LeSean McCoy: Underrated

When you play on an offense that has flashy playmakers like DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and the NFL’s biggest story Michael Vick it’s easy to be overlooked. Toss in LeSean McCoy’s unassuming attitude and it’s so easy for opposing fans to forget about him. However, the one guy you probably shouldn’t ignore is LeSean McCoy.

LeSean McCoy is so good that Merrill Hodge, football analyst of ESPN says that LeSean McCoy in his second year is a more developed between the tackle runner than Brian Westbrook was in his seventh or eight year. High praise when you’re starting to be considered better than the best Eagles runner in the modern era. 

Perry Fewell on LeSean McCoy: http://buzztap.com/-8qAX1C

"In my opinion, he is the guy," Fewell said. "The receivers, they get all the accolades, but if you look at the games and who damages you in the fourth quarter, against us it was McCoy, against Dallas it was McCoy. He’s the guy who inflicts the pain on you and the other guys get the glory, so he’s a tough cat to handle now.

"First and second down he’s getting that run, be it run or be it screens or what have you, but he’s just pounding away at you and then in the fourth quarter he gets stronger. He’s got a great will on him and he fights and he busts runs against you and he’s a very tough man to cover with 60 minutes of football."

LeSean McCoy’s Stats:

As you can see LeSean McCoy is having himself one heck of a season with 1510 all purpose yards. That means he is averaging over 116 yards a game and he has scored 9 total touchdowns. Just for comparison’s sake lets compare this to some other running backs’ seasons from the past.

LeSean McCoy is on pace to have a stat line that looks like this:

227 carries, 1,196 yards, 8 touchdowns, 86 catches, 662 yards receiving, 2 receiving touchdowns, 50 first down runs and 37 first down catches.

2009: Ray Rice

-2041 all purpose yards, 5.3 yards per carry, 8 touchdowns, 82 total first downs, 9.7 YAC Avg., 756 YAC 

2007: Brian Westbrook

-2,104 yards, 4.8 yards per carry, 12 touchdowns, 104 first downs, 9 YAC avg, 810 YAC 

2006: Steven Jackson

2334 yards, 4.4 yards per carry, 16 TD, 105 first downs, 8.8 YAC avg, 792 YAC 

1998: Marshall Faulk

2287 yards, 4.1 yards per carry, 10 touchdowns, 106 total first downs, 9.4 YAC avg, 808 YAC

Now why would I compare LeSean McCoy to them? Well first of all, they’re all great dual threat guys just like LeSean McCoy is. And yes, I realize that more than 100 yards short of the next closest all purpose yardage guy. But here is what I’m getting at, look at the amount of touches and yards per touch for these guys.

LeSean McCoy:

5.9 yards a touch, 3.5% of touches go for TDs and 28% of his touches go for first downs

2009 Ray Rice:

6.1 yards a touch, 2.4% of touches went for TDs and 25% of his touches went for first downs 

2007 Brian Westbrook:

5.7 yards per touch, 3.5% of touches went for TDs and 28% of his touches went for first downs 

2006 Steven Jackson:

5.3 yards per touch, 3.6% of touches went for TDs and 24% of his touches went for first downs 

1998 Marshall Faulk:

5.5 yards per touch, 2.4% of touches went for TDs and 25% of his touches went for first downs 

As you can see, statistically, LeSean McCoy per touch is producing just as well as some of the best all purpose yardage players in recent memory. I won’t bother comparing LeSean McCoy to 2001 Marshall Faulk, 2003 Priest Holmes, 2006 LaDanian Tomlinson and 2009 Chris Johnson because obviously those are some of the greatest runningback performances in history and LeSean McCoy isn’t that good, yet (he is only 22). 

Statistically, LeSean McCoy is one of the best running backs in the NFL. He is producing with some of the best running backs in the NFL despite the fact that he is receiving fewer touches than everyone else in the top 15 in rushing yards.

On this play he doesn’t really have to do much because of fantastic blocking but that’s something that LeSean McCoy is great at. If you give LeSean a sliver of daylight he can potentially take it to the house. LeSean McCoy obviously didn’t have to use much of his vision on this play but there are plenty of examples this year where LeSean McCoy will choose a different hole than designed and/or use his great sense of cut back lanes. And once LeSean gets into the open field, you’re in trouble, did you see him just freeze those Cowboys defenders?

This is a perfect example of LeSean McCoy’s cutback ability. The Giants played that run well, the intended hole was clogged but LeSean McCoy’s vision allows him to see that cutback lane. Once he gets into the open field he uses his elusiveness to escape the tackle by the safety. Like I said earlier, LeSean McCoy is deadly in the open field, I don’t think there are many guys who can match his skills in the open field in the NFL, I can only think of two off the top of my head, Jamaal Charles and Chris Johnson.

LeSean McCoy is just a perfect fit for this offense. He is deadly in space and this offense gives him space. Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson can clear out space underneath for LeSean to work with. The Eagles vaunted passing game keeps teams from stacking the box. Michael Vick forces teams to maintain their gaps and line up a bit wider all of which give LeSean more space to work with.

Is there a flaw in LeSean’s game? Sure there are little dings and dents but is there a big gaffe? I can’t think of one. He still isn’t a powerful guy, he won’t bowl over you but you need to wrap up because he has shown he can get yards after contact. Is he a grade A pass blocker? Not really but he is a solid B at this point and he is still getting better. 

If the Eagles are going to make a championship run, LeSean McCoy is going to be key and I think he is up for it. He is one of the most effective and efficient runners in the NFL this year.

So, in conclusion I’ll leave you with a question and a fact.

Question: Do you guys think that LeSean McCoy is as good as Brian Westbrook was?

Fact: LeSean McCoy has 5 runs of 40 yards or longer, most in the NFL.

And did I mention LeSean McCoy is only 22? The future is bright.