Chip Kelly has outsmarted us, again, this time with DeMarco Murray.
Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur revealed that the team's running back rotation is predicated on the player with the freshest legs, which served as an explanation for the lack of use about Murray, according to the Philly.com.
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"We have what we believe to be four really good running backs. So we want to use them all," Shurmur said. "If you put a really good player in the game and he's fresher as you go, then you get a little bit more out of him."
So obviously, the Eagles want a fresh Murray as they make their playoff push, right?
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Murray has twice as many carries (174) as the next leading Philadelphia rusher, Ryan Mathews (87). Next is Darren Sproles with 69 and Kenyon Barner with 23.
But what Shurmur didn't reveal was that Murray has been the least effective back in terms of yards per carry. Mathews leads the team with a 5.3-yard average. Barner has a 4.6-yard average, but more of his carries have come in mop-up duty. Sproles has a 4.0-yard average, followed by Murray at 3.5.
In the last two weeks, Murray had 14 snaps and eight carries for 24 yards against the Patriots and 25 snaps and 11 carries for 34 yards against the Bills. The Eagles won both, so the strategy apparently worked.
Murray led the NFL with 392 carries last season with the Cowboys, in which he set a franchise record with 1,845 yards.
So there are two schools of thought in arguing about his carries this season. The argument in favor of more carries is the traditional wearing down of defenses, as he did with the Cowboys last year, so by the fourth quarter, he is much tougher to take down.
The argument against is the fact Murray, despite only finishing his fifth year in the NFL at age 27, could be suffering from the wear and tear from last season as running backs traditionally suffer in production after years of taking the pounding. Before last season, Murray hadn't rushed more than 217 times in a season.
But he went over 1,000 yards (1,121) in that season, 2013, as well.
Shurmur does come closer to revealing the staff's possible disappointment in Murray during his interview.
"When you have a featured back, and that's the unintended consequence of saying you only have one guy, then that guy takes a lot of pounding and a lot of wear and tear," Shurmur said. "When I was in St. Louis, we had Steven Jackson. He was our featured back. But he was also by far our best running back. He was a dynamic, explosive player."
Murray has not proven that, Pro Football Talk reported. So the Eagles may just be going with the backs that give them the best chance to win.
In that regard, don't expect Murray's production to rise.
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