Chip Kelly Says LeSean McCoy 'Took Himself Out' Late
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- With under three minutes left in the game the Eagles were staring at a new set of downs after a 25-yard Darren Sroles run. It was 1st and 10 from the St. Louis 48-yard line. The Eagles held a six point lead.
LeSean McCoy, their most explosive offensive weapon and an elite fourth-quarter closing running back, was on the sideline. The Eagles ran the ball four times in a row, Sproles getting each carry, and eventually the Eagles were forced to punt the ball back to the Rams. In between those four straight Sproles' runs, were two St. Louis timeouts.
So where was Shady?
"LeSean took himself out," Chip Kelly told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on his weekly Monday morning call-in. "He rotates and he knows Sproles can play. I think we have two marquee running backs. I don't change how we call things. I don't do anything differently when Darren is in the game. I think Darren had seven carries, you know, 51 yards averaged 7.3 yards a carry. So, I think he's pretty good in what we do."
Listen: Chip Kelly on the 94WIP Morning Show
McCoy admitted to taking himself out of the game, as well.
"Well, I came out," McCoy said after the game on Sunday. "No, I actually came out. Me and [Darren] Sproles, we work together no matter if it's a run or a pass. We kinda work together. I touched the ball a lot tonight, or today, 20-something carries something like that. Next time we really got to finish it though. If it's me or him, we got to finish the game out."
The Eagles defense did indeed get one final stop and the Birds held on to beat the Rams 34-28, improving to 4-1 on the season. Nevertheless, the Eagles squandered a 34-7 second-half lead and key players like McCoy and quarterback Nick Foles are struggling.
"Conflicted," Kelly said when asked how he feels about the win. "Obviously, it's very difficult to win in this league. You're five games in, there's not one undefeated team in the league. You're gonna take a win anyway you can, but we still can play better as a football team."
Kelly was asked to assess the performance of his quarterback, so far this season.
"I think Nick is just, like the rest of our offense, there are spurts there," Kelly explained. "You know, and that's what I told everybody. I told our guys in the locker room after the game, I thought we need more consistency from an offensive standpoint and that's everybody. That's the quarterback, the offensive line, the running back, the wide receivers, the coach, everybody. All of us."
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