Dallas Cowboys struggle in running game as DeMarco Murray sits out – NFL News
Although Dallas Cowboys were able to defeat Carolina Panthers to end their two-game losing streak on Sunday, their struggle in the running game was evident.
The reason for their woes is absence of running back DeMarco Murray, who had to sit out owing to an injury.
Murray did not play against Panthers and in his absence Cowboys’ running game was dependent on Felix Jones and Phillip Tanner.
Cowboys got a total of only 85 rushing yards against Panthers. Jones gained 44 yards on 15 carries, Tanner got 30 yards on 13 carries, while quarterback Tony Romo gained 11 yards on three attempts.
A game earlier, when Murray was part of the squad, Cowboys got a total of 227 rushing yards.
This goes to show that the running game was badly affected by Murray’s absence. However, Cowboys are satisfied with the outcome of the game and some of them even think that the running backs performed well on crucial plays.
They are certainly right because Cowboys relied on running game more in the fourth quarter than any other quarter. The running backs were not able to cover long distances, but they did well enough to provide kicker Dan Bailey a couple of opportunities to
score field goal.
According to the details present on the team’s website, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said of the final drive that set up the game-winning field goal:
“I wanted to preserve that opportunity there to kick that field goal. I thought Phillip Tanner did a real nice job at the end of the ball game, that play and other plays, just taking care of the football and sealing the win for us.”
Meanwhile, Tanner has also said that even though the game statistics show that running game was not very exploding, the players did well to keep the momentum going. Tanner said:
“It’s a mindset. You can’t just look at the stats and say, ‘OK, we didn’t have any big runs.’ Like coach (Jason Garrett) tells us, it’s the nondescript plays, that are probably not going to show up on ESPN, but they’re key plays in the game.”
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