Nick Piccone
A few weeks ago, I thought it was silly how Howard Eskin said on national television that he thought Ryan Mathews was a better fit for this offense than DeMarco Murray.
It turns out the ol’ chief may have been right. There’s no denying how better Mathews has looked behind that offensive line than Murray. Here’s Brenden Peddigree (@brendenp2011) of PhillyBirdsTalk.com making a case for giving Ryan Mathews the ball just as much, if not more, as DeMarco Murray.
Head coach Chip Kelly and the Philadelphia Eagles turned some heads when they traded away running back LeSean McCoy after a pair of seasons that saw him total 3620 yards from scrimmage and 16 touchdowns.
Just two days after the trade the Eagles signed a pair of running backs to take the place of the franchise’s all-time leading rusher. The first, DeMarco Murray, was coming off of a record-breaking, rushing title season. The second, Ryan Mathews, had an injury-riddled 2014 season but had the size and speed combination that attracted the Eagles brass to him.
Along with Darren Sproles, the Eagles quickly found themselves in a better position in the backfield than the year before, despite trading away their star running back.
Kelly had a very clear idea of what direction he wanted to head in his first season as the shot caller for the Eagles.
When the regular season began, the hype that surrounded the backfield fell flat as Murray ran the ball eight times for just nine yards and Mathews ran three times for four yards. A week later, it got worse. Murray ran the ball 13 times for an embarrassing two yards while Mathews failed to gain a yard on his only carry of the day.
In week three, the Eagles were set to face the best defense in the league in the New York Jets. With the offensive line not opening any holes and the running backs failing to find any room at all, the situation at running back looked bleak. Murray got a break from the game with a hamstring injury and Mathews took the lead.
Mathews took advantage of the opportunity and even behind a battered offensive line had the best game of an Eagles running back to date. He ran the ball 24 times for 108 yards and a touchdown to give the Eagles their first 100-yard rusher since Thanksgiving Day against the Dallas Cowboys. Mathews’ rushing led the Eagles to their first win of the season.
After Mathews’ impressive performance and another subpar outing by Murray in his return to the field a week later, questions have been rising as to who really deserves the bulk of the carries for the Eagles.
By the performance of each back through five games, all signs point to Mathews.
Mathews ranks sixth in the league among players with at least 40 rushing attempts with five yards per carry. Among those same players, Murray is second to last with just 2.7 yards per carry.
In addition, Mathews has had six runs of ten or more yards while Murray has had just three. Mathews’ nine runs that have gone for no gain or negative yardage are still less than Murray’s 16. Nearly one-third of Murray’s carries have gone for zero or negative yards.
Mathews seems to be running a lot harder than Murray, as well. Murray, after a season with nearly 500 touches, goes down a lot easier than he did a year ago. Arm tackles seem to bring him down a lot easier than that of his co-runner, Mathews.
Mathews has had many runs in which he was hit by multiple defenders but refused to go down.
Somehow, behind the same offensive line and with very similar play calls, Mathews is just seeming to find room that Murray is not.
Both running backs were praised before the season by their new head coach as straight-line, downhill runners who hit the hole hard. Only one of these two backs has shown that ability so far.
Murray did have something of a comeback game against the New Orleans Saints in which he averaged 4.2 yards per carry, a full 2.6 yards better than his season average before the game. His 120 total yards in the game were also just three yards short of his season total. He also added his second rushing touchdown of the season.
Even in Murray’s best game of the season, he was still overshadowed by Mathews. Mathews ran for 10 fewer yards than Murray on 12 fewer carries, averaging an impressive 9.1 yards per carry. He also got into the endzone for the second time of the season.
Mathews currently has the lead on Murray with 85 more rushing yards on the season on eight fewer carries. Murray does have the edge in the passing game, having 10 more receptions and 46 more yards than Mathews. However, the receiving numbers could just point to the 50 more snaps that Murray has over Mathews and quarterback Sam Bradford’s affinity for tossing the ball to his running backs.
Before the season began the Eagles were the best backfield in the league, without question. Five games in, the backfield is among the worst in the league, averaging just 93.2 rushing yards per game. The Eagles averaged 124.5 rushing yards per game in 2014 and an impressive 160.4 in 2013. With a supposed three-headed attack, the Eagles are down 30 yards per game from last year.
If the Eagles hope to get back to their run-heavy offense, something that running back coach Duce Staley stressed in the offseason, Mathews needs to be more involved. At the least, Murray and Mathews should have a 45-45 split of the carries. There is a larger chance that Murray finds his footing than that he doesn’t, but in the meantime, the Eagles should be giving the ball to the back who is finding the yards even when they are not necessarily there to be found.
The Eagles next three opponents are all in the top-ten in rushing yards allowed per game. If they hope to get the ground game going against any of these teams, they will need all three running backs to be at the top of their games.
Murray appears to be making some progress but Mathews is the hot hand. With nearly twice the yards per carry, the Eagles should be feeding Mathews the ball.