In case you somehow hadn’t heard, LeSean McCoy is returning to Philadelphia this week with the Buffalo Bills for the first time since being traded by the Eagles this offseason.
The game will be a big deal for McCoy for two reasons. It’s a chance to face the Eagles for the first time since head coach Chip Kelly shipped him out in March, and it will be the first game McCoy has been able to play back in his home state since joining the Bills.
Former Bills running back and Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas cautioned McCoy to not get too emotional with the circumstances surrounding the game this week.
“Obviously, going back to where he grew up is going to be a big, emotional day for him,” Thomas said, via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. “But I told him today, I said, ‘You know what? The last time that the Bills and former players were emotionally high, was the New England game and we can’t allow ourselves to do that. You can’t allow yourself to get caught up into what’s going to be happening with the game. Especially with the crowd, and Chip, and all that. You have to go out and keep doing what you’ve been doing the past four or five weeks and you’ll be fine.”
McCoy’s opinion of Kelly was made perfectly clear when he said he wouldn’t be shaking his hand at the stadium this week. Thomas knows McCoy will be fired up for the game knowing the personal circumstances surrounding it. But with the playoffs still a possibility, he hoped to relay to McCoy the importance of focusing on the bigger picture.
McCoy doesn’t need to change anything on the field. He’s been averaging nearly 98 yards a game over the last five weeks for Buffalo.