Shady McCoy and O Line Pick Up Awards for Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles played their best game of this season by far on Sunday night, dismantling the Dallas Cowboys by a final score of 34-7.
There were two big factors that helped the Eagles gain their second straight victory after a disastrous 1-4 start: LeSean "Shady" McCoy and the Eagles offensive line.
McCoy rushed for a career high 185 yards on 30 carries against a Dallas team that came into Sunday night with top-ranked defense in the NFL against the run. For LeSean's efforts, he received the NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors today. McCoy, who has already rushed for 754 yards this season, has been drawing comparisons for weeks now to some of the best running backs in the game. The name that seems to be popping up most often recently is the legendary Lion, Barry Sanders. I won't go anywhere near so far as to make that comparison (Sanders is probably the best running back ever), but I will say that McCoy has shown some side-to-side moves and an elusiveness that are very reminiscent of Sanders. As far as running backs are concerned right now, you'd certainly have to consider LeSean McCoy one of the best in the NFL. More staggering to me than his 754 yards rushing in 7 games are his 10 touchdowns (8 rushing) so far.
Of course an offense and in particular, a running back, can't be successful without a superior offensive line. While the O line was a major concern coming into the season, and has continued to be at the top of this team's weaknesses, the O line has started to show some signs of gelling under new (to the Eagles) coach Howard Mudd. The Offensive line as a unit was awarded the Madden Protectors Award. For a unit that has been at the heart of criticism for much of the season, it had to feel good to be at the heart of success and recognition instead.
The Philadelphia Eagles (3-4) will take on the Chicago Bears (4-3) on Monday Night Football this week at Lincoln Financial Field in an attempt to get back to .500 on the season. If LeSean McCoy and the Eagles offensive line continue to play well, a second half run to the playoffs would not be out of the question by a team that many considered to be one of the best in the NFL only 7 weeks ago.
