DeMarco Murray Credits Jason Witten For Staying Healthy
By Scott Allen
Many had expected Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray to start breaking down but so far he’s managed to stay healthy
Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray is having a great season so far. He has rushed for at least 100 yards in each of his team’s first seven games. By now though Cowboys and NFL fans had expected him to start getting banged up. Not this year.
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Per ProFootballTalk.com, Murray credits teammate, tight end Jason Witten, for helping him with his durability. They did off-season workouts together and Witten pushed him like he hadn’t been before.
Whatever he did, its been helping. People were concerned with the number of carries and having the Cowboys rely on a running back that has, well, been unreliable in the past. He’s already carried the ball 187 times this season for a whopping 913 yards, an average of 130.4 yards per game. He could reach the 1,000 yard mark this weekend in just week eight of the season. Amazing.
Murray carried the ball 217 times the entire season in 2013. That was in 14 games played. He averaged 15.5 carries a game. This season he is averaging 26.7 carries a game. At the current rate, he will carry the ball 427 times this season, almost double what he did last year. He’s also on pace for a 2,000+ yard season. We’ll see if that holds up.
Murray says he’s never been in better shape thanks to the off-season workouts and that’s showing up on the field on Sunday’s. The question is can it continue? The Cowboys change to a run more offense with Murray has been a big reason for their early success. It seems as Murray goes, so will the Cowboys.