Jerry Jones believes it’s premature – and “almost not pertinent” – to say whether DeMarco Murray should be the Cowboys’ starting running back for the foreseeable future.
However, Jones doesn’t hesitate to compare the Cowboys’ rookie sensation to a Hall of Fame back.
“He kind of has a glide a little like [Eric] Dickerson,” Jones said Tuesday morning on KRLD-FM, referring to the former SMU star who ranks seventh in NFL history with 13,259 rushing yards. “He has a certain smoothness. His glide, he doesn’t lift his feet as much as Dickerson did, but the other thing he reminds me of is he’s running with such acceleration and power.”
It’s a small sample size, but there is some statistical evidence that suggests it isn’t silly to put Murray and Dickerson in the same sentence.
Murray has rushed for 466 yards during Felix Jones’ absence, a franchise-record for a three-game span. It’s also tied with Dickerson for the fifth-most by a rookie in a three-game span. Dickerson, who ran for a rookie-record 1,808 yards in 1983, also had a 533-yard output in a three-game span that season.
The name at the top of that list can be considered a warning against knee-jerking. Denver’s Mike Anderson had the two most prolific three-game spans for a rookie running back in NFL history. But that was the peak of a career that ended with 4,067 rushing yards.
But Murray makes Jones think of a Hall of Famer. And maybe he’s good enough to start for the Cowboys, too.