Notes: DeMarco Gets the Look He Likes

The first thing that jumps out at you about DeMarco Murray‘s 54-yard touchdown Sunday was that it came with Sam Bradford under center.

That’s Murray’s preferred look — and one that he rarely got when Chip Kelly was in charge.

Per Zach Berman, Murray entered the game with just 25 carries from under center versus 156 from the shotgun. That means he got his desired formation just 14 percent of the time. When he did, the results weren’t very good, as he averaged just 2.2 yards per carry with the QB under center compared to 3.7 from shotgun. But the big difference this time around, Murray said, was the emphasis that was put on those running plays in practice leading into the Giants game.

“I think this is the most we’ve worked on it throughout the course of the week, so everyone had a good feel for it — the offensive line did a great job blocking and I feel like I was able to get used to [it]. I’ve always talked to Shurm [Pat Shurmur] and we’ve always had a good relationship about certain run plays,” he said.

“When you work on plays throughout the course of the week, you get reps, you feel more comfortable on Sundays, and all week long we were able to work on certain things and I think the  biggest thing for us was leverage — we weren’t out-leveraged on that play.”

While Murray’s lack of production this year can’t be pinned on play-calling alone, certainly, it is a little startling that it took the Eagles 16 weeks — and a coaching change — to focus on a style that better suits their big free-agent back. Murray is hopeful that the next regime will feature it more.

“Obviously that’s what I’ve done and that’s what I’ve had the most success [with], and I think everyone has a feel for what they like to do and that’s one of the things I like to do,” he said. “I don’t know what the future is going to be and the new offense and whatnot, but whatever it is I’ll try my best at it.”

On the Matthews-Kelly report

Cris Carter, who has served as a mentor to Jordan Matthews, raised some eyebrows with his re-telling of a recent interaction between Matthews and Chip Kelly. Per Carter, Kelly called out Matthews after he “spun the ball” in celebration after a catch, and told the receiver, “If you continue to do that, you won’t play for me.”

An upset Matthews apparently called Carter afterwards for guidance.

Matthews acknowledged that he was surprised by what happened but said he understood where the coach was coming from once they talked it out.

“Coach Kelly brought me in and said, ‘Hey, I love your energy, I love your enthusiasm, we just have to wait until we score because if we don’t get the ball back to the ref, that slows down our tempo.’ So, that’s pretty much it.”

“At first when it happened I was like, ‘Whoa’, I was kind of shocked,” said Matthews. “But then once he explained it to me and sat me down…It’s one thing for a coach to tell you what to do; it’s another thing when a coach [explains the reasoning behind it]. Once he sat me down and told me that, I was like, ‘OK, cool, gotcha.'”

Eagles 2016 draft slot and schedule

Per Jimmy Kempski, the Eagles will have the lucky No. 13 selection in the 2016 draft. If they lost to the Giants, they would have drafted 10th, says Paunil.

The win also takes London out of the equation. The Eagles will be heading to Seattle instead. (Crashing at your house, Kapadia.) Here’s the home-away rundown for next year:

2016 #Eagles Opponents: Home: Dal, NYG, Was, GB, Min, Cle, Pit, Atl Away: Dal, NYG, Was, Chi, Det, Bal, Cin, Sea

— Derek Boyko (@derek_boyko) January 3, 2016