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New Jersey – Now that Josh McCown is a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, his name is being connected to the Jets. Let’s take a closer look at the quarterback.
Clearly McCown didn’t have a very good season with Tampa Bay in 2014, and was one and done with the Buccaneers.
Not helping his cause were the Buccaneers’ offensive line issues last year, led by the all-important left tackle spot.
They moved on from long-time left tackle Donald Penn, who signed with the Oakland Raiders.
They signed the Bengals long-time swing backup Anthony Collins to replace him, and he clearly wasn’t the answer.
Collins missed several games with injuries, but even when he played, it was quite apparent, he’s better suited to be a swing-backup, or a right tackle.
Remember, their guard situation was so shaky last summer they traded with New England for Logan Mankins who manned their left guard spot. He has seen better days.
So McCown didn’t have the best protection, and ended up getting hurt and missing five games.
Also, let’s not forget, the team’s offensive coordinator, Jeff Tedford, the former Cal coach, was basically never their offensive coordinator last year.
After Week Three of the preseason last summer, Tedford had an angioplasty, getting two stents placed in an artery around his heart. He never returned to full-time coaching, serving a consulting role with the Bucs last season. QB coach Marcus Arroyo took over as offensive coordinator. Just 35, the former San Jose State quarterback, was a pretty inexperienced play-caller.
Look I’m to make excuses for McCown, but just pointing out, he wasn’t dealt a great hand.
But you always have to be very careful getting overly-excited about a backup quarterback coming into the lineup, and having a few good games.
That is what got McCown the two-year deal for Tampa Bay last off-season.
McCown started five games for the Bears in 2013 for an injured Jay Cutler. He also got some limited action for Cutler in three other games. In those eight games, he threw 13 touchdowns to just one interceptions and had a 66.5 completion percentage.
But keep something in mind, it was against a lot of bad teams, including the Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams, Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys. He did engineer a win over Baltimore, but 2013 wasn’t a very good year for the Ravens, finishing 8-8. His highest quality win might have been over Green Bay, but they were average that season, finishing 8-7-1.
I’m not taking away from McCown’s accomplishments, but he happen to take over during a stretch of the schedule that was weak.
Look at his resume. He’s the epitome of a journeyman, with stops with Arizona Cardinals, Lions, Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers, Hartford Colonials, San Francisco 49ers, Bears and Buccaneers.
Sometimes when a backup takes over, he catches the other team by surprise. There isn’t a lot of film.
This past season, even with the issues I mentioned before, the surprise element was gone with McCown, vis-Ã -vis opponents. They had plenty of Bears film to dissect from the previous year, and he seemed to be figured out.
Perhaps he would be a consideration for the Jets, but he’s the epitome of a journeyman, and will be 36 next season.
February 12, 2014
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