Vermeil: 'I Would Probably Move To Mathews' As Lead Back
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Eagles rushed for 186 yards en route to a 39-17 win over the New Orleans Saints last Sunday, but that didn't stop fans and analysts from finding a controversy within the running game.
The Eagles' lead back DeMarco Murray had 20 carries for 83 yards, while backup Ryan Mathews 73 yards on just eight carries. Through five games, Mathews has out-rushed Murray, and many feel he deserves more touches.
You can add former Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil to that list.
"I think I would probably move to Mathews," Vermeil told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Monday. "You've gotta give your team the best opportunity to win. I was not really good at rotating running backs because I always felt when Wilbert Montgomery was standing beside me, we didn't have as nearly a good of chance to win the football game. You can't define which play a great player is going to make during the game. But you can say, if he's on the bench next to you, he isn't gonna make one. So that always influenced my thinking. So I probably played them too hard, too long. Everybody played their running backs longer, harder, and more in the older days.
Listen: Dick Vermeil on the 94WIP Morning Show
"When I see them play, Mathews has something I don't see in Murray," Vermeil continued. "I mean he's more flexible, more fluid, and a little more elusive and he doesn't need an exact point of attack to get started---from, at least, the kind of offense we're running right now. When he's deeper back in the i-form like he was in Dallas and he had more time to survey the line of scrimmage and what was going on as he attacked it, he's probably a little better. I think he's gradually adjusting to this style of running, but Mathews is more further along already and I think more flexible and fluid and elusive."
