DeMarco Murray treating reunion game with Dallas as old business

PHILADELPHIA As DeMarco Murray neared the end of his post-practice news conference Wednesday, the Philadelphia Eagles’ backdrop began slowly falling toward the running back. Murray ducked his head as Derek Boyko, the Eagles director of public relations, stepped in to push the backdrop off Murray.

“Whoa! Whoa! That’s going to be on ‘Not Top 10,’ ” chuckled Murray, referring to ESPN’s daily Not Top 10 plays.

That sums up the start to Murray’s career in Philadelphia.

The league’s leading rusher in 2014 gained only 9 rushing yards and a touchdown on eight attempts in the Eagles’ season-opening loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He added another 11 yards and a touchdown on four catches.

It marked the fewest rushing yards in a season opener by a defending rushing champion, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

But Murray contends the sky isn’t also falling.

“We’re not going to freak out and try to change a bunch of things,” Murray said. “We’re going to do what we’re doing, and we know we have the right players and the right coaches to get the job done. We’ll learn from it, and we’ll move on.”

Murray, 27, moved on from the Cowboys after last season. He wanted to stay, but not for what the Cowboys offered. The Cowboys wanted him to stay, but not at what the Eagles offered.

Thus, after an offseason of hanging out with Tony Romo, Jason Witten and Jason Garrett, Murray left for greener pastures.

The Eagles signed Murray to a five-year, $42 million deal, including $21 million guaranteed. The Cowboys upped their final offer to four years and $24 million with $12 million guaranteed, fearing tying up more years and more money in a running back with 497 touches last season.

“I gave them opportunities in training camp, during the season. I gave them a whole year basically,” Murray told the Star-Telegram. “Whatever you’ve got to do, let’s get it done. If you guys wait until the last second, I’m not going to come back and say, ‘Hey, this is the offer, match it.’ Once they let me hit free agency, I was gone.”

The Cowboys moved on, too. The day after Murray signed with the Eagles, the Cowboys signed free agent Darren McFadden to a two-year, $3 million deal.

The Cowboys remain steadfast in their belief that, running behind the league’s best offensive line, a running back by committee of Joseph Randle, McFadden, Lance Dunbar and the newly acquired Christine Michael can produce as well as Murray did last season. Dallas attempted 508 runs and 506 pass plays in the regular season a year ago as Murray gained a league-leading 1,845 yards while establishing the team’s identity as a physical football team.

“DeMarco was a great player for us. He really was,” Garrett said. “Obviously, last year he did an unbelievable job for our team, but really right from the outset his rookie year, he’s been a really good player. Everybody in our organization wanted to keep him.

“Sometimes the business of the NFL gets in the way, and opportunities are better for individual players to go elsewhere, and DeMarco thought that was the case with him, and that was the best decision for him to go to Philadelphia.

“...But when a guy’s not there, it provides another person an opportunity. Joe Randle and Lance Dunbar were running backs on our team the last few years, and those guys had done a good job when they’ve gotten their chances.

“We went out and signed Darren McFadden, brought him into the mix and just trying to create a competitive situation all throughout the off-season and training camp, and we’ll continue to do that each week. Those guys will battle for playing opportunities and for opportunities to touch the football.”

Defenders might break Murray’s bones occasionally last season he played a game six days after surgery to repair a fractured left hand but he insists words never hurt him.

He has heard the Cowboys heaping credit for his team-record-setting season on the offensive line, and he smiles when Randle’s criticism of him gets repeated. Randle created a stir in May when he said Murray left yards on the field despite leading the league in rushing by 484 yards.

“He had a good year last year,” Randle said after an organized team activity, “and I got to sit back and watch a lot, and I felt like there was a lot of meat left on the bone.”

Murray said he hasn’t talked to Randle since the comment went viral.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Murray said. “Words don’t hurt me. I know and have confidence in myself that I know what I’m capable of doing. Obviously, they’re a great offensive line. Great line, great offense. But none of that stuff bothers me.”

Despite Murray publicly discounting Randle’s comment, Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford suspects Murray hasn’t forgotten.

“I think you’d probably have to ask him, but I would say knowing him pretty well that he probably uses that as motivation,” said Bradford, who played with Murray at Oklahoma.

Murray still wears No. 29, but nothing else about him looks the same as he jogs onto the practice field at the NovaCare Center. Everything that was blue now is green, including his specially-designed adidas undershirts. The eagle has replaced the star. His teammates now answer to Bradford, Sproles, Huff, Matthews and Mathews instead of Romo, Witten, Bryant and Williams.

At Valley Ranch last week, the Cowboys treated Murray as persona non grata. Garrett placed a mannequin in a plain, white No. 55 jersey outside the locker room, representing a nameless, faceless opponent. The players followed the script, rarely mentioning Murray by name and mostly declining to talk about him.

True to his nature, Murray said he was “emotionless” about facing his former team for the first time.

“I understand the business aspect of the NFL,” Murray said. “It’s all about finding guys who are right for your system. I feel like I’m here, and this is the best place for me. This is where I want to be, and this is the team that wanted me. So I’m not worried about those guys. They’re a great group of guys, a great organization, and I have a lot of respect them, but I moved on a long time ago, and I’m happy to be here.”

Murray contends he can duplicate last season’s results with fewer carries, because of the Eagles’ up-tempo offense. Philadelphia led the league in offensive snaps last season with an average of 70.7 per game. (The Cowboys ranked 24th with an average of 62.4.)

But Murray admits he wants more chances than he got in the opener.

Murray often waved off Randle and Dunbar last season, staying on the field for 782 of the 1,013 plays that running backs had for the Cowboys. Murray, though, played only 33 of 74 snaps in the Eagles’ opener.

“It’s definitely been an adjustment. It’s a huge adjustment,” Murray said. “The way that we run plays here, at some point you kind of come off the field a little bit, because you run so many plays, and you may get a little winded here and there. But I think at the end of the day, you want to be out there as much as you can, and I want to be out there as much as I can. At some point, we’ll make that a little bit more clear.”

Philadelphia now is his town, the Eagles his team, green his color, Chip Kelly his coach and Bradford his quarterback. And his future, he hopes, is as bright as the cloudless sky overhead on a Chamber of Commerce day in the City of Brotherly Love.

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