The lack of a rushing attack has been a major motif through the first two weeks of the NFL season.
The Dallas Cowboys' offense provided a microcosm of that theme in their 17-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Cowboys starting running back DeMarco Murray carried the ball just 12 times. His final rush came with 2:12 left in the third quarter. It was the last run by any Dallas player. Tony Romo threw the ball 19 times to end the game.
"Obviously we want to have more balance, not only more balance at the end of the game but more balance throughout the game," coach Jason Garrett said Monday, per The Dallas Morning News. "We have to run the ball more than 16 times in the game, and we have to be able to run it throughout the game. We just simply have to do a better job of that."
Murray gained 25 yards on the ground, the longest carry going for just 6 yards. The Chiefs' stout front clearly bottled Murray up, and it seemed Cowboys offensive coordinator Bill Callahan decided it wasn't worth pounding his head against a brick wall.
On Sunday's edition of NFL Network's "NFL GameDay Morning," former quarterback Kurt Warner disparaged the Cowboys for their lack of creativity in getting playmaker Dez Bryant involved in Week 1.
Warner easily can substitute Murray's name and run that argument back again this week.
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