The Cowboys ran the ball more than 30 times a game last season, and DeMarco Murray got most of the work, with an NFL-high 392 carries for 1,845 yards. With Murray now in Philadelphia, will the Cowboys’ commitment to the run change?
Not according to offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who says one player -- even a player as good as Murray -- wasn’t the reason the Cowboys ran the ball so often last year.
“Yeah, that’s not going to change,” Linehan said on KRLD, via the Dallas Morning News. “And that was by design – we talked about it extensively, Jason [Garrett] and I did . . . wanted to get back to a little bit of the ‘old’ Cowboys. . . . DeMarco had a lot to do with that. Obviously, we have a tremendous offensive line, tight end group, and the support group around him, but it will be a really fun challenge for us to duplicate that.”
If Linehan is really as committed to the run as he was a year ago, then Joseph Randle and Darren McFadden are going to get a lot of carries this year. Behind the Cowboys’ offensive line, they may be as effective as Murray.