A funny thing happened on the way to 4-9

[Skkorpion]

The Cardinals found a quarterback who can play. The funny thing is, only the reporters and half the fans believe it.

The coach isn't sold on him. Half the fans aren't sold on him. But I am. Josh McCown can play. He's a tough guy with some learning to go but he is showing improvement to go with his considerable physical skills.

The season ended when he was benched. The team was shaken by it and hasn't recovered. A decent defense went in the tank. A coach I like, Denny Green, lost his team the day he benched McCown. And yesterday, McCown's second half brilliance almost gave Denny back his team. But it didn't happen because the Cardinals again couldn't stop the 49ers in overtime. End result: season over.

So some team found a quarterback yesterday but it might not be the Cardinals. Josh McCown will play somewhere next year, somewhere he is appreciated, but that may not be here. Denny Green admitted this morning in his news conference that he worries all the time about losing his team when losing sets in. Well. losing has set in.

If I am right about McCown, the offense will play well over the last three games and that may translate into better defensive play. If not, the team will get blown out three times and McCown will be out of football next year.
I'm betting on Josh McCown. He's got what it takes. I'm just afraid it will take him somewhere else next year.

 

[wembley88]

Wouldnt bet against that. Is Navarre out for the season - ie does Josh have 3 guaranteed starts?

 

[nidan]

Not quite sure I completly agree Skkorp, lets say I think Josh may have figured it out.

I certainly hope so.

 

[clif]

The Cardinals found a quarterback who can play. The funny thing is, only the reporters and half the fans believe it.

The coach isn't sold on him. Half the fans aren't sold on him. But I am. Josh McCown can play. He's a tough guy with some learning to go but he is showing improvement to go with his considerable physical skills.

The season ended when he was benched. The team was shaken by it and hasn't recovered. A decent defense went in the tank. A coach I like, Denny Green, lost his team the day he benched McCown. And yesterday, McCown's second half brilliance almost gave Denny back his team. But it didn't happen because the Cardinals again couldn't stop the 49ers in overtime. End result: season over.

So some team found a quarterback yesterday but it might not be the Cardinals. Josh McCown will play somewhere next year, somewhere he is appreciated, but that may not be here. Denny Green admitted this morning in his news conference that he worries all the time about losing his team when losing sets in. Well. losing has set in.

If I am right about McCown, the offense will play well over the last three games and that may translate into better defensive play. If not, the team will get blown out three times and McCown will be out of football next year.
I'm betting on Josh McCown. He's got what it takes. I'm just afraid it will take him somewhere else next year.

... I think Josh can be successful in this league. We need a running game to take the added pressure off.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Skkorp - I think the above post is complete nonsense and you're talking now like you were back in last year's pre-season. Let Josh play that well against ANY OTHER TEAM than Frisco and maybe - just maybe - you have a case. Or better yet - If JOsh even leads us back to a WIN - maybe you have a case, but you are sounding an awful lot like "This year's team can either be very bad . . . or very good." We all know how that went.

Brilliance? Brilliance beats the 49ers - Good for the entire game - BEATS the 49ers - very good for one and half quarters doesn't.

You are entitled to your opinion, but I think it's unbelievably pre-mature to say that a QB who has only looked good in two games (both against the worst team in the NFL - and both losses where ultimately he couldn't make THE play to somehow lift this team up) is now suddenly the future.

I know you want to believe - we all do - but I just can't go there.

 

[abomb]

Can someone please explain to me HOW exactly Teflon is an accurate passer?

A-Bomb

 

[40yearfan]

The Cardinals found a quarterback who can play. The funny thing is, only the reporters and half the fans believe it.

The coach isn't sold on him. Half the fans aren't sold on him. But I am. Josh McCown can play. He's a tough guy with some learning to go but he is showing improvement to go with his considerable physical skills.

The season ended when he was benched. The team was shaken by it and hasn't recovered. A decent defense went in the tank. A coach I like, Denny Green, lost his team the day he benched McCown. And yesterday, McCown's second half brilliance almost gave Denny back his team. But it didn't happen because the Cardinals again couldn't stop the 49ers in overtime. End result: season over.

So some team found a quarterback yesterday but it might not be the Cardinals. Josh McCown will play somewhere next year, somewhere he is appreciated, but that may not be here. Denny Green admitted this morning in his news conference that he worries all the time about losing his team when losing sets in. Well. losing has set in.

If I am right about McCown, the offense will play well over the last three games and that may translate into better defensive play. If not, the team will get blown out three times and McCown will be out of football next year.
I'm betting on Josh McCown. He's got what it takes. I'm just afraid it will take him somewhere else next year.

Skkorp, I agree with you. I think a big part of Josh's problem this year is that the offensive coaches have tried to protect him and not really opened the game plan up. I've always been a big proponent of throwing them into the lake and letting them swim or drown.

