JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After LeSean McCoy missed practice on Wednesday, Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott said his star running back is day-to-day. McCoy sprained his ankle during the Bills win over the Miami Dolphins this past Sunday. His status for Buffalo’s wild-card game against Jacksonville is up in the air but that hasn’t changed the Jaguars defensive game-plan for Sunday.
“We prepare like he is playing,” said Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone on Wednesday.
While McCoy may be averaging a career low 4.0 yards per carry this season, he’s still easily the Bills biggest play maker. It should come as no surprise that he leads the team with 1,138 rushing yards. But McCoy also leads the Bills with 59 receptions.
“He is a guy that can change field, can break tackles, take it to the house,” said Marrone. “He is excellent coming out of the backfield receiving. He is a Pro Bowl running back. He has all the ingredients that make him very, very dangerous on the field.”
At age 29, McCoy has shown no signs of slowing down. This season was the sixth time that he’s gone over 1,000 yards rushing. His twitter name is @CutonDime25 and over his nine season in the NFL, McCoy has developed a reputation as one of the most difficult running backs to tackle in space.
“He’s very shifty and he’s really smart,” said Jaguars defensive lineman Calais Campbell. “He can go any direction he wants to. That makes it hard to tackle him. Most guys only go one way or the other, but he can go everywhere. He’s very, very dynamic and special.”
If McCoy is unable to play there’s a chance that Buffalo could call more designed runs for quarterback Tyrod Taylor. He’s currently second on the team in rushing with 427 yards. Backup running backs Mike Tolbert and Travaris Cadet have combined for 340 yards on 88 carries (3.86 per carry). During last Sunday’s win over Miami, Marcus Murphy ran for 41 yards on seven carries in his first action of the season.
“We’ll take a good hard look at some of their other running backs,” said Jaguars linebacker Paul Posluszny. “[Mike] Tolbert carried the ball very well for them against Miami. He’s a big physical back. There are definitely guys that we have to study and prepare for incase 25 (McCoy) doesn’t play.”