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If Cowboys want progress, it's time to bench Marion Barber
Running back Marion Barber emerged from the Thanksgiving Day loss to New Orleans with a strained calf muscle. For the Cowboys, that injury could be a godsend.
Running back Marion Barber emerged from the Thanksgiving Day loss to New Orleans with a strained calf muscle. For the Cowboys, that injury could be a godsend.
It gives interim head coach Jason Garrett more reason to remove Barber as a starter, creating more chances for Felix Jones.
Garrett has stubbornly stayed with Barber as the starter. It is the most baffling NFL lineup decision in more than half a century.
In the late 1950s, New York Giants coach Jim Lee Howell had backup quarterback Don Heinrich open games so that starter Charlie Conerly could observe the opponent's defense for a few series before taking control.
Garrett's stock answer on the subject is "we like Marion a lot." It is difficult to understand why.
Consider the running backs for three games with Garrett in charge.
Jones has handled the football on 51 plays as a runner or a receiver and gained 335 yards for a per-play average of 6.6 yards. Barber has handled the football on 35 plays and gained 123 yards for a per-play average of 3.5 yards.
The pattern runs longer than that.
A total of 33 backs have had at least 100 carries this season. Barber ranks next-to-last in yards per carry at 3.1. Detroit rookie Jahvid Best is last, at 3.0.
Take away Barber's 19 carries on third- and fourth-and-1 or when the Cowboys were on the opponent's 1, and his average goes only to a pedestrian 3.5.
That is not the profile of a game-opening, tone-setting back. Using Barber as the starter has contributed to the Cowboys' pattern of slow starts on offense. His carries are exercises in futility that rob life from the offense.
The Cowboys have scored on the first possession only three times, for a total of 17 points. Barber has 22 runs for 78 yards, a 3.5-yard average, during the opening possession. In the last six games, Barber has 12 runs for 27 yards, a 2.3-yard average, on the first possession.
Good teams tend to have quick starts. Miami has scored on eight opening possessions, producing a league-high 40 points. New Orleans, the defending Super Bowl champion, is second with 38 points on its opening possessions. Philadelphia (35) and New England (28) follow for most points on the opening possession.
Barber is among 30 backs that have 25-plus carries in the first quarter. He is tied for 17th with a per-carry average of 3.8 yards. Kansas City has two backs, Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones, at more than 5.5 yards per carry in the first quarter.
The Cowboys have scored 43 points in the first quarter, putting them at No. 17 in the category. During the remainder of the season, the Cowboys will have three games against two clubs that specialize in early speed and keeping the lead.
They play at Indianapolis , defending AFC champion, on Sunday. The Colts have led after the opening quarter in five games this season and 12 games in the last two seasons. They are 5-0 for those games this season and 11-1 in the last two years.
The Cowboys also have two games against Philadelphia in the final month. The Eagles lead the league in first-quarter scoring with 89 points. They are 5-1 when leading after the first quarter this season and 14-1 in the last two years.
The Cowboys have led after the first quarter in only three games this season, going 2-1. They are 1-7 in all other games. It's not all on Barber, but he has contributed.
Running on empty
Marion Barber currently has the lowest per-carry average in Cowboys' history among backs with at least 100 runs in a season. The list:
Player Sea. Att. Yds. Avg. TDs
Marion Barber 2010 102 313 3.1 3
Eddie George 2004 132 432 3.3 4
Walt Garrison 1971 127 429 3.4 1
Doug Dennison 1975 111 383 3.5 7
L.G. Dupre 1960 104 362 3.5 3
01:22 AM CST on Monday, November 29, 2010
