Latavius Murray Looking to Take That Next Step

Latavius Murray has to improve for the Oakland Raiders to win this year!

Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray just ran for 1,066 yards to finish sixth in the NFL last season. And yes, he made the Pro Bowl Pro Bowl as an alternate. But that’s not good enough for the Raiders, the fans or Murray himself.

Head coach Jack Del Rio and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave want to grind teams out with the running game. But Murray wasn’t the guy that could do that for the Raiders last year. Del Rio told Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle that he wants Murray to do that this year.

He said, “I want to have more rushes. I don’t want him to have less. If anything, maybe a little more, but I want him to be more productive. We’re working on becoming a team that’s capable of running the ball well. We never really, truly established that last year.”

Murray’s good games came as a result of long runs against teams like the Cleveland Browns, who can’t stop the run. Then in big games, against good defenses, when the team needs him, he disappears. I mean his rushing totals go down into the 40s and 30s.

You have to at least fight for 60-70 yards to do your team any good against a tough defense. To do that, you have to make guys miss, break tackles and get yards after contact. The good thing is that Murray knows that and wants tried to get better at those two things.

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He told Tafur, “It’s all about getting to the second level, making defenders miss and having a lot more explosive runs. “That’s what people were excited about in that Kansas City game (in 2014), that 90-yarder.

He didn’t make anyone miss on that run but the result of that run is what the Raiders need. Some things take the smallest of adjustments and that’s all that’s need from the 6’3″, 227 pounder. Running low gives you much better leverage to cut and break tackles.

Tafur reported that running backs coach Bernie Parmalee is working with Murray on that.

He told Tafur, “You just have to keep pounding it in his head, and keep working at it in practice. Sometimes he doesn’t realize he’s high. And we remind him, so he doesn’t take that unnecessary punishment. ‘Stay behind those pads.’”

With that height, weight, vision and 4.3 40 speed Murray has Eric Dickerson-like talent. But Dickerson could make guys miss and ran with authority too. Raiders fans have been frustrated watching him go down as a result of one man’s arm but Murray is trying to do something about it.

So we just might see something different from Murray in 2015.

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