ARLINGTON, Texas -- For Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray, the decision to play with a broken left hand wasn't an issue.
The day after having the surgery, Murray decided he would play and after practicing toward the end of the week and fittings for plastic shells to protect the hand, he started and finished with 58 yards rushing on 22 carries in the 42-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
"It affected me a little bit, it was hurting throughout the game," said Murray, the NFL's leading rusher who is 255 yards away from 2,000. "But I made my mind up a long time ago that I was going to play. I was happy to be out there and happy to do whatever I can to help this team win and it's awesome with the win."
Murray's day was kind of overlooked with the Cowboys clinching the NFC East and quarterback Tony Romo becoming the franchise's all-time passing leader. For the soft spoken Murray that's OK, because he prefers to let his play do the talking.
However, on the first offensive play of the game, Murray carried the ball with his left hand.
"I definitely carried the ball in my left to throw them off a little bit but I don't think it worked," Murray said smiling. "I tried."
Murray suffered the injury in last week's victory over the Philadelphia Eagles and the next day was diagnosed with a fractured fourth metacarpal and underwent surgery. He didn't practice in team drills on Wednesday but did catch some passes, one-handed and took some handoffs. As the week progressed, Murray increased the workload by catching passes with both hands and taking handoffs.
In Sunday's game against the Colts, Murray avoided getting picked up off the ground with his left hand and there were times the Cowboys took him off the field on passing downs when there was an anticipation of the Colts sending an extra defender to blitz.
Murray handled himself well on the blitz but reported some pain as the game moved along. Murray left with :69 seconds remaining in the third quarter as backup Joseph Randle finished the game.
"I've never seen nothing like it," Cowboys running backs coach Gary Brown said of Murray. "We purposely tried to keep him away from the pass plays for the blitzes and when he did get blitzed, he hit them in the mouth, just like he had no problem. That's toughness."