DeMarco Murray is yet another example of why it doesn’t make sense, in most cases, to pay a ton of money to a free-agent running back. Murray’s obvious misuse is the elephant in the room that everybody in America except Chip Kelly can see, and it should, but probably won’t, result in Kelly losing his job. Each time, they both said the Eagles are confident in each of their running backs.
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DeMarco Murray played in just 23% of snaps, carried the ball 7 less times than Sproles and 1 less than fourth string back Kenjon Barner.
“As the game expressed itself we just tried to go with the hot hand and we used all three”, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly said about the running back rotation after the game. If true, that likely won’t sit well with the coaching staff and players. And Murray, who had been averaging about 16 carries a game, had just eight for 24 yards. Murray had the most carries in each of the previous 10 games that he played in.
The Eagles back hasn’t been almost as effective in Philadelphia as he was in Dallas, where he led the league in rushing in 2014. That was not the game the running backs was expecting to have and he is not happy. You’re trusting a 4th string running back in a game against the defending champions? “He’s a very smart player and just one of those guys that has earned playing time over the course of the season”. Every week is you get an opportunity to show us what you can do. “There should be some joy in that, at least for a few hours, until we get back to Philly on our flight from Providence”. “So, inside-out, it’s not that big a deal to us who is in there right now”.
Murray played a complementary role in the offense Sunday, when the Eagles featured Darren Sproles.
The team isn’t required to release an injury report for Tuesday’s practice, but it is unlikely any of the three will miss this Sunday’s game. Eagles’ offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur denies that Murray has said anything about his role in the offense. Well, on Sunday, he was hardly in the game.
Shurmur was then asked if it’s possible, then, that Murray could still get the bulk of the carries. We’re going to put the guys on the field, based on how they train, and how we match up against Buffalo, that are going to give us the best chance to win the football game …
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In other injury news, offensive lineman Lane Johnson, cornerback Eric Rowe and defensive tackle Bennie Logan all sat out practice.
