If you follow the NFL even in the slightest way, you should know about the season Cowboys fourth-year running back DeMarco Murray is having. Murray has simply been an unstoppable force. Let’s break down the season he is having so far.

Through just five games, Murray has racked up 670 rushing yards, 124 receiving yards, five touchdowns, and a hefty 5.2 average yards per carry. If he were to play the full 16 games this season, he would be on pace for 2,144 rushing yards, which would break the all-time record for rushing yards in a season set by former St. Louis Rams running back and Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson (2,105 yards in 1984). He has reached the century mark (100 rushing yards) in every game this season (5) while getting a minimum of 22 carries in a game. He is one-third of the way to tying the record of 14 (100-yard games) in a row by Hall of Famer Barry Sanders (1997). In addition, in a category dominated by running back/kick return players, Murray is on pace to finish fourth all-time in single-season all-purpose yards with 2,541 total yards. The Cowboys have finally realized that the key to their offense is DeMarco Murray, not Tony Romo. Since Murray’s rookie season in 2011, the Cowboys have gone 15-5 in games when Murray has rushed for over 80 yards.

“His physicalness between the tackles is something that we didn’t see,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “But we’re glad we’ve got it.”

The question is how much longer can he keep it up?

Well, averaging a stellar 5.2 yards per carry, Murray has 36, count it, 36 more carries than the next running back (LeSean McCoy – 2.9 yards per carry). Dallas is working him extremely hard, which is a bit surprising considering he has never even played 15 games in a season due to injury.

“We think that’s probably too many carries in the game, week in and week out,” head coach Jason Garrett said. “He ended up with 31 so we’d like to get that number lower. We’d really just like to get the other guys an opportunity. I don’t see any wear and tear in DeMarco but having said that, we want to make sure we create a rotation and we’ll focus on doing that in the next few weeks.”

Also, he is on the field for 79 percent of the Cowboys offensive plays, which is fourth among running backs in the NFL, behind only Matt Forte of the Bears, Le’Veon Bell of the Steelers, and Montee Ball of the Broncos; who, in fact, is out for three weeks due to straining his groin this past Sunday. In the past three years, Murray has been plagued by injuries to his ankles, wrist, feet, and knees causing him to have missed 11 games. Which begs the question; with DeMarco Murray’s rookie contract coming to an end, should the Cowboys sign Murray to a big contract extension?

Well, I can answer that with one simple phrase. Pay the man. It’s not often you get a player who can do what Murray is doing. Limit his workload to something reasonable while still making him the focal point of your offense and the Cowboys will be golden. Well, they’re still the Cowboys, so I guess golden is a bit of an overstatement.