Eagles' McCoy runs over Titans

FIVE DAYS after storming out of his weekly interview session with the media after someone asked him if he still was the same player who ran away with the league rushing title last season, LeSean McCoy let his actions answer the question yesterday.

On his first carry against the Titans, he hit a hole to the right, then cut back left for a 15-yard gain. On his third carry, he picked up 12 yards.

On his eighth, he took advantage of a terrific block by wide receiver Riley Cooper on Titans cornerback Brandon Ghee and bolted 53 yards down the left sideline.

On his 14th, he knifed through a hole between center Jason Kelce and left guard Evan Mathis for just his third rushing touchdown of the season.

McCoy finished with 130 yards on 21 carries as the Eagles cruised to a 43-24 victory.

Yes, he is the same player.

"You guys are going to have your opinions and write what you want," McCoy said after the game. "I'm fine with that. Most of the guys in the locker room, they know what's up. We're a team.

"If the running game's not going, I'll take the blame, or whatever. It doesn't really matter. All that matters is that we win games."

McCoy knows, though, that the running game and winning games are intertwined, particularly in Chip Kelly's offense, particularly with turnover-prone Mark Sanchez at quarterback.

"It's always good to get the run game going; particularly for what we do here," said right guard Andrew Gardner. "The play-action game and all the different stuff we do [benefits from a productive run game]."

McCoy got off to a horrible start this season, averaging just 2.7 yards per carry in the first four games. Since then, though, he has been fairly productive.

He's averaging 4.6 yards per carry in the Eagles' last seven games. Has rushed for 80-plus yards in six of those seven games. Rushed for 149 yards against the Giants and 117 against Houston and 130 yesterday.

The only real dud since Week 5 was a 12-carry, 19-yard game against Carolina.

"It could've been better still," Kelce said after McCoy and Darren Sproles combined for 155 yards and two touchdowns. "[Tennessee] got into some looks that were pretty hard to run against. We've got to execute better when we get those looks."

"I thought our guys did a good job up front," Kelly said. "I thought LeSean did a good job of hitting the hole today."

There was no hesitation, no dancing, against the Titans. No looking for the home run. McCoy hit the hole and took what he could get, which quite often was a lot.

Most of the Eagles' problems as far as running the ball consistently have had to do with the line, which started its seventh different lineup combination of the season against the Titans, with Gardner replacing Matt Tobin at right guard.

But the continuity slowly but surely is returning. Kelce and Mathis started their third straight game since returning from injuries. Right tackle Lane Johnson is back in the groove after missing the first four games because of a PED suspension. And All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters continues to play at an elite level.

"It's starting to click," said Peters, who had a big block on Sproles' 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead. "It's good to get Shady back rolling going into Dallas.

"I hope we can keep it going for him. He looked like the old Shady McCoy today. He was running around, and every time I looked up, he was breaking tackles. I was enjoying it."

So was McCoy. He broke the Eagles' single-season rushing record last season behind a line that didn't miss a single start. This year, it's been a lot of next man up.

Gardner didn't find out he would be the starting right guard until Friday. But he stepped in and played well in his third start of the season and first at right guard.

"Andrew had a great game," Kelce said. "For the most part, he was solid. No. 99 [defensive tackle Jurrell Casey] is their best defensive player, and he did a very good job against him.

"I heard [Casey] come up after the game and tell him he played really well. He was surprised how well he played as a backup coming in. Andrew's a solid player. He's a really smart guy. He understands technique, understands body position and leverage. He's been solid for us all year."

The Eagles played "11" personnel (one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers) most of the game. Three-quarters of McCoy's rushing yards last season came out of that formation. Going into yesterday's game, he had been averaging 4.4 yards per carry out of three-wide-receiver sets.

Ninety-four of his 130 rushing yards against the Titans, including his 53-yard run and his 2-yard touchdown run, came with "11" personnel on the field.

The Titans initially used nickel personnel (two linebackers, five defensive backs) against the Eagles' three-wide sets. But when they were unable to stop McCoy and Sproles out of that, they switched to base and stayed in base most of the game.

"They went to nickel early on, but pretty much after the first quarter, they were base throughout. We had some running success against their nickel and I don't think they felt they could defend the run very well with it. So they went to base early."

McCoy had 30 of his rushing yards on the Eagles' first possession following Josh Huff's 107-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that gave them a 7-0 lead. Had 100 on 14 carries by halftime.

"We just stuck to it," McCoy said. "Coming off a terrible loss to Green Bay, everybody focused in and just stuck to it. Everybody executed. The guys up front really blocked well. Even the guys outside, the wide receivers, they blocked well."

