The Dallas Cowboys improved to 4-1 on Sunday with a win over the Houston Texans, are tied with the Philadelphia Eagles sitting atop the NFC East and have far exceeded any expectations they had going into this season. The Dallas Cowboys are being led by a dominant offensive line and DeMarco Murray, the NFL's best running back so far this season.
Dallas Cowboy RB DeMarco Murray's Stats
DeMarco Murray is by far the leading rusher in the NFL with 670 yards rushing on 130 carries, averaging 5.2 yards per carry, while scoring 5 touchdowns. The second leading rusher behind Murray is Le'Veon Bell with 460 yards rushing. DeMarco Murray is also leading the NFL in rushing attempts and rushing touchdowns.
DeMarco Murray joined a very exclusive club today as he rushed for his 5th straight 100 yard game. It is a feat that has only been achieved by two other players in NFL history. Hall of Famers Jim Brown and O. J. Simpson are the only two other players to achieve this very tough feat.
Brown did it with the Browns for the first six games of the 1958 season, and Simpson did it with the Bills for the first five games of 1973 and 1975.
If DeMarco Murray can stay healthy and productive for two more games, he could become the first player in 95 NFL seasons to rush for 100 or more yards in the first seven games of the season.
DeMarco Murray's Fumbles
With all the great accomplishments Murray has achieved so far this season the one bad problem he has is his fumbling. He leads the running backs in fumbles lost. So far the Cowboys have been able to overcome his turnovers except against the San Francisco 49ers and it took overtime and an unbelievable catch by Dez Bryant to beat the Texans.
So far this season the Dallas Cowboys are 3-0 when they win the turnover battle, but showed they could win a game when they lose the turnover battle by beating the Houston Texans.
The Dallas Cowboy coaches have been working with DeMarco Murray on how he carries the ball and head coach Jason Garrett says that with each fumble something else has gone wrong. The major thing they see is that DeMarco Murray is not keeping the ball high and tight. He carries the ball too low and allows defenders to tomahawk the ball out. They would not be able to do that if he had the ball high and tight.
Dallas Cowboys Upcoming Schedule
The most important stat in the NFL when it comes to winning and losing is turnover ratio. The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl last season and led the NFL with a +20 turnover margin. The San Francisco 49ers were second in the NFC behind the Seahawks with a turnover ration of +12.
The Dallas Cowboys are not good enough to be able to overcome turnovers and any team can beat them if they turn the ball over more than their opponent, but they are lucky in that not many of the teams left of their schedule have done a better job so far in taking care of the ball.
The Arizona Cardinals have been a surprise team so far and much of the reason for their success has been because of their +4 turnover margin. The Cowboys must protect the ball against them and make sure they do not turn the ball over to them because they will get beat.
The Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears have a +1 turnover margin and will beat Dallas if the Cowboys turn the ball over.
The Seattle Seahawks and the New York Giants have a 0 turnover margin which means they have turned the ball over the same amount of times they have forced turnovers.
Nice job of you bringing this up, Ryan. I don’t see anyone in the national media or the fantasy media discussing it amidst the Cowboys & Murray’s good starts. If this were the Giants, it’d be all they were discussing & he’d be losing touches to someone but because the Cowboys haven’t won in forever and Romo’s playing well off of him, it’s the giant elephant in the room no one pays attention to, I guess.
Clint,
I felt like the Cowboys should have benched Murray for a series or two. I have had questions about Joseph Randle, but he showed in the preseason he could play well. He had a few good runs on Sunday as well.
Murray has got to stop fumbling the ball, because when the Cowboys play a better all around team such as the 49ers and they turn the ball over they will get beaten badly.
Murray’s fumbling also shows the problems Dallas has had with its drafting of players. Instead of drafting bigger running backs like Murray they have drafted smaller backs like Randle and even smaller Lance Dunbar. Neither of them can do all that Murray can do.
Teams such as the Seattle Seahawks, 49ers, and the New York Giants understand this. Your backup running back needs to be able to run the same plays as your starter.