Eagles send McCoy, Peters, Babin to Pro Bowl

LeSEAN McCOY has always known his place. He deferred to Brian Westbrook, when McCoy was a rookie and Westbrook was the established star. You'd still have a hard time getting McCoy to acknowledge he has surpassed Westbrook.

This season, as it became apparent McCoy was going to shatter every franchise benchmark for a running back in his first 3 years in the NFL, McCoy has talked about benefiting from all the weapons around him, and from defenses having to watch out for the scrambling of quarterback Michael Vick.

Now McCoy's place is the starting backfield for the NFC Pro Bowl team. This might not change McCoy's demeanor, but it does affect the league's perception of who he is, McCoy acknowledged on a conference call with reporters. And it affects his own perception of what he can become. It wasn't an accident that McCoy, 23, used the soapbox provided by the Pro Bowl announcement to make it clear last night that, as a prominent star here, he wants and expects Andy Reid to return as the Eagles' coach.

"You think about all the better players and running backs in the league, I can call myself one of them," said McCoy, whose 1,309 rushing yards rank second in the NFL heading into the final weekend of the season. McCoy leads the league with 20 touchdowns, 17 rushing TDs, both Eagles records. "I always read about Adrian Peterson and Frank Gore. Now I actually get to say I'm part of those guys."

As expected, McCoy, left tackle Jason Peters and defensive end Jason Babin made the NFC squad, all as starters. Defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins is a first alternate and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is a second alternate. First alternates often get into the game because of injuries or because Super Bowl participants can't attend. It might be a slight upset that the Pro Bowl people think Asomugha has had a better year than Asante Samuel, whose streak of four successive berths ended.

All told, it was a solid haul for a 7-8 team that missed the playoffs, but defensive end Trent Cole, who has 10 sacks despite playing with a calf injury that cost him two games, certainly could make a strong case, at least as an alternate. Babin said he thought the calf injury cost Cole in the Pro Bowl judging, which is done off input from fans, players and coaches.

McCoy had a strong case last season, when he was bypassed despite gaining 1,080 rushing yards on only 207 carries, 5.2 yards per carry, and catching 78 passes for another 592 yards.