This article is not meant to denigrate DeMarco Murray’s season. He rushed for 1845 yards which is good enough for 17th most all time. His ground attack helped Tony Romo to a career year and the Cowboys to a playoff appearance in which they nearly squeaked past the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional round. Murray may have led the league in rushing yards and overall yards from scrimmage, but given several other considerations there is plenty of support for Marshawn Beast Mode Lynch being a more suitable AP Offensive Player of the Year. This will be broken down categorically with focus on yardage, yardage per touch, giveaways, and of course, scoring.
Also examined here will be the value of each player, taking into consideration what percentage of yards and points he earned when compared to the totals of his whole team.
Yards and Yards Per Touch
Beast Mode and DeMarco Murray both had great seasons, with Murray topping the league’s receivers and backs in yards from scrimmage and Lynch placing fifth, behind Le’Veon Bell, Matt Forte and Antonio Brown. Murray’s 1,845 rushing yards is vastly more impressive than Lynch’s 1,306. But considering they had the exact same yards per carry number (4.7), the essential difference was the sheer amount of plays that Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson kept the ball. He kept it 118 times for rushes that totaled 866 yards. Lynch had 280 carries on the year while Murray got a league-high 393. While there is over 500 yards worth of difference, Beast Mode and DeMarco Murray put up the same yard per attempt average, but experienced vastly different attempts per game.
Looking to receiving stats, they were significantly closer, but Murray earned more yards again. He caught 57 passes for a total of 416 yards. That is an average of 7.3 yards per catch. Lynch on the other hand, caught just 37 passes but earned 367 yards. His yardage total was roughly fifty below that of Murray but his yards per catch was nearly 10.
Murray thus gets a significant edge in terms of overall yardage (in case you haven’t seen a stat leader-board all season) but Marshawn Lynch earned more yards per touch, which carries its own importance.
With regard to their percent of team totals, DeMarco Murray rushed and caught for an average of 141 yards per game, while his team averaged 383.6. He thus earned 36.75% of the Cowboys’ offensive yards. Marshawn Lynch on the other hand, earned just 27.7% of the Seahawks’ total yardage with an average of 104 per game with the team going for an average of 375.8 per game.
Fumbles
Much like dropped passes, missed blocks and getting caught with drugs, fumbles are pure kryptonite for an NFL career. Putting the ball on the ground is almost as devastating as an interception and can lose a team a game. Exhibit one is DeMarco Murray, who after over 100 yards rushing (with almost 5 yards per carry) against the Packers, fumbled after being hit by Julius Peppers, essentially giving up the game. Murray coughed up the ball six times in 2014. Five of these were recovered by their opponents.
Marshawn Lynch on the other hand, put the ball on the ground four times, but just two were given up. While these numbers don’t seem huge, Murray more than doubled Beast Mode’s lost fumble total. Five fumbles lost in a season is nearly one every three games. That is a troublingly high stat for a player getting as many touches as Murray.
Points on the Board
Overall points is the last to be discussed on this list because (no kidding, right?) they are the most important. Murray and Lynch totaled the same in terms of rushing touchdowns, with each scoring 13. Where they differed and Beast Mode showed slightly more savvy was receiving touchdowns, of which he had four. His total of 17 touchdowns on the year was the most of any non-quarterback. Second was the Chiefs’ Jamaal Charles, while DeMarco Murray was tied in third with 13. Touchdowns being worth six points, Murray scored 78 points in 2014, while Lynch scored 102. The Seahawks scored 394 points as a team while the Cowboys scored 467.
Some quick division breaks the two backs’ numbers down to 16.7% of points for Murray and 25.9% of team points for Lynch. While the yards from scrimmage totals are impressive, it is the points that win games. Lynch scored more points with a less offensively gifted team. Furthermore, because he and Russell Wilson are both rushing threats, and their receiving stable, while good, was not top tier, the Seahawks contended with teams consistently stacking up against the run and frequently dropping one (sometimes more than one) defensive back into run support. At the end of the day, points matter and Lynch put them up.
Playoffs
Marshawn Lynch played in three playoff games while Murray played in just two, so this will have to be a “per game average” rather than a discussion of totals. In his games against the Detroit Lions and Packers he scored a touchdown in each, with 75 yards on 19 carries against the Lions, 123 on 25 carries against the Packers, but with that late-game lost fumble a glaring smear across his record. Lynch also had two touchdowns through the playoffs, and put up just slightly higher rushing and receiving numbers. He also fumbled once against the Carolina Panthers, but it was not turned over. This one is pretty much a draw.
Overall, this should have presented a clear and concise argument for why Marshawn Lynch was the best running back and best offensive player in the NFL compared to DeMarco Murray. Murray had a great year, leading the league in yards but giving up some nasty turnovers, while Lynch scored more points, had similar or higher yards per touch and coughed up the ball fewer times.
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