I was told a couple of years ago after LeSean McCoy’s freshman year at Pittsburgh that Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg were in love with McCoy. You can see why, he fits this offense.
The Birds are able to get him the ball in the open field and he may be the toughest guy in the NFL to tackle in a one-on-one situation. He almost always makes the first guy miss when approached in an open field situation.
I knew about his cutting ability from Pittsburgh and last year in his rookie year he let us some of it, but he’s taken things to another level this season. One of the Eagles most consistent plays is a simple wide route or check down to McCoy.
This is considered a running play in the west coast offense because you can complete the play so consistently. If you watch an Eagles practice, the quarterbacks work on these throws as much as they work on throwing the ball down the field.
Tens of times this year, we’ve seen McCoy catch a wide route or check down, make the first guy miss and it’s now second and one or two.
He’s also learned to run the screen, which is also a favorite of Reid and Mornhinweg, with the same patience that we saw for years with Brian Westbrook. In the game last night, the second-year back caught 8 passes for 86 yards and one touchdown. That’s in addition to the 44 yards on 12 carries which he rushed for.
The former Pittsburgh Panther scored the first two touchdowns of the game on a reception and rush up the middle. McCoy has rushed for 823 yards and caught passes for another 534 yards. Those are some big numbers with five games remaining.
McCoy doesn’t have great size or speed, but he’s becoming a great running back because of his quickness, ability to make people miss and his vision. Many times he makes cornerbacks look awkward in the open field, which isn’t an easy thing to do.
It’s getting to the point where McCoy shouldn’t even look at the first tackler, but look to the second one
“It’s a natural feeling”, the running back told reporters when describing how he makes tacklers miss. “You see a guy and you know what you are going to do. You are just trying to get past them. All I need now is that extra burst to get me to that end zone.”
On one play, McCoy left Pro Bowl defensive end Mario Williams grasping for air, after Williams threw away a block from tight end Brent Celek, then tried to come inside and tackle the running back. McCoy made a 90 degree cut and left Williams tackling air.
I like back up running back Jerome Harrison, who I think is faster than McCoy. He also does a nice job making tacklers miss.
I said it once i’ll say it 1000 times Ricky Watters 2.0! Same running style and game as young Ricky with 49ers, and as he gets older and his body gets stronger he can fill his frame out just like Ricky did and be a damn beast! His speed and quickness is deceptive, he AND ESPEXCIALLY Harrison need to see the ball more! Everytime we see Harrison he damn near looks like he is going to break one! Hell, HE DID against Washington…lol…He’s not just some stiff on the bench, dude is beastly as well! McCoy and Maclin are our most consistant threats besides Vick. Jackson is limited by his physical tools, its not his fault, it just is what he is…
Yeah G. Shady’s looking great and Jerome is a more than capable backup. How in the heck did we get him for Bell?????????
I love McCoy, but I notice on his screen runs he is always ahead of the blockers. He never slows down to pick up blocks.Just an observation not a criticism.
According to NBC Sports Shady McCoy signed a 4 year 3.4 million dollar contract.
He does not appear to be distracted.
bull$%#&, if they were so in love with him they would have made a move to get him. they got lucky he fell that year. i’m so sick of this butt kissing, this team left us high and dry with no weapons with a solid qb in his prime. they don’t get off the hook for the early years of their tenure. regardless mccoy is the shit. good thing he was injured his senior year of highschool otherwise dude would’ve been at USC…
Run, you are mad at the team for getting a player that they liked without having to trade up? That is a new one. Let McNabb go already and enjoy this offense and especially McCoy.
Nice to see Celek actually make a play or 2 after his bonehead drop.
Ricky Watters? Man get outta here! Shady is the best ALL AROUND running back in the game today. Say what you want, but he is. There are better runners, but he is the best ALL-AROUND. From his running, to catching the ball in screen plays, to his effective blocking, Shady is proving it every week. No one thought Westbrook could be replaced. No one misses Brian Westbrook because of what Lesean McCoy is doing. His blocking impresses me more than anything, especially when he actually stopped Brian Urlacher from getting to the QB last week ALL BY HIMSELF.
Honestly great win but our defense is not even close to there!!!! Im not happy with there play. I dont know if its the play or the coaching! not sure. But the eagles cant just OUTSCORE everyone. Thats not the way this works!! They need to stop letting up so many points!!! This has been on going all year. They get turnovers but they let up to many damn points a game.
on a side note mccoy is a stud!
My bro and i thought about Ricky “Running ” Waters last night as well bro. Very quick in close quarters. Millen made a good point look how good he is and its his second year. Dude will lead the league in yards from scrimmage within the next 3 seasons.Mos def.
