Jerry Being Coy, But Cowboys' RB Plan Starts With Joe Randle
DALLAS (The Fan) - The Cowboys are trying to be tight-lipped about who will be the starting running back Sunday night against the New York Giants at AT&T Stadium. That goes all the way up to owner Jerry Jones, who wouldn't offer any clues with 105.3 The Fan's "G-Bag Nation" on Friday.
"I think you'll see a situation where we have our first offense and what field position we have," Jones said. "That could have something to do with it. Secondly, these guys bring different things to the table. So, I think if we get it going early in a series or a drive, then I see the staff ... staying with what's really working for us. We'll play that one by ear."
In other words, the same running-back-by-committee approach that we've discussed for the last eight months — unchanged. And Cowboys sources tell me something else is unchanged, too: Joe Randle remains the "chairman of the committee.''
Dallas currently has four running backs on the roster in Randle, Darren McFadden, Lance Dunbar and Christine Michael, who was acquired via trade with Seattle for a seventh-round pick in 2016 (in part as insurance against Randle's reputation as a behavioral knucklehead).
In training camp, Randle didn't run away with the competition. But in practice all this week, he's been the first guy, ahead of McFadden, who team sources say has taken the second turn in practice with a special emphasis on participating in blitz-pickup situations. Dunbar is the sub-package guy. And Michael is not expected to be activated just yet.
But Jones is telling the truth about the "hot-hand'' approach for the active runners on Sunday.
"The good news is that I see circumstances beginning, let's just take the first quarter and the first two or three series of the first quarter. I see circumstances where you could see them all out there with our gameplan."
That's not tight-lipped. And that's not bluffing. It's even conceivable that on the first play of the game, Dallas is in a sub-package or even an empty backfield. But despite all the in-house attempts at espionage and all the outsiders' attempts at guessing, the "lead back'' (if not the "first-play-of-the-game back'') is scheduled to be Joe Randle.
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