Content available exclusively for subscribers
The guy is in a tough spot in terms of what he says, so you need to take a lot of what he says with a grain of salt . . .
Headline – “Josh McCown likes Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty.”
What do you expect him to say – “I think Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty stink?”
Honestly people, think about this for a minute, what on earth do you expect him to say?
But even if he likes them publicly, he knows he can beat them out this summer. Why do you think he signed in Florham Park? Dallas wanted him, but there is no opening there. Dak Prescott is going to be the quarterback. The Jets’ job is open, it’s wide open.
And McCown clearly thinks he can win it.
He wants to start. 90 percent of why he signed with the Jets was to start. 10 percent was to be a supposed mentor to the young guys.
“If I’m helping those guys and they’re at their best, then it’s pushing me to be at an even better level,” McCown told newyorkjets.com in an exclusive interview this week. “At the end of the day, everybody improves and gets better and ultimately the team wins. That’s the idea. We’ll compete like crazy.”
That is a very interesting theory. I’m very impressed with the creativity of this theorem that he is espousing.
If he makes them better, it will make him better.
That is almost like Apple saying they need to help Samsung make better laptops, so they will make better laptops.
Look, I understand that Apple and Samsung are competing companies, not on the same team, but still the idea of making somebody else better so you get better is a theory I’ve never heard before.
I’m not going to criticize McCown for anything he says about this competition. He’s going to have his talking points.
I’m just not totally on-board with his theory.
Based on his theory, he might make one of them so good, they beat him out. Is that the result he wants?
Here is deal – McCown is a smart guy. He knows QB mentors can only do so much for young quarterbacks. He did little to help Johnny Manziel in Cleveland. QB mentors can’t help a quarterback’s field vision, accuracy or pocket presence. Those things are almost impossible for mentors to improve.
He can help them with things like film study and running a huddle.
“You have to understand what the hours are you need to study,” McCown told the Jet website. “All of those things that when you walk to the line of scrimmage, you’re going to know the play, you’re going to feel great about it, you’re going to know the answer to every situation and what you have to do to get there. That’s about playing this position and they’re both willing to do that and that’s half the battle when you have guys that are willing to do that. You have a chance to grow and be successful.”
I don’t think he’s half the battle. It’s probably less than that. I’ve see many, many quarterbacks who study hard, watch a ton of film, know the playbook like the back of their hand, but after the snap, it all becomes a blur – they lock on their first read and put their head down when sensing the pass rush (a no-no).
But once again, I’m not going to criticize McCown for his comments about the young quarterbacks and QB competition.
However, always keep in mind when reading his quotes – what do you expect him to say?
May 19, 2017
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Monday.
