Looks like the old McCoy in win over Cowboys

ARLINGTON, Texas - It's only gaudy if you can't pull it off.

LeSean McCoy rolled out of the locker room and headed toward coach Chip Kelly, who actually took a step backward and began to chuckle.

Kelly reached forward, rubbed the lapel of McCoy's white leather jacket and said, "What's this?"

"This," said McCoy, "is my Thanksgiving outfit."

He dressed as a guy nicknamed "Shady" should dress, a walking PETA nightmare: Timberland boots, a dark-brown designer leather duffel bag, a light-brown ostrich skin backpack and - the topper - something like Michael Jackson's jacket from "Beat It," only not red. It was as white as Shady's smile, with gold snaps and zippers.

Then again, after the way McCoy rolled into DeMarco Murray's house and hijacked the night, Shady could have topped it off with a fur hat, a peacock feather and changed into gator shoes. He still would have looked the part.

This, finally, was the real McCoy: A season-high 159 rushing yards on 25 carries, with runs of 19, 36 and 38 yards; the last, a clinching touchdown sprint in a 33-10 Eagles win over the Cowboys.

After the TD, he flashed Dez Bryant's trademark "X-sign," which incensed the Cowboys faithful at AT&T Stadium; a typical Shady move.

Murray finished with a season-low 73 yards, and McCoy had kept a promise.

Before the game, left tackle Jason Peters said he asked McCoy: " 'You gonna let DeMarco Murray outrush you today?' And he said, 'Naw. You'll see.'

"And he took over the game."

McCoy won the NFL rushing title in 2013, a bounce-back year after the franchise-wide debacle of 2012. But after a slow start in 2014, McCoy found himself the object of speculation.

Had he lost his mojo?

Well . . . maybe, said the people closest to him.

"This means a lot to Shady," Peters insisted. "He was the rushing champ last year. Got a chip on his shoulder all the time. When he doesn't get the yards he's supposed to get, he gets a little down."

"It's huge, of course, going out there and being able to have the game he had," running backs coach Duce Staley said. "It's huge for McCoy to continue to build his confidence for himself."

McCoy has insisted that his self-confidence never waned.

Well, he also insisted that he doesn't compare himself with other elite backs . . . and contradicted himself in the next breath.

"I don't get into that whole, 'who's this, who's that,' because I know where I stand," said McCoy, who then pledged that winning meant the most . . . but not everything: "Obviously, I wanted to outrush him."

That is the charm of Shady McCoy.

His narcissism is as real and undiluted as his desire to win, and his appreciation for his blockers, and his pursuit of perfection.

"I had so many opportunities to make guys miss one-on-one, so much space," McCoy said. "At times, I had too much space, made the wrong cut . . . It felt like last year."

That's because the line, at last, resembles last year's. This was the fourth consecutive game that Peters, left guard Evan Mathis (knee) and center Jason Kelce (hernia) lined up next to one another, with Lane Johnson (suspension) at right tackle.

"This is kind of like my line again," McCoy said.

"It's all about cohesion," Kelce said.

That said, they all knew they left some meat on the turducken.

"With the big game I had today, I missed some yards. I didn't play like I wanted to play," McCoy said. "I played good, but I can play a lot better."

That has been the case all season, said Staley, himself a shifty runner who quickly learned a lesson McCoy has struggled with: Sometimes, it's better to hit the hole and take a short gain than dance around and get nothing.

"In my opinion, the line's been doing an awesome job all year long, regardless of the personnel," Staley said. "What he's got to do is continue to learn from the film. Continue to capitalize on the looks that they're giving him."

Through the first nine games of the season, McCoy was averaging 71 yards per game and 3.7 yards per rush. He had one rushing touchdown and no receiving touchdowns.

In 2013, McCoy averaged slightly more than 100 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry and scored nine rushing touchdowns and three in the air.

This season, he played Good Soldier as Murray charged toward the rushing title. McCoy became a play-action decoy upon whom every team keyed.

Leading up to the Cowboys game, McCoy - a tireless self-promoter - conceded that Murray now was the league's top back. He called Murray a "beast" as he entered Murray's oversized lair.

Had McCoy lost a step and his mojo? To be fair, McCoy had lost plenty. He had lost his running mate, speedy receiver DeSean Jackson, whom the Eagles released in March. Jackson's absence has meant more defenders closer to the line of scrimmage.

More tangible, McCoy had lost his line.

They began to play well three games ago.

In the last three games, McCoy has averaged more than 125 yards per game and almost 5.5 yards per rush. And, when the front five do their jobs, the gifted tight ends can give McCoy acres of real estate.

McCoy's first two long runs happened because tight ends James Casey and Brent Celek sealed the edge and gave McCoy ample space.

On the touchdown romp, Mathis and right guard Andrew Gardner created a crease up the middle. McCoy burst through, angled himself toward the right side, cut back left across the grain and sealed the win.

It was a masterful display of open-field genius in his fourth 100-yard game of a 9-3 season, mostly spent atop the NFC East.

McCoy lost a fumble.

"I was so [hissed]!" he said, though his recollection of the play was not entirely accurate, though it fueled his desire to score, as penance. "I had to make a big play."

He didn't hit every hole with ferocity. He wasn't perfect; but then, McCoy never has been.

But . . . Lost his mojo?

Hardly.

McCoy, who is talkative when happy, wanted to linger in front of the press, to assess the state of the league and the Eagles' prospects and, perhaps, his haberdashery, or his tannery, or whatever.

But the bus was running and it was time to . . . er . . . beat it.

"Your jacket's trending on Twitter," said the Eagles' media relations chief. "We gotta go."

Blog: ph.ly/DNL