When we got down by 25 points, the OC finally started to open the game up and make Josh throw passes. They abandoned the old run on first and second down and throw on third and long, and let Josh start flinging the ball. The other thing they did that was out of character is that the offense finally got a sense of urgency and actually starting running plays without getting into a 10 second huddle first. I believe Josh plays better under this type of pressure.

Hopefully, next week, we will see this sense of urgency during the whole game, score some points and pick up a win.

 

[D-Dogg]

So much McCoolaid is flowing again.

1. Dude played well against the prevent of the worst team in football.
2. Dude is great at the short passes, and takes forever to heave it deep, which means to him just throwing it up and hoping our guys catch it or knock it down.
3. EVERY pass is high, causing our receivers to jump for the ball, thus positioning them to get killed...but since we don't have any money invested in them, or planned for them, who cares. HEAVE EM HIGH, JOSH!!
4. If we played SF's prevent for 4 quarters, every week, we'd have a good shot at putting Josh in the probowl. Maybe he'd even throw for a TOUCHDOWN!!!
5. 300 yards. 1 INT. 0 TDs. Worst team in league. Prevent defense. 0 TDs. 0 TDs. 0 TDs. Something about that really irks me.
6. Josh missed a huge smart play where he could have audibled to a short pass to Boldin, whose guy was mixed up and on the other side of the field. Instant TD. Josh LOOKED at Boldin, in no coverage, and still wiggled around, looked around, waited, and snapped. Not smart.
7. He can run. That's good. He doesn't understand the mechanics of the pocket. That's bad.


McCoolaid must be even better than Cardinal Koolaid, because some people suck it down like water. I have more confidence in the Cardinals making the playoffs this year than McCown being a good quarterback for this team.

 

[Cheesebeef]

11 tds, 15 interceptions, 1 rushing TD, 8 fumbles lost - record as a starter 5-8 and the only QB who couldn't make THE play(at least ONCE) to beat the worst team in football two times this season - only in Cardinal land could this guy be seen as the QB of the future.

 

[JeffGollin]

Hopeful but still not sold.

Open Questions:

1. Think of McCown's potential as right end-point of a horizontal line. How far to the right does it extend from zero? Physically? Mentally?

2. How far is he progressing along that line?

3. How quickly or slowly is he progressing along it?

4. How long (if ever) can we expect him to get from the left end-point to the right end-point?

- I think McCown's athletic potential is nearly as good as Favre's or McNabb's.

- I'm not sure whether he'll ever be crafty at reading defenses, always making the right decisions and making them decisively.

- He also wasn't very accurate on too many throws. Is this something we'd have to live with or can he be coached (or can he grow) out of it?

- What about confidence? Prior to the final 5-minutes, Josh looked down and frustrated - as though someone had shot his puppy. Just once I'd like to see him break the huddle and walk up under center with a Jack Nicholson-like gleam in his eye as if to say - "Come & get it, you bleeeps! I'm going to torch you bad on this one!"

- Was the balloon he floated up to FJ on that final pass play in OT a mistake he'll learn from and never make again? Or will he be prone to repeat it more than once?

Bottom Line - Maturation, accuracy and smarts. I'd like to see more of each before I'd feel confident McCown's our guy for the long haul.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Another funny thing happened on the way to 4-9 that no one's talking about: We played Carolina when they had already begun their streak (now the hottest team in the league), we played the 9-4 Jets and we played a road game against a decent D - Shocker - we lost a road game to the defending NFC Champs and now the Wild Card Team, we lose a game to the best Wild Card team in the AFC and we lose another game on the road - as if none of these thing were'nt happening with Josh in there. Folks - we needed a MIRACLE to beat the SECOND WORST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE ON THE ROAD AND THEN WE NEEDED A SHUTOUT BY THE D FOR THE LAST THREE QUARTERS TO BEAT THE GIANTS WHO ARE ONE OF THE WORST TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE.

Oh - but Josh loses again to the worst team in football - not being able to make the curicial play to win it - yet - his benching is the reason we lost those other games? You guys are drinking wayyyyyy too much McCoolaid.

 

[WizardOfAz]

- Was the balloon he floated up to FJ on that final pass play in OT a mistake he'll learn from and never make again? Or will he be prone to repeat it more than once?

Interesting point.

Does Freddie, the soon to be former starting TE for the AZ Cardinals, bear any responsibilty for not making that play happen. A step or two towards the ball may have made the difference.

 

[abomb]

Bottom Line - Maturation, accuracy and smarts. I'd like to see more of each before I'd feel confident McCown's our guy for the long haul.

Unfortunately for Teflon, 2 of the 3 dont come with time.

