Reemergence of LeSean McCoy and Riley Cooper Has the Eagles Back on Track

I was beginning to worry about LeSean McCoy. 

Prior to Sunday, running against stacked defensive boxes and behind a depleted offensive line, the Pro Bowl Philadelphia Eagles running back was in the biggest rut of his career. 

Between Week 3 and Week 5, McCoy had a total of just 120 yards on 53 carries. Among the 51 players who had at least 20 rushing attempts during that span, McCoy's 2.3 average ranked 49th. 

For the league's reigning rushing champion, that's pretty much an unprecedented slump. 

But Sunday night, as the Eagles crushed the division rival New York Giants, everything was right again in McCoy's world. For the first time all season, he averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry. It was also his first 100-yard rushing performance of the year, as he put together 149 yards on 22 attempts. 

And I was already wondering if Riley Cooper would ever be the same again.

The wide receiver, who had a breakout 2013 campaign with career highs in receptions (47), yards (835) and touchdowns (8), was MIA for the first five weeks of the 2014 season. He had just 19 catches, 158 yards and one touchdown entering Sunday's game, but Cooper was Philly's leading receiver, with five grabs for 59 yards in the victory over New York. 

Quarterback Nick Foles had a hell of a 2013 season, leading the league in yards per attempt, passer rating and touchdown-to-interception ratio. But that wouldn't have happened had he not received such a remarkable amount of support from his top weapons, DeSean Jackson, McCoy and Cooper. 

By getting rid of the talented but somewhat provocative Jackson in the offseason, head coach Chip Kelly gambled that with help from guys like Jeremy Maclin, Darren Sproles, Jordan Matthews and Zach Ertz, McCoy and Cooper could continue to be top-of-the-line weapons for Foles in 2014. 

That was hardly the case, until everything came together on Sunday night. 

The Giants gave McCoy boxes like these, and he made them pay:

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With the Giants laying off in the box, McCoy was able to spring for 12 yards and 18 yards on back-to-back first-possession carries, setting the tone for the entire evening.

It helped that the offensive line—which is still missing two starters, left guard Evan Mathis and center Jason Kelce—had the same five guys start and finish the game for the second straight week. Cohesion is so critical to the success a line has, and this makeshift unit has finally become comfortable together. 

"There were tons of running lanes," McCoy said, according to ESPN.com's Phil Sheridan. "I never lost confidence in myself and the guys up front. Surprisingly, they played a lot of two [safeties] high. They left a safety out of the box, which was different."

That opened things up for the passing game, especially when New York attempted to correct the problem by moving a safety down against a running game that was already clicking. And while Foles still wasn't his lights-out self, he did at least become reacquainted with Cooper. 

The play that set up those two big runs from McCoy on the opening drive? A first-down catch from Cooper in traffic on 2nd-and-long. Cooper, who had two dropped passes in his last four games entering Week 6, made the grab with New York's two best defenders—safety Antrel Rolle and linebacker Jon Beason—converging on him from two directions. 

And ultimately, four of his five catches moved the chains. With Maclin responsible for stretching defenses with his speed, that's the 6'4" receiver's primary job. 

Foles was 5-of-6 when throwing to Cooper, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), but the only incomplete pass was an overthrow that may have even been deflected by Beason. 

	Yards
Average of Weeks 1-5	86
Week 6 vs. Giants	208

It's no coincidence that with those two familiar faces finally getting back on track, the Eagles had their best all-around performance of the season. McCoy summarized the effect in play, per PhillyMag.com's Sheil Kapadia: 

"

When the running game’s going, that’s what kind of makes the offense because now you can go over top, get the play-actions. The safeties are so conscious of the run when you’re gashing ‘em. That’s the first thing they think about. And then once that happens, you leave the corners one-on-one with so much space out there to make plays, and that’s how we really play. Once we get the running game going, then we have so many passes that come off the run with different options, like tonight.

"

Defensive coordinators are smart, so they're constantly finding new ways to thwart McCoy on the ground and limit Cooper through the air. Sunday night, as Kapadia points out, Kelly adjusted by adding wrinkles to the running game. Less of the bread-and-butter inside zone that was contained by the Giants last season and more sweeps and split zones. 

Now, Kelly has two weeks to think of additional ways to keep defenses guessing so that he can continue to get the most out of McCoy following the bye. And if he can do that, Cooper and the rest of the offense will continue to excel.  

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon