NFL teams
Greg Garber, Senior Writer 9y

Legends discuss DeMarco Murray

NFL, Dallas Cowboys

Editor's note: See Greg Garber's video feature on Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray on "Sunday NFL Countdown" -- 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET.

IRVING, Texas - The great Billy Sims has just driven more than four hours from Oklahoma to have his hair cut here at the 504 Salon and Barbershop.

As Larry Abram shaves and snips, Sims has the whole place in stitches.

"Sooner than later!" he says in his high-pitched voice, punctuating another joke. "Sooner than later!"

The main point of discussion Thursday morning in this clip joint -- and seemingly everywhere else in the Metroplex -- is the Dallas Cowboys and, more specifically, the wondrous nature of running back DeMarco Murray. The Cowboys are a startling 5-1 heading into Sunday's game against the New York Giants, and Murray leads the NFL in rushing by a wide margin.

As fate would have it, Murray and Sims not only own a slew of records at the University of Oklahoma -- but they get their haircuts in this very same seat under the artful hands of Abram.

Sims, the 1978 Heisman Trophy winner, first laid eyes on Murray at an Oklahoma practice in 2008, when he was a sophomore.

"Watching his running style kind of reminded me of myself," said Sims, who ran for 3,268 yards and 42 touchdowns in his last two seasons at OU. "He wasn't a bulldozer-type back. Speed, great vision, instinct, a don't-stop attitude. He was just a little faster than me.

"And I knew if he just stayed healthy, one day, he might get a chance to play in the NFL."

Murray, you should know, doesn't particularly like to talk about himself; he managed to elude reporters after last week's victory over the Seahawks. This prompted the folks at ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" to dispatch a crew to Texas to run down a trio of legends familiar with Murray's game -- heavily decorated running backs who have already seen the 26-year-old eclipse some of their cherished standards.

Six weeks into Murray's rookie season of 2011, the Cowboys' third-round draft choice gashed the Rams for 25 carries and 253 yards -- breaking Emmitt Smith's single-game franchise record.

"He had a phenomenal game," Smith said Thursday, sitting in his expansive Dallas real estate office. "I was happy for him."

What excites Smith even more is the Cowboys' back-to-the-future offensive philosophy -- the one that made him famous and won Dallas three Super Bowls in four seasons.

"A commitment by the Dallas Cowboys to run the football," Smith said, with conviction. "They are fixed on due north, and due north is running the rock."

At 6 feet, 217 pounds, Murray is built more like a receiver. But last week against the defending Super Bowl champions, Murray carried 29 times and gained 115 yards. Seattle came in with the league's best run defense (an average of 62.3 yards per game), but the Seahawks allowed only the seventh century mark to an individual player in Pete Carroll's four-plus-year tenure.

Murray is the most recent in a ludicrously rich history of Oklahoma running backs, going back to Steve Owens, who won the Heisman in 1969. Later came Joe Washington, Sims and a guy named Adrian Peterson. And yet it was Murray who ran off with the school's career marks for touchdowns (65) and all-purpose yards (6,718).

Although you won't find Marcus Dupree often in the Sooners' record book, he was a back with a rare combination of size and speed. He broke Herschel Walker's national record for high school touchdowns (with 87) in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and was recruited to Oklahoma by coach Barry Switzer. But after a scintillating freshman season, in which he rushed for 1,144 yards and 13 touchdowns and led the nation with 7.8 yards per carry, he left school as a sophomore. Dupree, who weighed more than 220 pounds and claims to have run a 4.3-second 40-yard dash, suffered a series of injuries, played briefly in the USFL and made a comeback with the NFL's Rams in the early 1990s -- and scored exactly one touchdown.

Nevertheless, Dupree remains a mythical figure in college football history. He first saw Murray in college while working as a regional scout for the Washington Redskins.

"He had sprinter's speed, great vision and good hands," Dupree said Wednesday in Wichita Falls, Texas, while on a speaking tour. "The only negative part I didn't like about him: He's kind of stiff in the hips."

In our conversations with the legends, this was one of the few nitpicks. The others: Murray has committed four fumbles this year and has a history of injuries.

"I knew he could run the football," Smith said. "The question was going to be, and still remains, how healthy will he be? Early on, it didn't appear that way. This year, he has done so."

The Cowboys still have quarterback Tony Romo, tight end Jason Witten and wide receiver Dez Bryant, but it is Murray who is carrying the load behind a big, effective offensive line. Through six games, he's carried 159 times -- 43 more than LeSean McCoy, who is next in line -- an average of 26.5 per game.

In each of those games, he's run for at least 100 yards. Only one other player in league history managed that feat in the first six games of the season -- the legendary Jim Brown in 1958.

Brown didn't do it in the seventh. On Sunday, Murray has a chance to do it against the Giants. Last week, playing nickel defense the entire way, the Giants allowed McCoy 149 yards. If they play nickel again, Murray will likely reach the century mark. If not, Romo could have a big day.

"They're going to have to drop the eighth man in the box," Smith said. "You put seven in there, you're going to get a heavy dose of DeMarco Murray. You put in eight, you're going to get a heavy dose of DeMarco Murray -- and some play action.

"Hey, records are made to be broken."

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