DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Josh McCown continued

I saw a stripper do something similar to that catch one time

Maybe it should be called the Immaculate Enema.

I will give him credit. After preseason I was down on all of our TEs, outside of maybe Bibb. Barnidge is definitely tearing it up.

After 5 games he has 24 catches for 374 yards (15.6 a catch; 74.8 a game), 3 TDs.

For comparison, Cameron Jordan is averaging 14.2 yards on his 12 catches (42.5 a game) with no TDs.

"The Snatch"

I admire the man. In post game MKC asked him about everyone giving up on him. He said HE never gave up on him and obviously people in the Browns organization never gave up on him and his wife and kids never gave up on him. What a class act.

Not saying he's taking us to the promise land but I am saying he is a good role model for the other JM and could teach him a few things about life, football and humility. Seems that, on some level, they all go together.

Monday Musings: Ripping Browns for starting McCown? That was dumb
October 12, 2015 10:06 am CT

There are times when you hate saying you are wrong.

This isn't one of them.

I was wrong about Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown -- in a big way. McCown might be the nicest player in the NFL, a class act, a guy you hope has success, even at the late stage of his career, which is why I am OK with being wrong.

McCown is more than just doing well. He's flourishing.

McCown has become the fantasy football darling in the last few weeks, throwing for 457 yards and two touchdowns Sunday to lead the Cleveland Browns to a 33-30 overtime victory over the Baltimore Ravens. In his past three starts, McCown has thrown for 1,154 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.

He is 1-2 in those games, which is why winning against the Ravens was so important for him and the Browns.

Remember, Johnny Manziel is his backup. That's why I was a big proponent of playing Manziel, rather than McCown. My thinking was the Browns had a career backup in McCown, who they signed as a free agent last spring, but an unknown in Manziel, the former first-round pick.

Now the Browns are showing that they know what they are doing, and second-guessers like me are left wondering how we could be so wrong.

McCown is far from a franchise quarterback. Not when you've started games for seven different NFL teams and you're 36 years old. But he's showing that he's more than capable of putting up big numbers and winning games.

Against the Ravens, he completed 36 of 51 passes for a completion percentage of 70.1 percent. Last week, in a loss to San Diego, he was at 78.0 percent. That's impressive when you consider his per-attempt average was 8.7 yards against San Diego and 9.0 against the Ravens. He also ran for a score against Baltimore.

This is how impressive McCown is playing: His 457 yards is a team regular-season record and he has now thrown for more than 300 yards in each of the past three games, something the great Otto Graham or any other Cleveland Browns quarterback in history has never done.

McCown did some good things two years ago for the Chicago Bears and many pushed for him to stay in as the starter, rather than Jay Cutler. But the Bears opted to keep Cutler and McCown signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent.

He was awful for the Bucs last season. And that's putting it nicely. He threw 11 touchdown passes and 14 picks, and was eventually benched. Some coaches who studied his tape last season told me he was terrible.

In fairness to McCown, he didn't really have an offensive coordinator when Jeff Tedford got sick and never came back. Word is, McCown acted as the de facto coordinator, which made it tough on him to succeed. It was a big burden.

In Cleveland he was signed to be the starter, even with Manziel on the roster. When McCown suffered a concussion in the opener, a loss to the Jets, Manziel started the next week against the Titans and the Browns won. That led to the talk Manziel should play, which I thought that to be true.

Browns coach Mike Pettine instead made the right decision to stick with McCown, and in the three weeks since he's paid him back big time, even without a bevy of weapons. McCown has made tight end Gary Barnidge his top target -- with Barnidge's butt catch for a touchdown highlighting the victory over the Ravens.

Can McCown keep it up? He has a stiff test this week against the Denver Broncos defense, so we get a quick answer in less than a week. For now, though, it's hard to argue with the success.

So let me say it again: I was wrong about Josh McCown starting for the Browns. That's the last time I will use that word that begins with W.

He was a helluva lot of fun to watch yesterday.. no BIG screw ups, just solid play. well done.

I was also thinking that the weak point of this team would be the Offense. Trouble with the line, no bigtime receivers, lacking a play making TE, and a QB that is long in the tooth and another QB that is an unknown. I Did think the running game would be solid.

So based on all those assumptions, I figured, this O would be a problem.

Boy was I ever wrong.. On two counts, the offense is running pretty well and the running game is below average. Got figure.

Turns out the side of the ball we need to be concerned about is the D. Imagine that.

