LeSean McCoy's nimbleness and cutting ability often make it nearly impossible for the opposing defense to bring him down on first contact. It's a truly astonishing sight to behold when McCoy, singled up on a defensive back or linebacker in the hole, freezes the bewildered player with his patented dead-leg move before galloping off in whatever direction seems likeliest to yield daylight.
But McCoy also has a penchant for sometimes dancing a bit too much in the backfield, relying on his otherworldly agility to make up for occasional breakdowns in the blocking ahead of him and trying to make defenders miss laterally when simply sticking his nose into the hole and staying north and south would instead serve him, and the team, best.
The usually electric McCoy managed just 50 yards on 17 carries against the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday, as part of a larger offensive effort that yielded 14 points, but was otherwise wholly anemic.
Afterward, one of the Seattle defenders who played a major role in limiting McCoy and the vaunted Eagles offense, claimed part of the reason for Shady's poor effort was his fear of contact from the overly physical Seahawks "D."
"We really wanted to make sure he felt us every single time he got the ball," Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said on KIRO-AM, according to Marc Sessler of NFL.com. "There was one play he fell back. It was me and him in the hole and he just fell down. He didn't want no part of the contact, so I think that probably got to him."
The Seattle defense, which sports a backfield known colloquially as the "Legion of Boom," have quite the reputation for playing sound, fundamental football, but even more so for being aggressive, physical and intense.
The entire Eagles offense, not just McCoy, seemed over-matched by the rugged nature of the Seahawks.
If they're going to have any chance of beating the Cowboys this weekend, breaking into the playoffs and potentially making some post-season noise, McCoy and the Eagles are going to have to quickly get comfortable with the notion of tough, smash-mouth football.