A-Bomb

 

[CaptTurbo]

No team will start him in the NFL. Bank on it. when I buy insurance from him in a few years Ill fax you a copy of it so you can have his autograph.

No arm strength, no accurancy, plenty of will and decent leadership = no starting future.

But hey I think he would make an ok backup. If kanell can do it why not Teflon?

 

[kerouac9]

How could anyone fail to be impressed by all the TDs that Josh threw against the worse secondary in the NFL yesterday? Oh, wait...

San Francisco has the 20th-ranked passing defense in the NFL. Opponents average a 96.0 rating against them. McCown's? 70.9. One quarter of San Francisco's season INTs have come from the hand of Josh McCown. San Francisco allows passers 7.67 yards per attempt. Josh notched less than seven. The only reason that he had so many yards was because he put the ball in the air 44 times. Opposing QBs average just over 30 attempts per game. Maybe because they run so much in the fourth quarter because they're up by 20 points.

Josh had a below-average day against a below-average defense. Do I think that Josh could be an okay starter with a running game that anyone thought could be effective (and wasn't a surprise if it were)? Definitely. Does that mean that McCown is an answer? Of course not.

Josh McCown folded over and over when a meaningful game was on the line. In garbage time, he excelled. Putting faith in garbage time performers was the mistake of the Tobin/McGinnis regime. Let's not repeat it.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

The worse thing the Cardinals could do right now is fire, or release McCown. I do not believe that McCown is the answer Right NOW.

But I believe he will be a very good QB in this league. But not for about 5 years or so. This is no crack on Josh since many of the "great QB's" in the league did not start playing that way untill they were much older.

McCown is 24 I believe or younger. Farve at 24 was an INT machine, Gannon, and Delhomme didn't do jack untill there late twenties.

McCown will be good, but IS not good right now.

We need a Vet QB that can hold it together.

 

[Renz]

Josh McCown folded over and over when a meaningful game was on the line. In garbage time, he excelled. Putting faith in garbage time performers was the mistake of the Tobin/McGinnis regime. Let's not repeat it.

I don't think I'd call scoring 18 points in the second half to tie the game "garbage time".

And if SF has the "20th ranked passing defense" then they aren't the worst in the NFL. There are 12 teams worse than them.

 

[CaptTurbo]

So Teflon McCown will leanr more by sitting on the bench for more years rugby? He sat there for what 3 years?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

McCoolaid...

That's hilarious.

EDIT - So is Teflon Josh.

 

[Lex]

HEY!

It's Jeff "teflon" Blake.

Coined over a year ago.

I'm calling copywrite infringement.

 

[Second Deck]

Josh did have a good game, but still missed a wide open Fitz and was lucky it wasn't a pick. I also hope he has a great 3 games and lets us know we have a QB of the future. I think it will help he has nothing to lose. No matter what we need to get a running game before next year. The loss of Ship hurt but this O-Line has to get better.

 

[DevonCardsFan]

McCown would be great to have to compete with an established Vet, Like Brooks, Bledsoe or Kitna. That would be an ideal QB situation.

 

[kerouac9]

I don't think I'd call scoring 18 points in the second half to tie the game "garbage time".

And if SF has the "20th ranked passing defense" then they aren't the worst in the NFL. There are 12 teams worse than them.

They're 20th-ranked now, but it'll probably get worse. They're almost without doubt the least-talented secondary in the NFL. Worse than Green Bay's.

Again, scoring 18 points when your defense is playing lights-out and you're down by 25 is good. Throwing TD passes is more impressive. Getting your team the win as the clock runs down in regulation or overtime is better.

When the game became close, Josh McCown went from Garbage Time Pro Bowler to Can't Make Plays When It Counts. At least Jake Plummer won some of those games for us. But don't take my word for it:

Wins "McCown Brother of the Week Award" from the National Institute for Damning With Faint Praise.

1.5 defense-adjusted points above replacement.

 

[kerouac9]

McCown would be great to have to compete with an established Vet, Like Brooks, Bledsoe or Kitna. That would be an ideal QB situation.

Ugh! Please! No more! Kitna threw a pick to Troy Brown! Since when is Jon Kitna "an established Vet"? The only thing that he's established is that he can be as mediocre as you want him to be!

 

[TRW]

11 tds, 15 interceptions, 1 rushing TD, 8 fumbles lost - record as a starter 5-8 and the only QB who couldn't make THE play(at least ONCE) to beat the worst team in football two times this season - only in Cardinal land could this guy be seen as the QB of the future.

Now, now Cheesey, don't be muddyin' up the water with facts....

I laugh every time I hear Josh mentioned as the "Quarterback of the future", "best chance for us to win", "has all the tools", etc., etc.

As you said "only in Cardinal land".

Good post Cheesey!