LeSean McCoy is a fierce competitor, and after doing everything he could to return to the field in time for the Buffalo Bills’ Monday Night Football game against the New England Patriots, McCoy expressed his frustrations over his lack of production in Buffalo’s anemic offense.
After ripping off a 12-yard run out of the Wildcat on Buffalo’s first offensive play of the game, Shady’s next 11 runs gained a grand total of one yard, as every time McCoy tried to bounce a run outside, the Patriots were there to deny him.
McCoy did have success as a passing weapon out of the backfield, hauling in six passes (eight targets) for 82 yards, including a nice 24-yard catch. But McCoy will be the first to admit his ground game seems stuck in neutral at the halfway point.
McCoy, Buffalo’s Pro Bowl running back, has run the ball 75 times for 257 yards, an average of 3.4 yards per rush. He has yet to score a touchdown (rushing or receiving), and is on pace for by far the worst statistical season of his career.
“In 10 years, I’ve had bad games, but just the flow, the season, everything is just bad,” McCoy said following Monday night’s loss, Buffalo’s fourth time in six losses scoring fewer than seven points. “The hard work that we put in, the hard work I’ve put in my whole life, my whole career, for it to happen like this every game, it’s tough. You see the defense out there just grinding. So it is frustrating.”
If McCoy was going to get on track against any opponent, it figured to be the Patriots. Over his last five games vs. New England, Shady had rushed for at least 70 yards in every game. On Monday night, despite the Bills breaking out the Wildcat and getting McCoy the ball on direct snaps, he never came close to 70 yards.
“You put a lot of work and effort into your craft, your job and the results and outcomes are like the same, so it’s frustrating,” McCoy said. “I don’t know. I didn’t play good, so I guess. I thought it would be a better game running-wise. I usually run the ball good on them.”
McCoy knows he can still be the same featured back who just last year paced the Bills with 1,138 rushing yards and 448 receiving yards. But this year, playing on an offense with arguably the worst quarterback play in the league, and on a line that lost Eric Wood, Richie Incognito, and Cordy Glenn from last year, McCoy is suffering through a historically bad season.
“I still can play. I still can play. Defenses know I still can play. You see the way they approach me when I’m in the game,” McCoy said when asked if he felt he had lost a step or two as Buffalo’s primary offensive play maker.
There was rampant speculation that McCoy could be traded on Tuesday, but the 4 p.m. Eastern trade deadline came and went with McCoy still a member of the Bills.
“This is my team, . . . I’m happy here,” he said after the Monday night loss. “But it doesn’t matter whether I was here or anywhere else, playing a season like this, you would be mad. I don’t think it’s a matter of where I’m at. It’s just what’s been taking place and how things are going offensively. . . .What do I got, 200 yards? In the [eighth game]? That’s never happened to me. Yeah, it’s different. It’s a different season. I’m 30 years old, playing since when I’ve been in high school. This stuff [has] never happened to me. It is tough.”