Once again, LeSean McCoy does his part in an Eagles loss at the hands of the lowly Arizona Cardinals who came into Sunday’s game with just two wins.
McCoy came into Sunday’s game as the NFL’s leading rusher. He finished the game with just 14 carries and still managed to add up 81 yards. Adding three receptions and 12 yards, McCoy finished just seven yards short of his eighth 100-yard game of the season.
The Eagles failed to give their biggest playmaker the ball when they needed plays the most. In the third quarter, McCoy ran the ball four times for 48 yards, a twelve yard average. However, in the fourth quarter, the Eagles gave him the ball only twice. With those two carries, only one yard was gained.
When the NFL’s leading rusher, and the team’s biggest offensive threat only carries the ball 6 times in an entire half when you are trying to put a team away, there is something wrong.
“We have to do a better job all the way around,” Andy Reid said when asked about McCoy’s lack of carries.
Just for perspective, the NFL’s top five leading rushers average 19.2 rushing attempts per game, and are the cornerstones of their team’s offenses. Number 25 has showed more than enough this season to be the cornerstone of the Eagles offense.
Late in the second quarter, McCoy made Eagles history once again. With his one yard touchdown, the Eagles first offensive score of the game, he broke Steve Van Buren’s franchise record with a touchdown in his 9th consecutive game. He is also only the fourth running back in history to start the season with 9 straight games with a touchdown. McCoy is on pace to break many other franchise records, and barring an injury, he will likely pass a few more in the coming weeks.
Shady’s opposing running back, Chris “Beanie” Wells, carried the ball 23 times in his team’s victory. Wells only rushed for 62 yards, a 2.7 yard average. Yet the Cardinals continued to give Wells the ball to keep a balanced offense. At the end of the game, the Cardinals could use 3 and 4 men fronts and shut down the pass.
By forgoing the run, the Eagles became one-dimensional and relied on the pass to try to put the game away. Vick, who had one of his worst games in his career, completed below 50 percent of his passes and threw 2 interceptions, one on the final drive to seal the Cardinals 20-17 win. Vick finished the game with a 32.5 QB rating, his lowest since his 22.7 rating in 2006.
When a quarterback is having a career worst game against the league’s 4th worst passing defense, the running back is there to rely on. In the Eagles case, their running back is arguably the best in the league and he still only touched the ball 17 times in Sunday’s game.
As McCoy explains, “Late in the game, we are not going for the jugular and finishing the game in the right way.”
One way to go for the opposing team’s jugular, when you are leading, is to wear the defense out with the run. McCoy’s 5.5 yards per carry average entering the game would have ended the Cardinals day early.
However, the Eagles relied on the pass and only gave the ball to the NFL’s leading touchdown scorer 17 times. A loss to the lowly Cardinals was the result of Sunday’s poor coaching and the neglect to give their superstar running back the
One word “Arrogance”. When D-Jax was benched, they did not make adjustments to the game plan. Sad, sad… I wanted that Jimmy Johnson made Defense gone last year… now I want it back, it wasn’t the defense, it’s the PLAYERS!!! Where is the FIRE in this team, where is the HEART!!!
With both of our starting receivers out of the game, how did Reid NOT give the ball to McCoy for 13 and a half minutes, especially after he had just run for 29 yards. To make matters worse, the Cards rank near the bottom of the league against the run.
And With the game on the line, none of our premier CBs was covering Larry Fitzgerald, it was Jarrod. How is that?
Why should DeSean Jackson have been benched? He learned his time management from Reid.
Drummer… I think that is the question that all the DE Valley had yesterday. That was after Vick had 9 pass attempts on the first 3 failures, I mean drives. I just don’t get it.
The man coverage thing has been a question all year. Larry Fitz is their only dangerous WR. Nnamdi shouda been in his pocket all game. Scrap the zone coverage. Let Assante and Nnamdi play man all of the time.
Benie wells was averaging about 2 yards per carry, but he got the ball more than McCoy. And guess what, towards the end, he broke off some key big runs.
bugsyhawk
Vick is playing like crap. I believe Reid is also responsible for that, but that’s another story altogether.
But let’s assume that Vick is just a really bad QB. Why not take the ball out of his hands and give it to McCoy?
Tebow won without throwing the ball because his coach realized that he needed to play to his strengths.
I agree 100% with you.
I told you all to calm down after the dallas game, we’re talking about reid here. how much longer do we have to be married to andy? i don’t even participate anymore. the city of philadelphia laughs at this organization
Is anyone surprised. Square peg in round hole Reid, invented the game. He is the biggest, stubborn, egotistical, SOB, that I’ve ever seen. He see’s that running the ball, got him a huge win against Dallas, so just to be a stubborn SOB, 2 games in a row he abandons it, & loses badly. He NEEDS TO BE FIRED!!! He is a stubborn, egotistical, illogical, stupid, bastard, & will never change for the better.