Passing the ball 50 times a game is not a good sign !

Why? If Manziel is really into the playbook, practicing hard, and paying attention... this is the absolute best thing that could have happened for him to have a chance at a long term career in the NFL..

It's funny how people have to declare absolutes about these kinds of things...

On an offense with the "worst WR corps" in the NFL, no viable threats at TE, a very questionable OL, no feature RB, an uninspiring HC, and a rookie OC who is going to have to "figure things out"... our journeyman QB is putting up record numbers... I'm pretty sure within that list, we all have our areas where we were right, but most of us have areas where we were wrong...

And no, I don't think it's outside the realm of reasonableness to wonder, out loud, if this is sustainable...

Uh, yeah. It was kind of said tongue in cheek style towards the people that wanted Manziel to start so "we'll know what we have", and also because, according to too many "McCown sucks".

Yeah, overall, it's good for John - sit and learn. Watch and learn. Sit in the film room and ask questions..process the reads, the calls......learn.

So far, McCown has been better than advertised. Manziel (and fans) should take that to heart.

In Pettine's press conference he said the offensive game plan called for passing a ton and they felt it gave them the best chance to win. I guess they were right.

And the entire offseason was spent to bolster the run... It looks like our coaches can make adjustments after all.

Well, that's not too unreasonable of a position. After 3 games, Manziel had played better than many expected and actually won a game.. yet nobody expected us to compete for the playoffs.. so if Manziel was playing ok and we weren't going to win a lot of games anyway.. why not?

And there was plenty of reason to question McCown.... dude had like 8 games in his 13 years with over 300 yards and none over 400 yards before this season and... according to many, was going to have some of the worst talent ever assembled around him..

I'm happy for the win, I'm happy for McCown, I hope he can sustain it (not throwing for 450, that's not sustainable, just playing at a reasonably high level and minimizing turnovers)... just not sure why some success for McCown gets turned into an indictment against Manziel.. by some, not necessarily you...

Glad you clarified your last statement.

I'm sure John wants to start/thinks he should be starting. But, seeing the guy in front of you light it up, even if it's only for a couple games, has to make him think 2 things: Well, good for the team. And, Well, bad for me.

Although in the end, it might be - MIGHT be, great for him.

At NFL.com, there is a naming contest for many of the week's more notable plays. The Barnidge catch is there, in case anyone's interested....

Prime time had Josh as #2 on his top five list. Josh is getting a lot of love on NFL Network, and rightfully so! It's nice to have some positive media, mega nice!

I believe this to be the case. He has seen a lot of negatives; he needs to know/experience positives so that he understands what can be possible. This is a good thing...

Butt cheek Boogie?

Josh McCown is supposedly one of the nicest guys in the league. If he does well he will have a lot of supporters.

I think he caught it more with his testicles than his butt.

He's been the cause of his fair share as well.

Did anyone else cringe every time McCown got pressured worrying that the ball would come out? I think Manziel already has me conditioned to expect a fumble every 10 dropbacks. LOL

The three-ball trap.

An un-official soccer term.

I am sure you were in a special movie theatre PeeWee.

Before the season I said McCown could be our Steve DeBerg....looking pretty similar at this point.

Butt, Butt, Butt I caught it.

"Look ma, no hands!"

The Cheek Sneak

He's too hot and on fire right now to not play...

That Denver defense though.......

He's too hot and on fire right now to not play...

That Denver defense though.......

j/c:

The Sensational Sphincter Game Saver.

That sounds nasty.

I picture this response being said in the voice of Family Guy's Cleveland Brown....how appropriate.

hope the defense gets going so josh doesnt have to throw 450 for us to win.

I'm worried. We need the running game to wake the bleep up.

I did think the running game showed some signs of improvement vs Baltimore. 83 yards rushing isn't going to cut it, but they did improve ypc to 3.3. (I remember a recent game where it was 1.9 ypc.) Plus, some of those passes to Duke and Crow are really just long handoffs. I do think they should avoid using Duke on runs between the tackles because that doesn't appear to be his strength. Crowell is the better inside runner, imo. Another plus - we should see Robert Turbin soon, which should help.

No it's not. But sometimes, they gotta do that. Brady and Manning sometimes have to do that.

But a steady diet of it just isn't a good thing.

Still, it was fun to watch.

But as we do it more, the defenses around the league are realizing that we CAN pass now, and maybe it loosens up the box more for the runs.

So many years of teams stacking the box and daring us to pass, knowing we couldn't.