azdad1978
Championship!!!!
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 13, 2004 12:00 AM
Blink your eyes.
That's all the time that Josh McCown needed.
That's all that separated a quarterback from a hero's return and a quarterback still fighting through the fog of youth.
And that's all McCown could think about as he trudged to his car alone, with his chin to his chest and his heart in his socks.
"I feel certain that I have a place in this league," McCown said. "And I really hope it's here, but that's not for me to decide."
Per usual, there was much confusion accompanying another Sunday collapse at Sun Devil Stadium. Emmitt Smith said he felt like a failure for not leading the Cardinals to the playoffs, and then took some veiled shots at the coaching staff. He sounded very much like a man getting ready to leave Arizona.
The defense allowed another no-name running back to post a career day, and now Maurice Hicks joins Brock Forsey and Nick Goings on the list of unlikely beneficiaries. Then there's the hideous special-teams play and the sagging IQ of a team that should be getting smarter along the way.
"I still feel like we're a good team," said running back Obafemi Ayanbadejo, normally one of the smartest guys on the team. "I know a lot of analysts, media and other teams aren't going to feel the same way."
Still, the only thing relevant now is who will be the quarterback of the future, and this is where McCown succeeded and failed.
With his team trailing by 25 points with just under 25 minutes left, he started moving the Cardinals up and down the field. His two-point conversion late in the game made the score 28-25, and the building started to rock. Then the Cardinals earned a chance to win and the moment of truth arrived.
On third down and goal, McCown came to the line of scrimmage and did the math. The 49ers were in man coverage, which meant the tight end had to beat only his man off the line of scrimmage. Right then, McCown made up his mind. He was going to Freddie Jones.
"He was still kind of tangled up (at the line of scrimmage) when I threw the ball," McCown said. "So I didn't want to throw it too hard. I wasn't sure if he'd break away clean."
He tossed a nice lob, and at the last second, the 49ers' Joselio Hanson came from the far side to knock away the pass.
"Freddie told me that maybe he could've done a little more, maybe come back to the ball a little more," McCown said.
And then the young quarterback put his head down and corrected everything.
"No, it's on me," he said. "Bottom line is, I should've thrown the ball harder. I'll know that next time, but you hate to learn lessons like this, on the cusp of the playoffs."
Of course, it was only one play in a season full of mishaps. But it was one play that could've meant everything to McCown. A touchdown there, and he'd be celebrated as the kid who came into his own with the furious fourth-quarter rally, responding to a three-game benching with a comeback from the Montana manual.
After all, good quarterbacks find a way. Great ones leave no doubt. The rest simply lick their wounds, and today, McCown is just another quarterback stuck in limbo: He is a guy who's getting close and a guy who's running out of time. A guy who was brilliant in the second half yet would do anything for that half-second that got away.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/columns/articles/1213bickley1213.html
Dec. 13, 2004 12:00 AM
Blink your eyes.
That's all the time that Josh McCown needed.
That's all that separated a quarterback from a hero's return and a quarterback still fighting through the fog of youth.
And that's all McCown could think about as he trudged to his car alone, with his chin to his chest and his heart in his socks.
"I feel certain that I have a place in this league," McCown said. "And I really hope it's here, but that's not for me to decide."
Per usual, there was much confusion accompanying another Sunday collapse at Sun Devil Stadium. Emmitt Smith said he felt like a failure for not leading the Cardinals to the playoffs, and then took some veiled shots at the coaching staff. He sounded very much like a man getting ready to leave Arizona.
The defense allowed another no-name running back to post a career day, and now Maurice Hicks joins Brock Forsey and Nick Goings on the list of unlikely beneficiaries. Then there's the hideous special-teams play and the sagging IQ of a team that should be getting smarter along the way.
"I still feel like we're a good team," said running back Obafemi Ayanbadejo, normally one of the smartest guys on the team. "I know a lot of analysts, media and other teams aren't going to feel the same way."
Still, the only thing relevant now is who will be the quarterback of the future, and this is where McCown succeeded and failed.
With his team trailing by 25 points with just under 25 minutes left, he started moving the Cardinals up and down the field. His two-point conversion late in the game made the score 28-25, and the building started to rock. Then the Cardinals earned a chance to win and the moment of truth arrived.
On third down and goal, McCown came to the line of scrimmage and did the math. The 49ers were in man coverage, which meant the tight end had to beat only his man off the line of scrimmage. Right then, McCown made up his mind. He was going to Freddie Jones.
"He was still kind of tangled up (at the line of scrimmage) when I threw the ball," McCown said. "So I didn't want to throw it too hard. I wasn't sure if he'd break away clean."
He tossed a nice lob, and at the last second, the 49ers' Joselio Hanson came from the far side to knock away the pass.
"Freddie told me that maybe he could've done a little more, maybe come back to the ball a little more," McCown said.
And then the young quarterback put his head down and corrected everything.
"No, it's on me," he said. "Bottom line is, I should've thrown the ball harder. I'll know that next time, but you hate to learn lessons like this, on the cusp of the playoffs."
Of course, it was only one play in a season full of mishaps. But it was one play that could've meant everything to McCown. A touchdown there, and he'd be celebrated as the kid who came into his own with the furious fourth-quarter rally, responding to a three-game benching with a comeback from the Montana manual.
After all, good quarterbacks find a way. Great ones leave no doubt. The rest simply lick their wounds, and today, McCown is just another quarterback stuck in limbo: He is a guy who's getting close and a guy who's running out of time. A guy who was brilliant in the second half yet would do anything for that half-second that got away.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/columns/articles/1213bickley1213.html
