He’ll Always Be One Of the Greatest Eagle Running Backs Ever. On A Snowy December Game in 2013 — He Proved Why.
In December of 1948 — fifteen years after future NFL Commissioner Bert Bell brought the Philadelphia Eagles to life — and in the swirling winds of a Pennsylvania northeastern snowstorm — the Eagles won their first NFL Championship against the Chicago Cardinals at Shibe Park. The 7–0 victory was on the back of the 196 rushing yards from Eagles running back Steve Van Buren. On this afternoon — Van Buren’s performance wasn’t just unparalled. It was unstoppable.
This week against the Jacksonville Jaguars — right across the sidelines from Doug Pederson — who was an assistant coach on an Andy Reid Eagles Team that had LeSean McCoy on it — the Eagles will induct the second Player in the Eagles Hall of Fame this year when Shady gets inducted.
Shady McCoy wasn’t just one of the best Eagles running backs ever, hitting a precise 15,000 all purpose yards including 11,102 rushing and 3,898 receiving) over a twelve-year career. He was one of the most dangerous running backs with the ball in his hands in space. A weapon out of the backfield combined with Barry Sanders like agility, breaking into the second level of the defense. If Shady had space, your defense was in trouble.
In his finest season of all in 2013 — one that saw him rush for 1,607 yards on the ground and all-purpose yards of 2,146 — the Eagles hosted the Detroit Lions in December of 2013. About an hour before kickoff — the wind and snow started to fall. The Lincoln Financial Field grounds crew swooped into action to clear the field. In near blizzard conditions for the next three hours in a game reminiscient of the 1948 NFL Championship where the Eagles beat the Cardinals 7–0 at Shibe Park thanks in part to 196 rushing yards from Hall of Fame running back Steve Van Buren.
On this day, McCoy was unstoppable rushing for 217 yards and breaking runs of 57 and 40 yards in the 34–20 victory. Sixty-five years after Van Buren ran all over the Cardinals defense — LeSean McCoy wasn’t was unparalled.
He was unstoppable. And he was ours. He always will be.
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