Oakland Raiders: Five Players Who Need To Show Up Big In 2016
By Kevin Saito
Murray ran for 1,066 yards last season. He’s the first Raiders running back to crack the 1,000 yard barrier since Darren McFadden in 2010 – and was one of just six running backs to to rush for more than 1,000 yards last season.
Having said that though, the Raiders are going to need more from Murray this season. Quite a bit more, in fact. The problem with Murray’s season was that as the season wore on, he wore down. Murray was nowhere near as effective in the second half of the season as he was in the first half – as evidenced by his lower yards per carry average and fewer rushing yards as a whole.
Part of that decline in productivity was a result of injuries along the offensive line that required a little shuffling. And part of it was because OC Bill Musgrave‘s playcalling became entirely bland and predictable.
Yet another component of it though, was that as the season wore on, Murray wasn’t making the most of his opportunities with the ball. He wasn’t nearly as efficient running it in the second half of the season. And it’s one of the reasons the offense as a whole got bogged down and lacked any sort of electricity over that time span.
With defenses able to take Murray out of the game, they were able to key on the passing offense – already hobbled with an injury to Amari Cooper – and shut the Raiders down for long stretches of the game.
Simply put, that has to change in 2016. The Raiders are hoping that in Texas Tech product Deandre Washington, they got Murray help in the backfield that neither Taiwan Jones or Roy Helu could provide.
The Raiders are going to need to Murray to step up big in 2016. He doesn’t have to be Adrian Peterson and lead the league in rushing, but he is going to need to be more consistent and efficient running the ball. The passing game is going to depend upon the running game opening things up, and Murray is going to need to up his play even more this season.
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