LeSean McCoy has done a tremendous job adapting to the NFL game after being selected in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft out of Pittsburgh.
Now, his replacement at Pittsburgh, Dion Lewis, is literally following the same footsteps as his teammate. Except this time around, Lewis won’t be replacing McCoy any time soon.
He will, however, team up with McCoy, along with Ronnie Brown, to form what could be one of the best running trios in the league.
Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg has been a huge supporter of Lewis so far in training camp, claiming that Lewis has been “outstanding” up to this point.
“The man can run the football, and then last week he proved that he can pick up a blitzer and a physical man who was a linebacker, and in fact he did it twice,” said Mornhinweg. “That’s what I was looking for there out of him. Some of the small stature guys can’t do that, and they’re not in this league very long.”
He even went as far as to say that Lewis has a similar skill set to that of Brian Westbrook.
“Many of them can, for instance, Brian Westbrook. Now, some of these fellas are a little shorter than you think, but they’re bigger than you think, and Dion is stacked pretty good. Fundamentals and technique-wise, he’s got to get better there. So those two things come right to the forefront of my mind,” said Mornhinweg.
If Lewis can be half the player Westbrook was, than the Eagles have found themselves a diamond in the rough. But as Mornhinweg notes, the two players aren’t identical in the way they play the game.
“I think they’re just a little bit different, just a little bit different. It’s hard for me, I think it would be unfair to Dion and Brian to compare those two at this stage, because Brian was such a great player. Brian could do everything. Brian was one of the top, let’s say, five runners in the league,” said Mornhinweg.
“He was, I think, probably the best pass protector at his position in the league. He could go out at a receiver spot and run routes, and catch the ball, and score touchdowns, as good as many receivers in this league, so Brian was a special player. Style-wise they’re just a little bit different, probably in the same mold though.”
There’s a lot to love about this Eagles team. With their flashy wideouts, Pro-Bowl cornerbacks, and one of the most exciting players in the game, Michael Vick, the running backs are often forgotten on this team.
McCoy had an incredible season in 2010, leading the team in receptions, yet failing to find a spot on the Pro Bowl roster.
But no worries, McCoy, Brown and Lewis will quietly go about their business in 2011; call it a stretch, but McCoy will earn his first bid to the Pro Bowl and Lewis, who led the team with 26 yards on 10 attempts in the opening game, will make a push for McCoy’s franchise rookie rushing record of 606 yards. (Lewis will have to average 38 yards per game to eclipse the record).
The great curtis martin who attened pitt said dion lewis was the best to come out of pitt since tony dorsett.. dion and shady will team up nicely .. you need at least 2 star running backs .. ie. panthers, ravens ,giants raiders , eagles have so many weapons its crazy.. but i guess theyre all for michael vick.. who marty mornhinweg said “who wouldnt wanna pay with michael heck id wanna play with michael..”
Although I personally love Dion Lewis and what he brings to the table……is the news really that slow that we need to have an article about the third string running back after one preseason game?
everyones waiting for maclins story tomarrow 🙂
Bird this was nice to know info for me. I am good with it.
Birdo – I too am fine with this article. This article is precisely the reason I come to this site. It is easy to disparage this story by saying why write about the 3rd string RB? But remember, BWest was once a rookie 3rd string RB behind Duce and Buck back in 2002. Anyone who thought BWest would become what he became for the Eagles would have been laughed at back then b/c after all he wasn’t going to be anything more than a 3rd down specialist. At least that is what was being said about him at the time. So this story is very welcome in my eyes, not to mention the Curtis Martin quote is something I hadn’t seen before. Birdo, it is always OK to not have any interest in a particular story, but I caution you to not equate your disinterest with a “slow news day” or assume that others in the market place of Eagles stories only care about what you care about. People love playing and talking about Fantasy Football, but I don’t think my own personal lack of interest should hold sway on what stories are written about that subject. Just my thoughts on the matter.
It is nice to hear we successfully drafted another good running back. Remember the three-headed monster!
Some of us no longer live in Philadelphia and love any information we can get about the Eagles.
I remember watching a pitt game last year… I forget the game, but I watched this lil guy run around the field untouched, time after time. The announcers were speaking about how he was not even a highly regarded high school prospect and his brother or someone sent a DVD to Dave Wannstedt because he was not even really being recruited. After he watched the dvd of dion’s high school games, he knew he wanted him and ended up starting at pitt the next year. I thought he was going to be a special RB after watching that game and was excited as hell when the eagles drafted him…
Based upon our recent draft history – how many others would rather draft or sign someone from Pitt over anyone from Notre Dame?
ND sucks! (I’m a pitt fan/alumn so yes I’m biased) but aside from that, who was the last good player to come out of ND that made it in the NFL at all? Tuck? Aside from him?
Birdo – on the other side of the fence on this one and agree with xtian that this kind of article that I look for from this site and leaps an dbounds better than that post about Eagles open to trade talks fro Samuel.
Great to see that others also think that we’ll have a good stable of RBs. My only concern, as its been for 6+ years, Andy is a passaholic and his RBs running skills go to waste. I can only hope that Mudd will have enough of an influence on this team that we’ll actually have a true running threat and a somewhat balanced offense. Yes, I said “somewhat” because this team isn’t built for run first, pass 2nd but it certainly needs more balance to be successfull against the higher calaber teams they’ll see in the playoffs and running the ball, despite Andy’s opinion, isn’t a switch you effectively turn on and off.
I have no problems with WRITING about the third string RB — but lets at least wait until he does something in a GAME that counts before showering him with praise — thats all I’m saying.
Brian Rolle had a great game too but I don’t see any articles on him…hmmm….some ppl just fall in love with the flash much too quickly.
Zoltek, were you thinking of the Meineke bowl game two years ago? He rushed it 28 times for like 160 yards. He was amazing in that game.
againts the UNC Tarheels wasn’t it in a back and forth wild game .. like 28-27..