As little as a week ago there was speculation as to whether Bills feature back LeSean McCoy would be ready for the season opener against Indianapolis. Following Wednesday's practice any doubt has been effectively removed from McCoy's playing status for Sunday's game.
McCoy was a full participant in Buffalo's Wednesday practice session. The Bills' top back was cutting sharply and quickly accelerating on his carries, all signs that his hamstring injury is fully healed.
"I feel good. I feel like the (athletic training) staff has done a good job of preparing me so far," said McCoy after Wednesday's practice session. "Then just in practice I've been doing light loads and each day doing more and more. I feel comfortable. I'm not sure I'll be exactly 100 percent, but I feel good enough to go out there and compete."
The hamstring injury, initially sustained in the middle of training camp, kept McCoy out of the last three preseason games. Head coach Rex Ryan said multiple times that he was "cautiously optimistic" that his feature back would be ready come Week 1. Buffalo's head coach took his back's availability for Sunday a step further.
"I think he's going to be ready to roll," said Ryan. "We'll see how it progresses during the week, but he's practicing full so he'll be ready." McCoy had been limited in several practices leading up to this week. The last hurdle was building enough strength back into his ailing hamstring to explode out of cuts and quickly change direction.
"Just cutting on a burst full speed and then actually making that cut and just taking off full speed," said McCoy of the last part of his game that had to return. "That's probably the biggest thing I had to get over, but it felt good."
Rarely injured in his career, McCoy insists he's past the mental hurdle of coming back from the hamstring injury, an injury he's never had before. He's fully confident he will be able to play his game and be focused only on executing and making plays.
"The guys up front look tremendous and have done a great job. This offense, we've got a lot of weapons and I think Tyrod (Taylor) is going to put us in good situations to win the game," McCoy said. "I've just got to know mentally what I need to know and be mistake free and just play fast."
