In the last few years, one of the biggest complaints about the Eagles offense was that they did not make enough use of running back LeSean McCoy.
The arrival of coach Chip Kelly this offseason signaled that McCoy’s portfolio would be expanding and expand it did in Monday night’s win. McCoy ran the ball 31 times and caught one pass, a healthy workload for any player and a feast for one that had his portions controlled a bit too zealously when Andy Reid was in charge. And in a case of being careful what you wish for, McCoy said Thursday that there needs to be more attention paid to splitting up the reps between him and Bryce Brown.
“I didn’t mind it Monday night,” McCoy said, via Tim McManus of PhillyMag.com. “I think we can do a better job rotating because it’s a long season. I don’t think I need to have the ball 31, 32 times in a game for us to be a successful offense. We have too many different weapons. I think the running backs we have here can definitely play. Bryce Brown showed you last year he’s definitely a talented back. So I think we have to do a better job of monitoring the reps.”
McCoy was careful to point out that it wasn’t a knock on coaches since he has leeway when it comes to checking in and out of the games in many packages, but it is something the Eagles will need to keep an eye on as the season unfolds. Their pace on offense is going to mean more snaps and more of a need to make sure that players aren’t being overextended. That’s especially true of players like McCoy, who will be taking hits at a higher rate than some of the other offensive players and will need more breathers as the year progresses to avoid diminished returns on the field.