Running back LeSean McCoy stood in his locker stall shortly after Sunday's 27-20 loss to the Redskins was in the books. Recapping his return to the field after missing four games with a concussion, McCoy explained how he was getting fatigued late in the game.
Certainly, the notion makes sense as his concussion only allowed him to begin really running again two weeks ago. But the biggest reason for getting winded was that he was carving up the Redskins defense late like a holiday ham.
"I'm a fighter," McCoy said. "I want to go out and compete. I feel like every time you get on the field it's an opportunity to show how good you really are.
"Plus, I haven't played in a while. I don't want you guys to forget about me."
McCoy's numbers in his return won't blow you away. He led the Eagles with 13 carries for 45 yards. He did most of his damage through the air, in fact, as he led the team with nine receptions and gained an additional 77 yards.
Sure, there were signs of rust early like when he missed a block on a double A-gap blitz which resulted in a sack by Redskins safety Madieu Williams in the third quarter. But in the game's final quarter, McCoy showcased the form which made him the league's best running back in 2011. He caught a short pass and turned it into a 21-yard gain, which on the next play resulted in a Dion Lewis 17-yard touchdown run up the middle.
"It was great having him back. You saw him make so many plays out there today," quarterback Nick Foles said. "When guys had him, he made them miss, he made several guys miss on several runs and catching it out of the backfield - he extended a lot of plays. He's such a playmaker so it was really great having him back out there to extend the plays. There were some crucial plays he made that helped us out a ton, so we've just got to keep feeding him the ball."
On the Eagles' final drive, McCoy shouldered the load as the team tried to rally from behind in thrilling fashion. McCoy gained 10 yards on the ground and had another 30 yards in the air. However, it was one play in particular which showcased his game-breaking ability as well as his football IQ.
The Eagles faced a fourth-and-2 from the Redskins' 17-yard line with 18 seconds left and no timeouts. McCoy caught the pass from Foles for the first down and churned upfield towards the end zone. McCoy got to the 5-yard line and could have tried to barrel it in for the touchdown, but he made the smart play and got out of bounds. With Redskins defenders ahead of him, McCoy knew he would likely have not reached the end zone.
"I knew I had to get out of bounds," McCoy said. "I knew how much time was on the clock. I'd have been selfish if I did that."
The Eagles had 11 seconds left on the clock after McCoy's fourth-down conversion. After tight end Evan Moore was unable to come up with a pass from Foles on a slant pattern, Foles was called for an illegal forward pass as he threw the ball away and it didn't reach the line of scrimmage. Even though there was still one second left, the penalty resulted in a 10-second runoff ending the game. It was not the way McCoy wanted his comeback game to end.
"I'd rather get blown out than lose like this," McCoy said. "To get so close. You work so hard. You've got to get the first down. You've got to get out of bounds. It's like everything has to right for you to convert in games.
"It's another situation where we didn't capitalize. That's kind of how the season went this year."
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