Playing in what amounted to a massive snow drift, you expected the Philadelphia Eagles to lean on LeSean McCoy to run the ball against the Detroit Lions. What you didn't expect is for McCoy to set a franchise single-game rushing record in weather he should have been wearing snow shoes for.
Lions vs. Eagles 2013: LeSean McCoy loves snow days
SB Nation’s Lions and Eagles blogs weigh in on McCoy’s record-setting romp.
McCoy exploded for 216 yards -- 162 of them coming in the second half -- and ran for two touchdowns as he fueled the Eagles 34-20 comeback win. He had touchdown runs of 40 and and 57 yards in the fourth quarter as Philly overcame a 14-0 deficit to end the game on a 34-6 run.
Not only did McCoy’s record-setting day come in a snow globe, it came against a quality defensive unit, Brandon Lee Gowton explains at Bleeding Green Nation.
What’s especially impressive about McCoy’s rushing numbers is that they came against a good defense. Prior to Sunday’s game, the Lions were allowing an average of 83 rushing yards per game. That was good for third best in the NFL. The Eagles ran for 299 total yards. That’s 3.6 times more than Detroit’s average. In their last six games, the Lions had allowed 243 rushing yards combined. The Eagles rushed for that much and 56 more.
The Lions, who typically play in the protected environment of their dome in Detroit, looked completely lost in the elements. Sean Yuille at Pride of Detroit thinks their inability to move and protect the ball nullified strong play from the defense for most of the game.
I don’t fault the Lions for being so conservative considering how well the defense was playing. However, the offense doesn’t escape blame in this debacle. Their general inability to move the ball outside of a few drives, especially in the second half, helped lead to the defense being so gassed by the end of the game, and their inability to protect the ball prevented the Lions from pulling away early in the game. Yes, the weather stunk, but the Lions lost 3 fumbles and had 7 fumbles in total. The Eagles’ only turnover was an interception, and they only had a single fumble, which Foles recovered. Bad weather or not, the offense’s issues with protecting the ball continued on Sunday.
In fairness, it was really, really bad weather. Just ask Calvin Johnson.
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