Four Reasons Lesean McCoy is on Track for a Historical Season in Buffalo
- Bills Fanatics BF
- Jul 26, 2015
- 4 min read
Lesean McCoy for Kiko Alonso is old news, but it’s safe to say that the trade that brought Lesean McCoy to Buffalo shocked us all. Was this trade a total steal for the Buffalo Bills? Some think so. Others not so much. But only time will tell the tale. Regardless of how Alonso does in Philadelphia, McCoy is destined to have a memorable season in Buffalo this year.
Here’s why:
1.) His Offensive Line will be better than what he had in Philadelphia
Okay, we all know that the Bills’ offensive line isn’t the greatest. However, it would take a lot to call them worse than the injury-plagued Eagles’ line last year.
According to Profootballfocus, the Eagles’ offensive line ranked 29th in run blocking in 2014, but that statistic shouldn’t surprise many due to the amount of injuries they suffered. In fact, the Eagles ended up using 10 different starters in the offensive line over the course of the season: a running back’s worst nightmare. Injury problems may very well arise again this season for the offensive line, so there is no guarantee that they will be better this time around. The Eagles will also be without pro bowl guard Evan Mathis this year, as he was cut by the team. Don’t expect the Eagles’ offensive line to rank much higher than 29th this year.
On the other hand, it’s quite easy to say that Rex Ryan has made sure to address the Bills’ area of need in the offensive line. The Bills have added veteran pro bowl guard Richie Incognito into the mix, and they also drafted Louisville guard John Miller, who already “looks like a 10 year vet” according to Rex Ryan. At the tackle position, last year’s 2nd round pick Cyrus Kouandijo has shown drastic improvement already, and is poised to be a starter. The Bills’ offensive line looks like it is ready to take it’s game to the next level, and that is only good news for Lesean McCoy.
The Eagles’ offensive line hasn’t been able to rank higher than 25th in run blocking since 2010. Don’t blame McCoy at all for last year’s slight decline in that stat sheet. Even with very little help from his offensive line, McCoy was able to pull off 1319 yards and 4.2 yards per rush. I’m not saying it’s impossible that the Bills will be as unlucky as the Eagles last year, but the chances that the Bills will suffer that many injuries at the offensive line positions are very, very low. A healthy, high potential Bills’ offensive line is one of the reasons why McCoy will find success in Buffalo.
2.) He will be getting the ball A LOT
When it comes to having a standout season for a running back, the number of touches really matters. Rex Ryan has made it clear that he wants to feed Lesean McCoy the football as much as he can. We already know Rex Ryan is a huge fan of the ground and pound offense: where the offense fearlessly runs the football down the throat of the defense. During his tenure with the Jets, Ryan’s team has ranked 4th, 5th, 6th, 16th, 2nd and 1st in rushing attempts for each of his six years.
“We’re going to run it 50 times a game if we can,” said Ryan. Okay, this might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but there is no question that Rex Ryan is going to give the ball to McCoy as much as possible - and McCoy is most certainly capable of taking this heavy workload. For the last two seasons, McCoy leads the league with a total of 626 rushing attempts. If there’s a back that take this workload - it’s McCoy.
With a player like McCoy coming into Buffalo and consuming majority of the workload, it means that other players will receive less touches - especially running backs. As a positive note, the players are fine with that. Fred Jackson claimed that he would love to see McCoy get more than 300+ carries even with his own workload cutting in half. The last Bills running back to get more than 300 carries in a season was Willis McGahee in 2005, so this will be something that the Bills’ offense hasn’t seen in a while.
3.) Greg Roman’s Offense will put McCoy to work
Greg Roman is an offensive minded genius, to say the least, especially when it comes to run blocking. The Bills offense can expect a lot of complex formations and a bunch of tricks headed their way. This only makes McCoy’s job easier because opposing defenses will continuously be on their heels. During Roman’s 4 year tenure as the offensive coordinator with the 49ers, his team ranked 8th, 4th, 3rd, and 4th in rushing yards. We can see that Greg Roman’s style mainly focuses on the run, and that is only good news for Lesean McCoy.
What really makes Roman’s offense different from anything the Bills have had is that Roman’s offense constantly utilizes a fullback and multiple tight ends for blocking. It’s been a while since the Bills have had a dominant fullback or a dominant blocking tight end. But they may have already found what they needed by picking up fullbacks Jerome Felton and John Conner along with tight end Charles Clay in the offseason. Both Felton and Conner were top 10 fullbacks last year via Bleacher Report. Clay on the other hand, is a hybrid tight end who can be a solid receiver and a solid blocker. These additions to the offense will do wonders for McCoy this season.
4.) He’s the most Talented Running Back in the NFL
Okay, there are a lot of talented running backs in the league, but how many of them are true bell cow backs that can take well over 300 carries a season? Not a lot. Many backs also have nagging injury concerns that have never allowed them to come back to full form. The Bills have had their share of talented, injury-prone running backs, ex: C.J Spiller. Don’t believe that McCoy is that good? Watch this:
How many great running backs without injury problems or off field issues are ready to take on a major workload of carries this season? Only one. And he’s about to have a historical season in Buffalo.
Aishik Lala @DirtyShik809
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