ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy is angry with himself. For the first time since he entered the NFL in 2009, he has not scored a touchdown -- rushing or receiving -- through the first five games of the season.
It is the longest scoring drought to start a season McCoy can remember at any point in his two decades of playing football.
"Never. Even little league," he said Wednesday. "It's something that I've kind of going through week and days, I want to get going. It's something that I really put my mindset on. Just getting going, getting back to playing my ball. Finding the end zone and finding first downs, big runs, making guys miss. Highlight plays.
"All that is good for me, but it's good for the team. It keeps the offense on the field, we score, make big plays. Just gotta get going, man."
McCoy has rushed for a total of 169 yards over the past four games, his first stretch of four consecutive healthy games with fewer than 100 yards rushing since he joined Buffalo in 2015. His 3.2-yard average per carry this season would be the worst of his career by almost a full yard.
Over the Bills' bye week last week, coaches took a look at which of the team's running plays have been successful and which have not. The goal, according to McCoy, was to find schemes the offensive line was comfortable blocking -- including those used in 2015 and 2016, over which time McCoy led the NFL with 2,162 rushing yards.
"Something that's been working for so long, stick with it," McCoy said Wednesday. "The coaches know that. Also, they have their own schemes that they want to do. Everybody puts a lot of time into it. Research, study, preparation."
While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers enter Sunday's game in Buffalo with the 12th-ranked run defense, allowing 101.8 yards per game, McCoy is encouraged after the Arizona Cardinals' Adrian Peterson ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns against them last Sunday.
"It's been long enough. This is Week 7," he said. "I've got to get it back. We got to get this rolling. I think this is the game for us. They're a talented group up front. They play well together. They got a McCoy [Gerald McCoy] on the other side, so of course he's probably good. They're a fast group. But teams have been running on them and I think it's time for us to get it going. Simple as that."
One of McCoy's objectives this week is to "get back to the normal big chunks, big plays, one-on-one opportunities." He is averaging 1.2 runs per game of 10 or more yards this season, the lowest rate since his rookie season in 2009, when he averaged 1.06 such runs per game.
"[I've been] just looking at tape, trying to focus on doing the basics, doing the beginning things, the fundamentals," he said. "And just being patient. And finding myself and getting going. Simple as that. I can't say it in different ways, but we've got to get the ball going. We run the ball. That's what we do. Myself, I make big plays. That's what I do."