Jason Kelce: 'LeSean Is The Same Running Back'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Earlier in the week Eagles running back LeSean McCoy was asked, on two separate occasions, if he is the same player. Both times, McCoy was annoyed, and refused to answer the question about his possible decline.
Eagles center Jason Kelce defended McCoy on Friday, placing blame on the offensive line.
"Every running back is going to miss a few [holes]," Kelce told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show. "LeSean isn't missing anymore [holes] than he did last year. I think LeSean is the same running back as he was last year. I don't think he's changed one bit. I think the biggest thing is that we haven't given him the amount of opportunities and the holes that he was given last year. And I think, once again, I think we're close and it's only a matter of time at this point. Hopefully, it will be this week."
Listen to Jason Kelce on the 94WIP Morning Show:
Last year, the Eagles had the No. 1 ranked rushing offense averaging 160.4 yards per game on the ground. McCoy led the NFL is rushing, racking up over 1,600 yards.
This season, the Eagles rushing attack is averaging just 114.2 yards per game, 14th in the NFL, and McCoy is about 200 yards off his pace at this point last year.
The Eagles host the Titans on Sunday, the second worst rushing defense in the NFL. Will McCoy explode for a big game on Sunday?
"If you look back to the last two weeks we've played, the Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay Packers have both given up a lot of yards on the ground [also]," Kelce explained. "I try not to get to caught up to what teams have done in the past, 'cause teams have a tendency this year to play us a lot different than the way they play other teams."
"They're struggling with their run defense, so all the sudden they are playing a team that can run the ball really effectively at times, they're going to do everything they can to stop the run," Kelce said of the Eagles' opponents. "So they're changing a lot of things up schematically."
Kelce, who missed four games after having hernia surgery, and guard Evan Mathis, who missed seven games after spraining his MCL, are still getting back into the flow of things.
"It's one block here, one block there, you know little things that are really hindering the running game," Kelce said. "And I do think that it is very, very close, but we just gotta get back to---really what was so good for us last year was just the cohesion and everybody working together and everybody hitting the blocks, which then in turn, makes for these big running plays."
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