for most carries in a season, 377, set in 1995.

If he can just avoid freak injuries, as Smith was lucky enough to do, Murray has proven he has the durability to carry the load.
 
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So by getting injured his rookie year after carrying the load, he's proven he can do it?

:errr
 
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He proved he could handle the bulk of the carries in the game and week to week. They kid took a lot of hits and kept going. His injury was just one of those things, it happens. The Cowboys were a different team once he got injured. He takes pressure off Romo.
 

LAZARUS_LOGAN

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I thought the same thing. Not to mention that he was injured in college also


Hmmm, let's see.... Murray gets tackled to the ground, and then a defender falls directly on his ankle, and he breaks it. Proof that he cannot carry the load. Right?
 

bkeavs

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He specifically fell later in the draft because there were injury concerns.

I am not saying he cannot handle the load, but to say he can is just as ignorant considering he didn't carry the load and got injured in college and in his first year of the NFL
 

LAZARUS_LOGAN

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He specifically fell later in the draft because there were injury concerns.

I don't care about that. Why did Romo or Brady fall the way they did in the draft? Right now it's irrelevant.


bkeavs said:
I am not saying he cannot handle the load, but to say he can is just as ignorant considering he didn't carry the load and got injured in college and in his first year of the NFL


Maybe you should look at the type of injuries. How many players that sustained a type of injury that Murray did, would still be able to keep going? He didn't sustain that injury from repetitive hitting, which would cause an RB to wear down.
 
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I don't care about that. Why did Romo or Brady fall the way they did in the draft? Right now it's irrelevant.

Um. No it isn't.

If there are concerns about whether a player can carry the load because of injury history in college, and he suffers and injury his first year in the pro's.... then that's hardly irrelevant when discussing specifically whether or not the player can carry the load.

Or, in the instance of this article, declaring that he has in fact proven it.



Your Brady/Romo comparison is also retarded.

Players fall through the cracks. Happens every year. Brady because he was rarely a full time starter and there were concerns about his arm strength. Romo because of the level of competition and because he wears his hat backwards.

Murray fell because of injuries. His rookie year, he got...... wait for it..... injured.

Yeah, it was a broken ankle that many/most would've sustained had they fallen like that. But that still doesn't mean he's proven he can carry the full load.
 
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Um. No it isn't.

If there are concerns about whether a player can carry the load because of injury history in college, and he suffers and injury his first year in the pro's.... then that's hardly irrelevant when discussing specifically whether or not the player can carry the load.

Or, in the instance of this article, declaring that he has in fact proven it.

Yet, only missed 4 games in collage. Proved he could play through injuries and still carry a large percentage of the touches.

As the article says, i do think he proved he could ”carry the load”. Article mentions he was second to Emmitt Smith as a rookie in yards. Carried the ball an average of 22 times in 7 games. That is pretty fuckin good.
 

bkeavs

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I dont think anyone is doubting the guys talent. He was tremendous for us and the team was much better when he played. That being said he did get hurt and that is the only concern evaluators had with the guy.

I don't see how this is a dicsussion
 
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Back to that question from Monday morning as to whether anyone can catch up to Emmitt Smith's record? Don't necessarily count out Murray just yet,

What mindless babble.

I'd settle for the next Duane Thomas if it meant a Super Bowl win.
 

LAZARUS_LOGAN

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Um. No it isn't.

If there are concerns about whether a player can carry the load because of injury history in college, and he suffers and injury his first year in the pro's.... then that's hardly irrelevant when discussing specifically whether or not the player can carry the load.

Or, in the instance of this article, declaring that he has in fact proven it.



Your Brady/Romo comparison is also retarded.

Players fall through the cracks. Happens every year. Brady because he was rarely a full time starter and there were concerns about his arm strength. Romo because of the level of competition and because he wears his hat backwards.

Murray fell because of injuries. His rookie year, he got...... wait for it..... injured.

Yeah, it was a broken ankle that many/most would've sustained had they fallen like that. But that still doesn't mean he's proven he can carry the full load.


You still bitching that we didn't draft Rackley. Let it go man.
 
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You still bitching that we didn't draft Rackley. Let it go man.

Not at all. In fact, I concede that I was wrong on that, considering Murray did have a very good season and truth be told, I haven't heard Rackley's name mentioned since draft day really. That might be because he played for Jacksonville though, which I consider to be the most inconsequencial NFL franchise in the league.

I just don't buy into the hype that Murray has proven he's durable. Those are concerns I had on draft day, and they remain. A stud 7 game stretch proves he can play in this league. It doesn't prove that he's a workhorse back who the team can rely on for 16 games straight.
 

superpunk

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A dude rolling up on your ankle doesn't have anything to do with durability or injury concerns. Your body has limits. When that happens it is going to break and there's nothing you can do about it. Not like Miles chronic groin, etc.
 

bkeavs

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[video=youtube;FS8UgUVrc2c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS8UgUVrc2c&feature=related[/video]
 

ThoughtExperiment

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Yeah, he was always banged up in college. If you're hurt all the time does it really matter what kept you out? Why would certain injuries mean you're injury prone and some not?

He is way bigger than he was in college, though. Way bigger. Maybe that'll help him at this level, maybe not.
 
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