ARLINGTON, Texas – DeMarco Murray did his best to remain politically correct after what had to be a frustrating situation.
Murray ran for 118 yards and averaged 5.4 yards a carry on the day, yet he watched the offense settle for a field goal, throw an interception and get another fourth down on a third red zone trip before finally getting his first carry inside the 20-yard line.
"We definitely left some opportunities," Murray said. "It's a learning experience. We've got to watch film and see what we did badly and get it corrected. They played a good game defensively, the 49ers, and our defense gave us plenty of chances to put points on the board. We have to finish every drive…We just didn't do that today."
Murray took that fourth down carry on the Cowboys' third red zone trip in for a touchdown. The Cowboys ran eight plays in the red zone before finally giving Murray that red-zone carry in the third quarter.
While he did his best to hide his frustration after the game, there were times Murray appeared a little more than perturbed with offensive decisions late in drives.
That was particularly evident when the Cowboys ran a pass play on second-and-1 on their first red zone trip which resulted in a sack.
"I always want it, but especially in those situations," Murray said. "I have confidence in the O-line and I definitely have confidence in myself that we can get it. But Scott (Linehan)'s calling the plays and he knows what's best for the offense. Whatever it is, I'm going to do it to the best of my ability, as well as the other 10 guys."
Murray was the only Cowboys running back to record a carry in the game. The only other player to run the ball was wide receiver Dwayne Harris, who took a carry after motioning into the backfield.
Even without many red zone opportunities, the Cowboys fed Murray throughout the game between the 20s, and he took advantage of the chances he got. His only critical mistake came on his first carry of the 2014 season, as the ball popped loose right before he hit the ground on a run to the left, and San Francisco's Chris Culliver returned it for a touchdown.
"I definitely thought I was down, but definitely can't let that happen," Murray said. "Gave them a huge spark and can't start the game off like that. [embedded_ad]
It was on me, and I've just got to get down and not fight for extra yards in that situation. It was a bad play by me, and I can't do that."
There weren't many of those bad plays to find from Murray, though. In a sloppy day from the offense, Murray still ran for more than 100 yards and added four catches for 25 yards.
"There were some glimpses of some good things we did, but like I said, we've got to get better," Murray said. "Got to learn from what we did wrong and we'll get things corrected next week."
