Chip Met With Murray, Who Is ‘Frustrated’ With Role


Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

Chip Kelly addressed the media Wednesday for the first time since Ed Werder’s report Tuesday that DeMarco Murray talked to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie about his role in Kelly’s offense.

“[Murray] did not go to [Lurie],” Kelly said Wednesday. “He sat next to the owner on the plane. We sit — all players always sit in first class. They sat next to each other on the plane. He didn’t specifically go to Mr. Lurie and say, ‘I need to request a meeting.’

“He sat next to Mr. Lurie on the plane on the ride home. They both sit in first class, and they talked about the game and what happened. And I’ve talked to DeMarco since.”

Kelly said that Murray had expressed disappointment with his role to Kelly prior to the Patriots game because Murray “wasn’t happy with his amount of carries.”

So Kelly said he sought Murray out after the win over New England in order to talk to his running back about the potential problem.

“I knew he was frustrated, yeah, I wanted to talk to him. When you win a big game like that, you want to make sure everybody’s on the same page. I wanted to talk to him.

“He’s frustrated because he didn’t get the ball a lot on Sunday, which most running backs are frustrated from that aspect. But he’s not frustrated that we beat the New England Patriots and we got a big win in New England. I think everybody’s that way. Every receiver wants the ball, every running back wants the ball, every quarterback would like to throw every single time we have an opportunity. But the one thing I know about DeMarco, he’s about winning.”

When asked if Murray is both the player and the person he expected to add when he signed him this offseason, Kelly responded, “Yeah, he is.”

Kelly said that Murray knew his role would be limited in the game against New England because of match-ups the coaches noticed during the week of preparation.

“He knew, going into the game, that we were going to play … that we had a plan, we knew exactly what we were going to do, and that Darren [Sproles] and Kenjon [Barner] were going to play more. He knew that going into the game.”

Kelly explained Murray’s low snap count in the Patriots game — just 14 snaps, compared to 35 for Sproles and 12 for Barner — by talking about the unorthodox nature of the game.

“He played 14 snaps in this last game because, again, we had 50 snaps overall, we didn’t have the third quarter that we normally have, and in every other game we’ve had, he’s been the leading ball carrier. We’re going to make game plans this week that are going to help us win the Buffalo Bills game.”

Kelly said that all four running backs — Murray, Sproles, Barner, and the newly healthy Ryan Mathews — have warranted playing time and all will see snaps against the Bills this Sunday if they are all healthy.

Injury update

Eric Rowe and Lane Johnson both returned to practice on Wednesday after missing Tuesday’s session.