Riding the legs of DeMarco Murray, the Dallas Cowboys are off to their best start since 2007 - apparently the perfect time to take the foot off the gas pedal.
Blacksportsonline.com, citing an interview from SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio on Thursday, reported that Cowboys Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones said the team intends to cut down the number of touches Murray has over the course of the remainder of the regular season.
Russell Wilson not "black enough" for the Seattle Seahawks?
The fourth-year Dallas running back has yet to make it through a full season in his three previous years because of various injuries, leading to a cautionary approach on the part of the Cowboys' management.
"Well there's no doubt we look at it and there's no doubt we'd like to get that cut back," Jones told Adam Schein of SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio on Thursday. "We've got to get our hands around having the ball 30 minutes versus having the ball 33, 34, 35, in some cases 36 minutes, even though you are giving Joe Randle and [Lance] Dunbar some carries when you keep the ball that long. We need to even do it a little more.
"But we're certainly aware of it. We certainly know that when you touch the ball that many times you are exposing DeMarco to a difficult hit or something like that. So we're aware of it. We want to do better in terms of reducing his touches. Not by a ton but you'd like to see him get it less than 30 times a game. Between his receiving and running I think he's in the 35-36 range. So we would like to get that down."
Ray Rice reinstatement? Would Ray Rice be a good fit for the Dallas Cowboys?
Back when the Cowboys were winning Super Bowls in the 1990s, the issue of giving running back Emmitt Smith too many carries never seemed to surface.
The team's management obviously is worried about having a healthy Murray for the first playoff appearance in six years, but there's an old adage in football that stipulates that once an athlete starts to play trying to avoid injury, then injuries will occur.
Once the Cowboys secure a playoff spot, then they might start talking about limiting Murray's touches - and even then, they run the risk of taking him out of his rhythm.
But talking about limiting the number of times Murray has his hands on the ball after seven games not only is foolish but also plants a seed of doubt in Murray's mind that he can go a full season without getting hurt.
Do you think the Dallas Cowboys management should be talking publicly about limiting DeMarco Murray's touches before the halfway point of the NFL season? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
