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McCoy like his old self again

On his first carry of the night against the New York Giants, LeSean McCoy took the football from Nick Foles, looked for a gap in the line, and saw only a clot of humanity and nowhere much to go. McCoy shouldered his way into the mob to gain a couple of yards, and you would have forgiven him for wondering if the sixth game of the season was going to be as frustrating personally as the first five had been.

LeSean McCoy runs with the ball against the Giants. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
LeSean McCoy runs with the ball against the Giants. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

On his first carry of the night against the New York Giants, LeSean McCoy took the football from Nick Foles, looked for a gap in the line, and saw only a clot of humanity and nowhere much to go. McCoy shouldered his way into the mob to gain a couple of yards, and you would have forgiven him for wondering if the sixth game of the season was going to be as frustrating personally as the first five had been.

Last season's NFL leader for rushing yardage has become a targeted man this season, with opposing defenses choosing to make Foles and the passing game beat them. McCoy was marked each time he went on the field, and the result was a 2.9 yards-per-carry average and not a single run longer than 21 yards all season.

And then it was the Giants on Sunday night, and everything got better.

Not just for McCoy, but for every phase of the game as the Eagles put together their most consistent performance of the season in the 27-0 win. That's saying something for a team that has now won five of its six games, but while some of the other wins were done with smoke and mirrors, this one was gained by smoking the Giants.

"This was a big game. It was the game when we put it all together," McCoy said.

Two plays after being stuffed on his opening run, McCoy got to the edge and turned the right corner for 12 yards, and, on the next play, he went up the middle for 18 yards. If the exhale in Lincoln Financial Field wasn't audible, that was because it was covered up by the cheers.

McCoy looked like himself again, changing directions with stutter-step moves that left defenders grasping and letting the stadium lights sparkle off the silver soles of his cleats. By the end of the first half, McCoy had 85 yards on 12 carries, more yardage than he had gained in any full game this season. By the end of the game he had 149 yards on 22 carries, his first 100-yard game of the season.

"We're 5-1 with me over 100 or under 100. That's what really matters," McCoy said. "I never lost confidence. If we're not a good running team, why do teams come in and stack the box against us?"

As McCoy was able to get it going Sunday night, he forced New York to pay more attention to him. The Giants started the game with their two safeties back in coverage, but they had to eventually bring one into the box and creep closer to the line as a unit. That opened up the passing game for Foles. The Eagles ran the ball nine times in their 19 first-quarter plays and then, with the Giants sucked in, threw it 14 times in their 20 second-quarter plays as they built a 20-0 halftime lead.

Foles used play-action fakes to McCoy and Darren Sproles as he drove the team for 274 yards in the first half and finished two of the drives with touchdown passes to tight ends Zach Ertz and James Casey.

Maybe it wasn't a perfect night all around. Foles threw two interceptions, neither of which led to New York points, and there were still some plays in which McCoy couldn't locate a lane. The Eagles slowed things down a little bit after going up by 27-0 on a touchdown run by Sproles midway through the second half, and the Giants knew they would be running the ball.

Still, compared to the rest of the season, it was close enough to perfect for McCoy. A week before, he had been yanked from a big series late in the game by running backs coach Duce Staley, even though it took both McCoy and the Eagles several days to admit that. Staley said he thought McCoy just needed a breather and perhaps that was true, but the situation only added to McCoy's frustration. Sunday night, the frustration broke.

"I feel I made better decisions. Just go and hit it, whether the hole is there or not," McCoy said. "But the guys up front were blowing them off the ball the whole game."

Even if the Eagles had banged together another win out of balsa and thumbtacks, it wouldn't have meant as much without a good game from McCoy. If the Eagles were becoming one-dimensional, the wins wouldn't have kept arriving forever.

Now the doubt has been cleared for the time being. It might be that the Giants just stunk up the joint, and McCoy's struggles aren't over. But for one night, for one game, the cleats flashed, the tacklers fell out of his way, and LeSean McCoy was on the loose again. It seemed as if it had been a while.

@bobfordsports