Murray More Than Mathews is Smart

The debate rages. Ryan Mathews or DeMarco Murray. I don’t know which one is more annoying, the Mathews/Murray saga or the Starbucks’ war on Christmas.

I love how people are convinced that Coach Chip Kelly is playing Murray more because GM Chip Kelly signed Murray to more money and he doesn’t want to make the GM look bad. At this point, does anyone really think Chip Kelly gives a rat’s *ss what anyone thinks of him? If you do, you haven’t been paying attention.

I get it. Mathews is averaging 6.1 yards/carry, which is good for second among qualified NFL running backs. Murray is averaging 3.7.Yards/Attempt is a nice stat, but it doesn’t tell the entire story. DeAngelo Williams is averaging more yards/per attempt than Le’Veon Bell in Pittsburgh, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone who would lobby for starting Williams over Bell.

Does anyone remember what the offensive line looked like for those first two games? They were abysmal and neither running back got anything accomplished. Murray had 21 attempts for 11 yards. Mathews had 4 attempts for 4 yards. Those 21 carries have considerably weighed down Murray’s yards/attempt number, far more than Mathews’ 4 carries.

We all know Murray had an injury of some sort at the beginning of the season. He missed several training camp practices and then ended up missing game 3 vs. the Jets with a hamstring issue.

Since his return in game 4, Murray is averaging 4.5 yards/attempt. That’s not too shabby at all. In fact, it places him tied with Adrian Peterson and better than Shady, Devonta Freeman, Frank Gore, Joseph Randle, Chris Ivory, Justin Forsett, and Marshawn Lynch.

Granted, Murray doesn’t have the flash of Mathews. Mathews does seem to hit the hole quicker and angrier, but that doesn’t mean that Murray is ineffective or the lesser back.

Historically, Murray has been more durable. That’s not to say that he hasn’t had injuries. Murray missed five games in 2012. However, Murray played in all 16 games last year while Mathews missed 8 games. Mathews has only made it to week 10 in the NFL without an injury once in the previous five years.

Chip has Mathews healthy in week 10 of an NFL season. Mathews is also having his best year ever regarding yards/attempt at 6.1. He looks strong and fast in week 10 and is the perfect compliment to Murray.

The offensive line is much improved from earlier in the year. Murray is proving himself to be effective and durable handling the bulk of the carries since coming back from the hamstring. At 4.5 yards/attempt, he gets a first down every three carries. Nothing wrong with that last time I checked.

Do you really want Mathews to handle the workload? He is coming off a season where he missed eight games and Murray missed zero.

The wise move is let to let Murray pound and have Mathews do what he’s doing, maybe a few more touches a game wouldn’t hurt. But, hurt is exactly what we don’t want with Mathews or Murray.

Coach Chip isn’t playing Murray more than Mathews to save GM Chip’s face. He’s doing it because it’s the wise and prudent thing to do. The Eagles are far better off having both of these guys on the field for the rest of the season. The formula, so far, is working.

The Eagles have other things to worry about, like wide receivers getting downfield. The running backs are just fine the way they are. Stop it.