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How Browns QB Josh McCown’s smarts keep the chains moving

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Cleveland ranked 9th in the NFL in passing yards

Joe Thomas is calling Josh McCown a weapon on the field.


And Cleveland’s Pro Bowl left tackle isn’t talking about accuracy or arm strength.

He’s talking about McCown’s understanding of the NFL.

On a handful of running play calls against the Chargers, McCown diagnosed the defense, barked out a tag word or a hand signal and fired off a pass to avoid Isaiah Crowell or Duke Johnson being tackled for a loss. Because of the noise in San Diego, the running backs sometimes didn’t even know the quarterback had audibled out of the play call – they just kept seeing the chains moving behind McCown’s arm.

“You see a bad look in the run game, and you say, ‘Here we go, it’s a bad look,’ and all of a sudden he throws it, and you’re like, ‘thank goodness he got us out of a bad play,’” Thomas said. “It’s extremely valuable.”

On the heels of McCown’s back-to-back 300 yard performances, the Browns are now 9th in the NFL in passing yards per game (255.6), No. 1 in completions of 40 yards or more (6), sixth in fewest interceptions thrown (two) and 11th in yards per pass play (8.0).

“It is about his decision making, timing and accuracy,” offensive coordinator John DeFilippo said.

The passing game has been Cleveland’s strength in 2015, but it hasn’t been totally perfected yet.

On Thursday, DeFilippo confronted the fact the Browns rank last in the league in touchdown percentage inside the red zone. In 11 trips to the red zone, Cleveland has only brought home three touchdowns. The first-year coordinator joked he’s tired of seeing kicker Travis Coons out on the field.

“We have a red zone mindset that we teach our quarterbacks where the first thing we talk about is touchdown, check down,” DeFilippo said. “When we throw the football down there, we have plays designed to get a touchdown, but if it is not there, there is a place for the quarterback to check the ball down.

“Everything to me is about advancement. I think on the drives you see us stall in the red zone. Like last week, we had a pass for no yards. We had the ball out in the flat. That is obviously not advancement. We need to do a better job of that. I need to do a better job of calling things for the quarterback to get completions down there.”

What’s next for McCown this weekend against the Ravens?

In his 13th NFL season, Sunday will mark his first-ever trip to Baltimore. The Ravens may lack the traditional names of Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs, but they still have “large people” such as Courtney Upshaw, Elvis Dumervil and C.J. Mosley.

“That’s as stout a front seven as we’ll go against,” coach Mike Pettine said.

But Week 5 on offense will remain about the Cleveland Browns. The onslaught of short passes have been hard for opposing defenses to stop. A third straight 300-yard day at the office for McCown would mark the first time in franchise history a Browns quarterback would achieve such a feat.

There’s only one statistic that’ll matter, though.

“You have to score one more point than they do,” McCown said, “and we have to find a way to get that done.”

I think you need to revise that statement eo. JMHO.

j/c

36/51 457 yds. Does anybody think this guy can't play? Seriously...

I'm starting to believe. . .

History still shows he will turn to crap. I don't care. I am enjoying the way he is playing.

Let's trust his Andy Warhol 15 mins of fame lasts all season...

Barnidge / Benji / Gabriel were the leading 3 receives today... power to the mini's

Last 3 games - 1154 passing yards...

I still think it doesn't serve much of a purpose. Blake Bortles threw 4 TDs today. He actually looks like he's turning a corner. Which is really incredible because if there was a word for incredibly, pathetically awful ...that could have been applied to him last year. But the playing experience is paying off.

It was never about whether McCown could play or not. I'm not going to say a word about it this week though. He played great today and the win feels good. I'm in such a good mood at the moment.

Well said!

But 90% of posters couldn't stand McCown, Rish. He was ridiculed mercilessly...

Pretty much.

And? When he's played well, we get the "but he's not the long term answer" crap.

