Here’s What I’d Have Asked LeSean McCoy About His Chip Kelly Remarks

You can't just smear a toxic label on someone and then refuse to back it up. That's a coward move.

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LeSean McCoy is a coward.

One day he’s calling his former coach a racist and the next day he feels no need to either explain or characterize what he said, as if throwing out the racist label is as easy to him as giving out a 20 cent tip at a burger joint.

Except that it’s not.

In this day and age, it is wholly improper to exhibit racist tendencies. We are (or at least should be) a more intelligent, enlightened and politically correct society. That’s a good thing. It shows that the human race is capable of growing and learning and tolerating each other in order to meld a better society. By the same measure, it is wholly improper to label someone a racist unless one can present compelling evidence. For instance, when a certain white Eagles wide receiver gets all banged up on cheap beer at a country concert, turns on a black security guard and yells that he’ll fight every “N-word” here, that’s fairly compelling evidence that he’s a racist.

On the flip side though, calling someone a racist — when there is no evidence that he or she is racist — leaves a mark that can never truly be washed out. It’s just not fair.

On Wednesday, McCoy was given a chance to smooth out his comments of two weeks ago in which he said Eagles coach Chip Kelly had racist tendencies. At that time, McCoy — in a childish rant reflecting his hurt on being traded to Buffalo of all places — said that Kelly “got rid of all the good black players.” Instead, this week McCoy told the Buffalo press that he was done talking about the Eagles and Kelly and that he doesn’t regret anything he said; he then threatened to end the interview if another media member asked him about it. In other words, he opened the can of scorpions, and now wants to ignore the fact that they’re crawling all over the living room carpet.

For the most part, I thought the Buffalo press did a decent job in pressing McCoy. But when the former Eagles running back said he was going to end the interview if someone else asked him about his Kelly comments, I wished I had been there. I would have dared him to end the interview by asking him this: “You smeared a toxic label on a guy and you don’t feel the need to clarify that, or present further evidence that would substantiate your conclusion?” And if he ended the interview after that, the world would have seen what a jackass McCoy really is.

I’ve never never been much of a disciple of Kelly’s culture-beats-scheme thing. At the end of the day, talent wins in the NFL, not choirboys. But I can now see why he didn’t like McCoy much. Things other than technical football reasons — McCoy is not a one-cut runner who, rather than hitting the hole quickly, looks for the home run ball (in a 2008 football lecture somewhere, Kelly said he didn’t like “jingle-footed” running backs) — had to sour Kelly on Shady. Maybe it was the man-about-town bravado and gall that caused him to leave that 20-cent tip. Or throwing a “ho” out of a party bus. Nonsense that would indicate Shady loved himself and the life perhaps more than the actual game. In a related development, DeSean Jackson said he missed part of OTA’s for the Washington Redskins because he had to take care of some personal matters at home. Okay, D-Jacc, nobody saw you mugging for the camera at the NBA Eastern Conference final game in Cleveland. I’m feeling you, Chip.

Here’s something for which LeSean McCoy might want to take inventory. He’s the Eagles all-time leading rusher and not even a year later, nobody even cares.

Mike Missanelli is on 97.5 FM The Fanatic every week day from 2 to 6 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMiss975.