Will they please pay that man!!?
Vick is a total field general. Like the way he cooled them out and made the throws he needed too.
We still have trouble running the ball straight up also. Shady is good at the cut backs but straight up i for running. Were not so hot
EROCK, forget paying Shady right now. We need to take care of Desean and Vick first. Then Shady. Vick’s biggest strength is his deep ball. Desean is his deep threat. They go together like 2 and 2. So I hope we lock all 3 up for the next 5-7 years. Lets hope. We have a really good thing here on some Lakers stuff (Kobe, Shaq, and co.) You dont break that up!
Thats who i meant brosiff.
Harrison will be clutch down the stretch. When it gets cold and wet/muddy. Might be helpful.he seems like a MUDDER(Maddenism)….his mother was a mudder. Runs tough
McCoy has been terriffic so far and has developed into one the leagues best-all-around backs in his 2nd Season which is phenomenal. I have been most surprised and impressed with his strength and his ability to block and catch the ball out of the backfield since he wasn’t asked to do that much in college while at Pitt..He’s gottten stronger and has worked hard on protecting the ball and blocking
which have improved tremendously..
On A side note,, anyone like the Chad Hall getting a couple of carries instead of J Harrison…
I don’t, let Harrison get some carries to spell McCoy a little bit..
Harrison gets that call/carry instead of Hall down by the end-zone with a nice hole like that to run thru, he walks into the End Zone where Hall was stopped dead in his tracks..Let Hall catch a couple of slants,bubble routes, but let a full-time RB take the carries..
Yeah Paulman, I’m with you. Please put Chad Hall down. I guess he was only active because of Cooper but he should not have been running the Wildcat inside the 5 yard line. If anything, you let McCoy run that and he will find the hole because if Chad Hall bounces outside, it’s a TD. That’s something McCoy would have done. But Chad trying to run over someone was almost comical. Let Harrision pound it in. He can be the hard nose back to get you in from 3 yards out. That’s what he does. Chad Hall is a good story but I do not want him getting handoffs. If they get him the ball out in space, he can probably make some things happen but not in last night’s situation.
Wasn’t Ricky Watters a much bigger, powerful back? Something like 6-2 225 or something like that? I always looked at Ricky as more of a power back, an inside physical runner. I think Shady is more like Charlie Garner, especially the way Garner played with the Raiders, catching the ball out of the backfield. On a side note, it’s night and day how much Shady has improved since last year. He doesn’t even look like the same back to me. If they re-drafted the 09 draft, McCoy would be the first RB off the board.
shady always reminded me of barry sanders – running style. Now, of course catching the ball is something sanders was never asked to do, but then again, we don’t know that he couldn’t do it if asked….but straight up running style, it’s Sanders that is the best comparison. I said that myself (after hearing it from another Pitt student at the time to be honest), and then I heard from Shady’s mouth that Sanders was his idle and who he tried to mold his game off of.
And RUN – you are ridiculous. If you are joking fine. But if you don’t want to give the team any credit for picking anyone, just because they made draft errors in the past and focused on the QB, OL, Secondary and DL to build a franchise, instead of skill positions, then you are bitter beyond the point of being reasonable. If Shady ‘fell to them’, then why did they end up picking him? There were hundreds of players still ‘on the board’ at that point, and they CHOSE him. They didn’t say, ‘hey NFL, we’re handing you a blank sheet of paper cause we suck at drafting. Just throw everyone’s name up and whichever falls to us on the blank paper, give us that player’.
Please find a way to resolve your bitterness, because it’s clouding your judgment and ability to speak like a normal human being.
To paulydak..
I know we both have “Paul” in our names, But G said I was the only one that can use the intro
“On a Side Note” and have it patented under Paulman in the G-Cobb Rules and Warnings page…
To Schiller,
McCoy reminds you of Barry Sanders…wow, I would not have thought of him…
He reminds me of a Thurman Thomas a little bit with his versatlity and more like those RB’s from the 49ers hey day (Wendell Tyler, Roger Craig) who didn’t have breakaway speed, but were shifty, tough and versatile who did everything well..
@ ALL You who have a problem with the Ricky comparison…ESPECIALLY Dizzy who acted like that was an insult!…lmao..do you not know that Ricky Watters is one of the best running backs all time?..lmao!…Pauly Ricky wasn’t Big when he came into the league out of college..his body type was very similar. They are both from Pittsburgh, and Ricky was a mentor to Shady! Ricky gained weight and muscle as he got older…like 26-27 years old, around the time he came to Philly from San Fran thats when he got more big. Shady is one of the best all around backs and to be compared to somebody like Ricky is a compliment!
