Troy Aikman says Cowboys need to stick to running
By Mike Dyce
One of the biggest knocks against the Dallas Cowboys in 2013 was their tendency to abandon the run and become one-dimensional. In their season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, the Cowboys would abandon the run in the red zone.
Against the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday the Cowboys addressed that and focused on running the ball, doing so 43 times. They gained 220 yards on the ground, with lead back DeMarco Murray accounting for 167 of that on 29 carries. An impressive 5.8 yards per carry average.
After the game, former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and current NFL analyst credited their commitment to the run game as the reason they won.
“They did it with the power running game,” Aikman said, as transcribed by the Dallas Morning News.
The Cowboys were able to secure the win by running off more than six minutes to end the game, running the ball every play of an 11-play game-ending drive. Aikman thinks their run game could he the key to their success, if and only if they can stick to it.
“This team is going to be capable of running the football,” he said. “It’s just a matter of being able to stick with it. It’s just up to the coaches to do it.”