Didinger To McCoy: 'Worry About' Buffalo
By Chris Stigall
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In an interview with ESPN The Magazine, former Philadelphia Eagles running back and current Buffalo Bill LeSean McCoy said that head coach Chip Kelly "got rid of all of the good black players," implying race was a reason for some of the moves Kelly has made since arriving in Philadelphia in 2013.
Pro Football Hall of Fame writer Ray Didinger told Talk Radio 1210 WPHT morning host Chris Stigall what his advice would be for McCoy if he was the NFL--- grow up.
"Why don't you worry about the team you're with now?" Didinger said said. "OK, you have enough problems playing with the Buffalo Bills. You've got enough on your plate trying to get the Buffalo Bills off the mat. Just forget about where you came from and just focus on the here and now."
Listen: Ray Didinger on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT
While trying to rationalize where the running back's mindset is, Didinger says that the rocky relationship between McCoy and Kelly stemmed at least in part from the coach's refusal to treat him like a star.
"He felt like he had earned the right to be treated like a star and Chip kept sending the message last year, 'no you're just another player' and I think that rankled him."
While there are coaches around the league that have different rules for the stars than for the rest of the team, Kelly is not one of them.
"I think Chip is a different cat, I really do. I think more so than almost any coach in professional football, he still views the team as the team, in some respects that's a little bit of the feeling that he's carried over from college. That's kind of how college coaches treat their players and to some degree I think that's how Chip treats these guys."
Overall, Didinger is unsure about what the NFL or the Eagles should do in response to the comments, but he is positive that these comments differ from the message that this organization has sent during his extensive time around it. He points out specifically the posters of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa hanging on the office walls that he feels at least partly, shows a different culture than what McCoy was implying.
"What McCoy said yesterday, no organization would have liked it, but I don't think any organization would have been cut deeper than what the Eagles have right here."