Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
GOTHAM Home | Cast & Crew | Contact Us | Shop | Press & News | Episodes
Add Reply
LeSean McCoy gets attention from defenses, media
Topic Started: Nov 17 2014, 03:50 AM (68 Views)
yyyjia



PHILADELPHIA -- Nobody asked Jeremy Maclin if he http://www.nfllionsofficial.com/Calvin-Johnson-Jersey was frustrated. The Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver caught 18 passes for 345 yards and four touchdowns in the two previous games, at Arizona and Houston.

Against the Carolina Panthers Monday night, Maclin caught three passes for 38 yards. Mark Sanchez threw the ball 37 times, but he found the team's leading receiver just three times. Jordan Matthews caught seven passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. After the game, he joked, “I feel like Jeremy Maclin.”
How did Maclin feel? Nobody asked. How did running back LeSean McCoy feel after carrying the ball 12 times for 19 yards, a 1.6-yard average? That, we know, because McCoy was asked about it every which way. He was asked Monday night, immediately after the Eagles' 45-21 victory. And he was asked about it Thursday afternoon, when he held a brief news conference after practice.

“I think the individual goals and achievements are always second,” McCoy said. “We’re winning games and being a successful team so that’s all that really matters at the end of the day. I mean, sure, I would like it different. I think every player would like it different. But the main focus and the main thing that matters the most is that we’re winning.”

The Eagles are 7-2 and in first place in the NFC East. Injuries along the offensive line and the approach of opposing defensive coordinators have made McCoy’s preseason boasts about rushing for 2,000 yards feel like echoes from another era. McCoy is sixth in the NFL in rushing yards, nearly 600 yards behind Dallas’ DeMarco Murray.

That’s tough to swallow for the guy who led the league in rushing last year.

“I think he takes it a little bit personally,” center Jason Kelce said. “I think it has more to do with us up front than it has to do with him. They did a great job of doing some things schematically in that Panthers game and really tried to take away the things we did on the ground.”

At times, coach Chip Kelly seems content to respond to such defensive tactics by throwing the ball more, as he did against Carolina. But as the weather Cowboys Demarcus Lawrence Womens Jersey gets cold and conditions become worse, it will be important for the Eagles to establish their running game regardless of what the defense does.

“Teams are going to try to take the run away from us,” Kelce said. “That’s what we do really effectively. Teams are trying to do some things that are tough from a blocking perspective. But we have to do a better job. Even when it’s hard to run, you’ve still got to be able to get three, four, five yards out of it and still move the chains. We haven’t been very effective this year doing that.”

The Carolina game was the first with left guard Evan Mathis, who injured his left knee in the season opener. That made it the first game with Matt Tobin playing right guard after filling in for Mathis on the left side. It was Kelce’s second game since a month-long hiatus due to surgery on a sports hernia.

That might explain why the line wasn’t as http://www.patriotsnflofficialonline.com/John-Hannah-Jersey effective as it could be. It also suggests things could improve as the five linemen play together more.

“I think LeSean is doing a really good job,” Kelly said, “but there are a lot of times it’s not blocked up well enough for him to hit anything. So it's not all on one guy.”

Even if it feels sometimes like it is.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · General Discussion · Next Topic »
Add Reply