And now it's on to Dallas. They will be facing a Cowboys' defense that went into last night's game against the Giants ranked 27th in the league in rushing average.

They need another big game from McCoy.

"We're a pretty confident team now compared to last week at this point," Kelce said. "If you looked at the running game last week [against the Packers], there was a lot of really, really close stuff. I think if we had done a better job up front, the offense would've been in a lot better position.

"Coming back and answering this week with a really solid performance was good. "

Said Johnson: "We wanted to get the run game going and we did. Hopefully, we can carry it in to Dallas."

DID YOU NOTICE?
-- The nice block by tight end Zach Ertz to help spring Josh Huff on his game-opening 107-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
-- Running backs LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles were on the field together three times in the Eagles' first 13 plays. In the previous 10 games, they were on the field together just 15 times.
-- The Eagles once again operated primarily out of three-wide-receiver sets. They lined up in three-wide formations on 23 of their 30 first-half plays.
-- Connor Barwin used an inside stunt to sack Zach Mettenberger on third-and-10 on Tennessee's first possession. He got help from Vinny Curry, who was rushing from the other side and forced Mettenberger to step up in the pocket with an outside rush against right tackle Michael Oher.
-- Eagles wide receivers Brad Smith and Jordan Matthews both got tattoed by Titans DBs in the first quarter, Smith by free safety Michael Griffin, Matthews by strong safety Daimion Stafford.
-- McCoy ran out of bounds on his own on his 53-yard run in the second quarter.
-- The nifty fake Sproles put on linebacker Quentin Groves on his 7-yard reception on third-and-5 early in the second quarter.
-- Chip Kelly using two of his timeouts on the Titans' final possession of the first half so that there would be enough time left on the clock for his offense to get within field-goal range. The strategy worked, but Cody Parkey missed a 49-yard attempt.
-- Kelly met Lane Johnson on the field early in the fourth quarter after Johnson helped kill a drive with a personal foul and read him the riot act for losing his cool.
-- On his second interception, Mark Sanchez overthrew not one, but two Eagles receivers — tight end Zach Ertz and wide receiver Jordan Matthews.
-- Sanchez's lack of arm strength was evident on an underthrown deep ball to Jeremy Maclin in the fourth quarter. Sanchez did make several nice throws during the game including sideline passes to Maclin and Riley Cooper and his 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end James Casey between two defenders.
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Cody Parkey's 49-yard missed field goal at the end of the second quarter snapped a streak of 17 straight successful attempts.
-- The Eagles have given up a league-high 22 pass plays of 30 yards or more, including two yesterday.
-- With 59 receiving yards yesterday, Jeremy Maclin needs just 20 more to record the first 1,000-yard season of his career.
-- Maclin, who has a team-high 63 catches, doesn't have a dropped pass this season. In the last six games, he has been targeted 52 times and has caught 38 passes. That's a 73.1 catch percentage. In the Eagles' first five games, he had a 44.8 catch percentage (26 catches, targeted 58 times).
-- The Eagles have won 10 straight regular-season games at the Linc. That's the third longest regular-season home winning streak in club history and the longest since an 11-game streak in 1991-93.
-- Darren Sproles had 15 touches against the Titans — six rushing attempts, three receptions and six punt returns. That's the most since he had 19 touches in Week 1 against Jacksonville.
-- Yesterday's win over the Titans gave the Eagles a season sweep over their AFC opponents. It's the first time that has happened since 1991.
-- The Eagles have outscored their opponents 220-124 at the Linc.
-- Mark Sanchez recorded his third straight 300-yard passing performance. He is just the fourth quarterback in Eagles history to do that. Nick Foles did it earlier this season.
-- The Eagles are 19-3 when LeSean McCoy rushes for 100 yards.
-- The Titans entered the game ranked last in the league in third-down percentage. Against the Eagles, they converted just two of 12 third-down opportunities.
-- The Eagles converted just three of seven red-zone opportunities into touchdowns. In the last two games, they are 4-for-11 in the red zone.
-- With Sanchez's two interceptions yesterday, the Eagles now have a league-high 27 turnovers with five games to play. In the last 10 years, just one team has made the playoffs with 35 or more giveaways.
-- In the last six games, the Eagles have held opponents to 3.6 yards per carry and 89.7 rushing yards per game.
-- Titans tight end Delanie Walker had five catches for 155 yards against the Eagles. For the season, opposing tight ends are averaging 14.3 yards per catch against the Eagles (43 catches, 616 yards). But they have scored just one touchdown.