Prior to the Philadelphia Eagles' bye last week, there were deep questions about the running back rotation, namely why DeMarco Murray garnered the majority of snaps when Ryan Mathews proved the more productive runner.
Ahead of Sunday night's tilt with the Dallas Cowboys, both backs reiterated that they are just fine with the committee approach.
"It doesn't matter who's in the game," Murray said, via the Philadelphia Inquirer. "We're all rooting for each other. This is probably the closest running back room I've ever been a part of in my life."
"When I signed up here, I knew what it was going to be with DeMarco signing and with (Darren) Sproles," Mathews said. "This is right around where I expected to be, with me being the backup...It's about the team. It's not about me."
The rotation in Dallas will be something to keep an eye on Sunday for several reasons, namely: 1) Murray returns to Dallas after his award-winning 2014 season and 2) Mathews is questionable with a groin injury.
The latter could be a reason the snaps again tilt toward Murray. Mathews dealt with the injury in the last game, which is why the back wasn't more involved in the offense -- even though Mathews broke off a 63-yard touchdown run after suffering the injury.
For the season, Murray has compiled 88 carries for 307 rushing yards and just 3.5 yards per tote. Mathews, meanwhile, has rushed 56 times for 342 yards, 6.1 yards per carry. It's worth noting that in the past three games, Murray has ran better -- as Chip Kelly called more downhill run plays and less stretch runs for the laterally deficient back -- averaging 4.4 yards per carry.
"I think the production numbers after the fact are easy to look at," offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. "We go into a game anticipating certain things are going to happen and then we play the guys...You've got to play all the running backs when you're running the ball like we want to. So whether one gets a handful more than the other, in our minds it really doesn't quite matter, as long as they're both playing and they're both contributing."
