INDIANAPOLIS --- Buffalo Bills Head Coach Rex Ryan declared running back LeSean McCoy ready to roll Wednesday for Sunday's season opener against the Colts, after a preseason hamstring injury. Regardless of how many snaps McCoy plays, the Colts defensive front knows the challenge that awaits in the Bills backfield.
McCoy rushed 19 times for 72 yards (4.2 yards per carry) and a touchdown week two last season at Indianapolis when he played for Philadelphia, adding four receptions for 23 yards.
Colts OLB Trent Cole was on the same sideline with McCoy for that game.
"One of the best running backs in this league," said Cole Wednesday. "You gotta have a lot of respect for his game. With a guy like him, you gotta keep him contained. He likes to catch some edges, get outside, and he can go. He always makes that first guy miss."
The Colts will start two rookies on the defensive line week one for the first time since the franchise moved to Indianapolis in 1984 - 3rd round defensive tackle Henry Anderson and 5th round nose tackle David Parry.
"He's a back that doesn't go down on the first hit very often," said Anderson Wednesday. "As a defense, definitely gotta swarm to him, get 11 hats to the ball every play."
McCoy was 1st-team All-Pro twice in 2011 and 2013, having accumulated more than 3,600 yards from scrimmage and 16 touchdowns in the last two seasons, before being traded from Philadelphia to Buffalo in the offseason.
"We gotta contain him. It's going to take all 11 guys to stop the run," said Parry Wednesday.
"I wasn't able to play (week two vs. McCoy last year), but I definitely saw from the sideline the impact he can have," said inside linebacker Jerrell Freeman Wednesday. "He can get on those edges. He can make you look foolish out there. Everybody has to, especially all 11, we gotta be flying to the ball. It's not just on one person."
As for whether Head Coach Chuck Pagano was surprised McCoy would be ready in some capacity for the season opener after a hamstring injury, Pagano wasn't in the least.
"No, that guy is a playmaker. He's a great, great football player. He's a great competitor," said Pagano. "You don't miss openers...We expect him to be 1,000 percent healthy and running just like Shady runs. The guy is a great player and he's going to be there. We've got our hands full in trying to contain him."
The goal seems clear Sunday. Try to keep LeSean McCoy inside the tackle box.
