The Dallas Cowboys have had a strong first eight weeks in the NFL thanks to DeMarco Murray this season. With Brandon Weeden under center however, he was a different running back on Sunday.
DeMarco Murray has put the NFL on notice thus far in 2014 and has been running with reckless abandon. Through the first nine weeks of the season, it has seemed there is no one capable of stopping the Dallas Cowboys running back. But then, then the Arizona Cardinals came to town.
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Despite totaling over 100 yards in each of the eight previous games this season, the Cardinals held Murray to only 79 yards. While Murray was obviously disappointed with the effort, he also made sure to note that the outcome may have been different if Brandon Weeden wasn’t under center.
Noting that the Cardinals constantly had nine men in the box, DeMarco Murray offered an explanation for his lackluster day in the Cowboys loss.
Speaking to the Star-Telegram, Murray said “We did good against nine guys in the box. It was a hard day.”
With Brandon Weeden under center, the Cardinals had no reason not to load up the box and sell out against the run. Through his career and time with the Browns, the NFL saw that the quarterback was not capable of beating NFL defenses, and thus allowed the Cardinals to key on the one capable Cowboys dimension.
Considering Murray’s comments, it makes the idea of hitting the 2,000 yard mark, and what Adrian Peterson recently accomplished, so much more impressive. Rushing for that many yards in a single season is tough in and of itself, doing so with a bad quarterback is even more impressive.
DeMarco Murray experienced on Sunday what Adrian Peterson put up with having Christian Ponder under center during his 2,000 yard season. For Murray and the Cowboys, the hope has to be that Tony Romo will be back under center sooner rather than later.
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