Can't we just win and be happy for not even 24 hours? Just for even 5 hours?

McCown has 3 straight games for 300+ in each for the first time in Browns HISTORY!

In history. HISTORY! And yet we hear how he sucks.

What he needs to do now is keep it up.

It's not about starting to believe.....you still don't if after today you can't say you were wrong.

If you can't say great game after today, don't chime in and say I told you so after a dud game. Deal?

"Put in Johnny!"

Anyone who thought McCown would play like this was lying to themselves.

Don't try to deflect and diminish the effort.

I'm not, I acknowledged that he has played great in several other posts.

No one can say they expected this.

I think McCown is playing with a chip on his shoulder. He heard the negativity and is going out there and getting it done. Gotta respect that as a fan.

Guess they've been proven to be liars.

And "experts"

Will it continue? We'll find out. Until then, just enjoy it. 457 yards and a win against a nemesis.


Only person that should be bashing their head is manziel.

Barnidge 1st Cleveland TE w/REC TD in 3 consecutive games since 1983 (Ozzie Newsome)

I know it doesn't count here but I picled him up in fantasy, and started hin.....he netted me 70 points. Unless Brown with the Steelers scores about 70 points tomorow, I win.

He missed some passes today, better balls could have resulted in less a thriller IMO but this guy is getting the job done and taking some big hits while doing so.

Love him or hate him, but he's delivering the ball out to I'm pretty sure everyone but Bowe lol.

I would at least charge Bowe for a ticket each game; in that way he contributes something to the team.

Currently his interview time and bragging "promises" have far exceeded time on the field in uniform. Which brings us to a Pointless Bard Puzzler:

What shall we call a player who doesn't? Price per catch in a game currently stands at
________________ / grab.

Paid piece work rates, Bowe would have starved to death before now. But I mean that in the nicest way possible.

Hats off to Barnidge! Stud was balling today. What a grab.

Shall we call it "The Catch"?

In three games and a quarter, McCown is 101 for 149 through the air (67.8 completion percentage), for 1,203 yards, has six TD passes and one INT, with a QB rating of 102.8.

Just laying out the facts so far....

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving lamp'. The win sure made it sweet...

I'm tired from too much turkey lol. Hope yours was good, too!

That's hard to believe but hell yes! it's true.

Hard-fought win today... Feels good!

McCown has been something else. Let's just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Actually it's three games and a quarter. Fixed my error in original post.

Either way, I don't think we can find much fault with his production. SOME folks will, but I won't. Not yet anyways haha

Wow - that is a good stat! Good to see Josh looking for him in the endzone...

Actually that's not entirely true... Certainly he'll speak for himself when he pops on here, but Eotab was saying all throughout preseason that he felt McCown could do well with a good cast around him. And he got roasted for it.

The offense is getting it done, the defense is well, offensive, dead last in NFL.

Didn't know much about McCown before the season, just all the negative press, but Josh is doing what we need him to do. Our 2-3 record is solely on the D at this point.

Ha! I was wondering if anyone had actually picked him up for their team! I was thinking right now there's some lucky SOB who picked him up at a Bargain Basement discount and now is killin it! lol

Josh is doing a good job of beating up the worst of the NFL. When he beats up some teams with a decent defence

Yeah that's a fair comment to make, razor.

I got Barnidge because my tight end was on a bye week.

I had McCown starting because Luck is out...I may have a quarterback controversy brewing...

Seriously though, I didn't think that he was as bad as his career stats would leave one to believe and his numbers are inflated because we're not running the ball enough, but his 3rd down completion percentage is what's got me really excited "...as the Browns tied a franchise record with 12 third-down conversions (12-of-19 for 63%)."

If we can do that with any semblance of a running game...the rest of this season will at least be entertaining and I was despairing about being able to say that a couple of weeks ago.

Maybe he's just the only one Josh can see in the end zone???

Congrats Josh McCown. Welcome to the NFL.