[font=Times New Roman, Times]Cardinals' treatment of quarterback McCown hard to stomach
[/font][font=Times New Roman, Times]By Keith Jiron
Sun Asst. Sports Editor
10/01/2005
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[font=Times New Roman, Times]If Arizona Cardinals quarterback du jour Josh McCown is smart, the first thing he'd do after he arrives in Mexico City for Sunday's matchup with the San Francisco 49ers is locate a street vendor, then wolf down as many mystery-meat tacos as he can stomach.
Then, just to make sure the tasty little morsels take full effect, he should wash them down with a liter or two of tap water.
McCown is scheduled to start under center for the winless -- and some say, hopeless -- Cards when they take on the equally dysfunctional 49ers in Old Mexico's capital.
But considering the shoddy treatment he's received from the team in the past year or so, who could blame him for, hehe, sitting this one out?
McCown, you may remember, put up decent numbers as the Cards' starter last year, before he was benched in Week 10 in favor of journeyman Shaun King.
Under McCown's lead, the Cards were an underwhelming 4-5, but that was more than enough to have punch-drunk Big Red fans thinking playoffs.
In those nine games, McCown had better passing numbers than Atlanta's Michael Vick, Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck and Buffalo's Drew Bledsoe, yet the Cards' braintrust felt a change was in order.
So McCown grabbed a clipboard and baseball cap and saw King, then former third-stringer John Navarre, start in his place over the next three games.
What was Arizona's record in that span?
You guessed it, 0-3.
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Cards coach Dennis Green, who never really explained his move to bench McCown, found the error of his ways and reinstalled the only true NFL starting quarterback on the Cards' roster under center.
Arizona went 2-2 down the stretch, and McCown was a big reason why.
Over the next four weeks, he threw for 957 yards with six touchdowns against three interceptions.
Not exactly Joe Montana numbers, but still not too bad.
He probably thought that might have been good enough to earn the starting nod this year.
Not even close.
The Cardinals pulled the trigger on a deal to bring Kurt Warner to the Valley last year, relegating McCown to backup once again.
McCown, who didn't publicly complain when he was benched, didn't gripe.
He actually welcomed Warner with open arms.
Now that a strained right groin muscle has Warner out for at least four weeks, Green is calling on McCown to stop the bleeding.
And McCown's saying all of the right things about the chance he's been given.
"I just want to go out and play well for my teammates and for my coaches and go get wins. If they want me to be around here, so be it. And if that works out, that works out," he told The Arizona Republic. "I haven't really thought about that. I'm just worried about the fact that we're going out of the country and playing against a good football team."
But deep down, he has to know no matter how well he does over the next month or so, he's back to the sideline once Warner's healthy.
And God forbid, if Warner's forced to miss a big chunk of the season for whatever reason and McCown once again puts up good numbers, who's to say Green's fancy doesn't back turn to Navarre or the newly signed Rohan Davey?
As hard as it may be for you to take yourself out of the game, there's no upside in risking your neck for a team which has proven it could care less. Bon appetit.
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[/font][font=Times New Roman, Times]By Keith Jiron
Sun Asst. Sports Editor
10/01/2005
[/font][font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=-2][ write a letter to the editor | email this story ][/size][/font]
[font=Times New Roman, Times]If Arizona Cardinals quarterback du jour Josh McCown is smart, the first thing he'd do after he arrives in Mexico City for Sunday's matchup with the San Francisco 49ers is locate a street vendor, then wolf down as many mystery-meat tacos as he can stomach.
Then, just to make sure the tasty little morsels take full effect, he should wash them down with a liter or two of tap water.
McCown is scheduled to start under center for the winless -- and some say, hopeless -- Cards when they take on the equally dysfunctional 49ers in Old Mexico's capital.
But considering the shoddy treatment he's received from the team in the past year or so, who could blame him for, hehe, sitting this one out?
McCown, you may remember, put up decent numbers as the Cards' starter last year, before he was benched in Week 10 in favor of journeyman Shaun King.
Under McCown's lead, the Cards were an underwhelming 4-5, but that was more than enough to have punch-drunk Big Red fans thinking playoffs.
In those nine games, McCown had better passing numbers than Atlanta's Michael Vick, Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck and Buffalo's Drew Bledsoe, yet the Cards' braintrust felt a change was in order.
So McCown grabbed a clipboard and baseball cap and saw King, then former third-stringer John Navarre, start in his place over the next three games.
What was Arizona's record in that span?
You guessed it, 0-3.
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Cards coach Dennis Green, who never really explained his move to bench McCown, found the error of his ways and reinstalled the only true NFL starting quarterback on the Cards' roster under center.
Arizona went 2-2 down the stretch, and McCown was a big reason why.
Over the next four weeks, he threw for 957 yards with six touchdowns against three interceptions.
Not exactly Joe Montana numbers, but still not too bad.
He probably thought that might have been good enough to earn the starting nod this year.
Not even close.
The Cardinals pulled the trigger on a deal to bring Kurt Warner to the Valley last year, relegating McCown to backup once again.
McCown, who didn't publicly complain when he was benched, didn't gripe.
He actually welcomed Warner with open arms.
Now that a strained right groin muscle has Warner out for at least four weeks, Green is calling on McCown to stop the bleeding.
And McCown's saying all of the right things about the chance he's been given.
"I just want to go out and play well for my teammates and for my coaches and go get wins. If they want me to be around here, so be it. And if that works out, that works out," he told The Arizona Republic. "I haven't really thought about that. I'm just worried about the fact that we're going out of the country and playing against a good football team."
But deep down, he has to know no matter how well he does over the next month or so, he's back to the sideline once Warner's healthy.
And God forbid, if Warner's forced to miss a big chunk of the season for whatever reason and McCown once again puts up good numbers, who's to say Green's fancy doesn't back turn to Navarre or the newly signed Rohan Davey?
As hard as it may be for you to take yourself out of the game, there's no upside in risking your neck for a team which has proven it could care less. Bon appetit.
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win a friggin' game so we all can stop fighting about just how much you suck.
