LeSean McCoy watched from the sidelines on Sunday as the Philadelphia Eagles clung to a six-point lead over the St. Louis Rams in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Darren Sproles carried the ball three straight times after the Eagles took a timeout with 3:42 remaining, including a crucial 25-yard pickup on 3rd-and-3. Why not McCoy?
On Monday, Eagles coach Chip Kelly said McCoy “took himself out” knowing that he rotates with Sproles and that Sproles is a good player. McCoy said on Wednesday that he did not pull himself and speculated that a comment he made to reporters after the game may have given Kelly that impression.
“What happened was after the game, they asked me do I take myself out when Darren [Sproles] comes in the game, yeah,” McCoy said, per Sheil Kapadia of PhillyMag.com. “The majority of the times, I take myself, I’m tired, I come out. Sproles can take over and do his thing, and we’re confident in him to do that. But the last drive, [running backs coach] Duce [Staley] pulled me out.”
McCoy has been shockingly ineffective this season after he racked up well over 2,000 yards from scrimmage last year. He has carried the ball 94 times for 273 yards in 2014, giving him an average of 2.9 yards per carry. Sproles, on the other hand, is averaging 6.9 yards per carry and 9.0 yards every time he touches the ball.
Even if he didn’t remove himself from the game, McCoy said he was fine with the decision.
“I’m OK with it. He must have felt like I was tired or whatever the case was,” McCoy said. “Duce is one of the guys I have tremendous confidence and trust [in]. So whatever he calls or wants to do, I’m totally fine with it. And it’s not like I had 10 carries or 18 carries. So it wasn’t an issue. He felt like I needed a blow. He pulled me out.
“There’s times where I am pissed like, ‘C’mon coach!’ but I really, truly trust him. Since he’s been here with me, it’s been nothing but great things. From workloads to pulling me out or to where I think I deserve the ball and I’m not getting it, passing game, whatever it may be. So that’s something where we have a bond — from football and outside of football, where I trust him.”
As Kapadia noted, McCoy has been particularly bad in the fourth quarter this year. He is averaging just 2.0 yards per carry in the fourth quarter after averaging 6.0 last year.
What’s wrong with McCoy? For starters, he is doing far too much east to west running. Teams have probably studied film on McCoy and are shutting down the edges to try to force him to run the ball inside. Until he starts running with more conviction, Sproles will continue to steal touches.
