IRVING, Texas – In what has seemingly become a weekly honor, DeMarco Murray has once again been nominated for the FedEx Air & Ground Player of the Week – his third nomination of the season.
As the NFL's leading rusher, Murray is once again up for the Ground portion of the award. Fans can vote for him at NFL.com/FedEx, along with his two competitors, Cleveland's Ben Tate and Green Bay's Eddie Lacy.
Murray toted the rock a career-high 31 times Sunday against Houston for 136 yards – which, impressively, is just his third-highest total of the season. He won this award in both Week 2 and Week 4, coming off a 167-yard, one touchdown effort against the Titans and a 149-yard, one score night against the Saints, respectively.
The win against the Texans was the first game this season that didn't see Murray score a rushing touchdown. Despite that, he still leads the league with five in five games.
This week's nominees for the Air portion of the award are Denver's Peyton Manning, New Orleans' Drew Brees and St. Louis' Austin Davis.
Fans can vote until Thursday at 2 p.m. (CDT). If Murray wins again, FedEx will make a $2,000 donation to the Dallas chapter of the American Red Cross.
Murray has now won the award four times in his career, with two of those coming in the early going of this season. Julius Jones earned the honor twice – once in 2004 and once in 2005.
The Cowboys' fourth-year running back is averaging 134 yards per game and has 670 on the season – 210 more yards than his nearest competitor, Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell. With an average of 26 carries per game, Murray also has 36 more carries than the next-best back in that category.