Vick and McCoy are the Eagles’ co-MVPs.
No Vinnie today?
Wilcher
I agree Watters is one of the best Eagles backs of all time. Unfortunately, some people only remember “For Who, For What?.”
@ wilcher…..they are both from Harrisburg…went to the same high school (Central Catholic I think)….which is why I believe they are often compared. Watters was a really good player, has a SB ring, and it should be seen as a compliment to be compared to him. He made a stupid comment after his aligator arms attempt in his first game with the birds, thus nobody wil ever forget the “For who..For what” player.
Green/Paulman
I missed most of the first half. Having gone back and read the recap, I see that Celek had a good first half. It appears that I was wrong in my assessment of his game. It also appears that Reid called a much better game in the first half.
I have no problem admitting when I’m wrong and I was clearly wrong.
drummer…agree, Watters was one of the better backs to have played for the birds.
Glad that you were able to catch at least a half of the game, knew you had choir practice. Unfortunately you had to live through the 3rd quarter. The game started good and we were moving the ball. Knew it would be high scoring…should have bet the over like I said yesterday!!
@green you are right it was Harrisburg..my apologies..but Ricky had a half career before he even came here…he was a beast in san fran..5 td’s in the playoffs vs. the g men…in that superbowl he had like a 45 yard td reception…all those wars san fran had with dallas and green bay..then he came here..lmao.,.Ricky to me is stride for stride with b west as far as eagles backs go, because on those watters teams, they knew he was getting the ball, we had no qb,..no o line….just Irving Fryar and Ricky…psssh..lol..they actually won a playoff game with that ass team!
You are correct Greenfan about Harrisburg and the same High School..
They definitely have a similar running style and bring a lot of the same skills and desire to excell
I agree. The styles are very similar.
By the Way,
I saw Vinnie and Kolb at the bus terminal outside of Philadelphia
Kolb was carrying a map of Phoenix with him for whatever it’s worth…
Hey I saw Kolb on the side line camera shot, talking to Vick a little game talk. The guy is a teamer, no bitterness (Least it doesn’t show), the man has my respect, so I will not take a shot at him ever outside an actual football play. As I have said before I would love to see him stay as a back up (Fat chance).
Love McCoy, we need to exploit his skill set, Andy has to see the problem he causes defenses. AR/MM have to balance out this threat, all our skill players indidually are potent, mixed and matched properly they are lethal and incurable. I damn kneel and pray that the coaches figure out the reality of this and unleash it upon the defenses of the league like a plaque. PLEASE ANDY, MARTY LET LOSE THE KRAKIN
@Monolith
yeah, I noticed that too…Respect to Kolb!
Lesean went to Bishop McDevitt
Hey I like Hall, he is a RB, WR, and can throw the ball. I know what you guys are saying not arguing the point there, its just I like the guy, he is another heart and gut player, and those kind of guys you can’t predict by watching film becasue they bring a do or die attitude that can hurt you, check out the pats little guys.
I seen Hall get wacked good a couple times get up and spin the ball, haaa got to love having that kind of guy around the locker room the practice field and on the sideline when the game is rough and spirits are low. Get ’em.
As always LONG LIVE THE EAGLES
@
@ Mono, do you know why Kevin gets along so well with Vick? Cause he doesnt give a damn about dogs either….lmao…he boar hunts down there in texas with the knife…my buddy does that…you send the hounds in to corner the boar..then you have to run in and stab the boar under the shoulder blade into the heart…How many dog do you think he has lost due to being gored in those hunts?..lmao…those tusks are razor sharp…Plus the dog fight damn near everywhere down south…Kev is probley like “dog fighting? psssh!”..lmao
To Paulman: niiiice lol. i will try to curb my side notes haha.
To Wilcher: I loved Ricky (except for the “for who, for what” business). I agree he was one of the most complete backs in history, I just thought that Shady’s running style and build are more like Garner than Watters. I wasn’t aware of the weight Watters gained throughout his career. I thought I remembered he was always around 220 or so and a few inches taller than Shady. McCoy said in a preseason interview that he played at 218 last year and felt heavy and slow so he hit the weights in the off season and lowered his bodyfat and weighed around 208 to start this year. I can see the difference that training made in his quickness and elusiveness this year.
Only kidding Paulydak,
I thought I was the only one who uses that expression…ha ha …
Wilcher, my man LOL. I bet there is some truth in there brother. hmmm then again Vick is a changed man he love them animals now.