DeMarco Murray wants the ball in his hands at all time. The Dallas Cowboys running back believes he can be the one to control the game if the coaching staff would let. During the loss to the Green Bay Packers, the ball was put into Tony Romo's hands and he tossed an interception that sealed another December loss. Murray was visibly upset and now he is speaking out over the lack of running late in the game.
Murray put up his second consecutive 100-yard game against the Packers with 134 yards and touchdown as he averaged 7.4 yards a carry. However, he only rushed seven times in the second half of the game. While expressing his disappointment, Murray is downplaying his anger after the loss.
"I think in that situation the offensive line and myself would definitely have liked the opportunity to close the game out for us and give us that opportunity," Murray said, via the Dallas Morning News. "I wasn't mad at anybody. I was just mad at the situation. We let them come back and gave them an opportunity to win the game, and they took advantage of that. But I wasn't mad at anyone or anything like that."
The Dallas Cowboys have said numerous times how they have tried to make the ground game a priority for the offense, but have only rarely acted upon it. Head coach Jason Garrett is admitting fault saying the Cowboys should have rushed more late in the game against the Packers. He believes Murray has earned the right to close out games and not putting the ball in the air might help.
"Yeah, I think that's kind of what you want to do," said Murray.. "As an offensive line and the way we've been running, we feel like we can close the game out. But, once again, that's up to [offensive coordinator Bill] Callahan, who calls the plays. He gives us great opportunities. We've just got to continue to get those opportunities and help this team out as much as we can."
Murray certainly has a case for being upset. He has dealt with criticism over his career for his durability, but his career-best season is being overshadowed by the Cowboys' failure to fully commit to a run game. He is on the verge of reaching 1,000 yards on the season and while he did not play all 16 games, he made the most of his time on the field. If the Cowboys are going to get to the postseason, stats support Murray's case to get the ball more.
