Safe to say Adams, Maye can reach Bowles status

Nobody else knew it at the time, but Josh McCown was about to play the game of his life. He would display a blend of toughness, insanity and selflessness. He would show heart and courage and a passion that few people his age did in his line of work.

He would feel an unspeakable pain that Cleveland Browns teammates couldn’t fully comprehend in the moment. He would show exactly why the Jets welcomed him six months later to lead a wayward outfit during a time of transition.

“Pretty ridiculous,” Bryce Petty said when told about what happened on Sept. 18, 2016, at FirstEnergy Stadi- um on a sun-splashed afternoon.

The roar inside the stadium provided temporary relief for McCown, who felt a searing pain on his left side moments after throwing a picture-perfect 31-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Corey Coleman on the opening drive.

Ravens defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan and linebacker Zach Orr converged on McCown as he let it fly. Nearly 550 pounds of humanity landed on the quarterback’s non-throwing left shoulder, breaking his collarbone.

“I just felt it pop,” McCown said in a quiet moment in the run-up to his return to Cleveland this weekend. “So, I thought, ‘I think this thing could be broken.’ ”

McCown raced up and down the sideline after the score like a giddy schoolboy on a sugar rush, slapping teammates with his right hand.

Nearly 10 months after McCown missed the final five games of the 2015 season after cracking his right collarbone against the Ravens, he had an eerie case of deja vu. He told the trainers, who relayed the information to Browns head coach Hue Jackson.

“I'm going to protect you,” Jackson told the veteran.

On the first play of the next drive, McCown handed off to Isaiah Crowell, who raced in for an 85-yard touchdown.

“I was like, ‘Thank you, Hue,’” McCown

Over eight seasons as an NFL safety, Todd Bowles played in 117 games, snared 15 interceptions, recovered seven fumbles and, perhaps most importantly, won Super Bowl XXVI as a starter with Washington. His accomplishments demand respect from the men he now coaches at One Jets Drive.

Yet late last month, Bowles — forever humble and subdued in his public appearances — refused to find similarities between his playing style and that of Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye, the Jets’ two rookie safeties who, through four games, are already looking like future stars.

“They’re bigger, faster and stronger than I played, so there’s no comparison,” Bowles said with a smile. “They’re better than I am. said with a laugh. “That’s awesome. Protect me like this every game.”

But the pain got worse. Players in the huddle sensed that something didn’t seem quite right with their leader, but nobody was completely sure.

“You could tell that he was in some pain,” 10-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas remembered. “He didn’t seem to really let it affect him too much. He’s a tough guy. It’s sometimes difficult to tell how much he’s hurting. I don’t think he really wanted anybody to think about what was wrong with him.”

When Jernigan drilled McCown on a third-down completion to tight end Gary Barnidge on Cleveland’s third drive, McCown knew: There was a fracture.

He was in visible pain. He raced to the line of scrimmage, dragging his left shoulder. Seconds later, he fired a quick hitch to Coleman for an 11-yard touchdown to give the Browns a 20-2 lead late in the first quarter. McCown raised his right arm to the sky. Surely, his day was done.

Only it wasn’t.

It made no sense. How and why was this battered 37-year-old at the time still playing?

“I had no idea that a quarterback could throw the ball with a broken collarbone,” Thomas said. “But I guess he proved me wrong.” I’m an old head.”

Adams appreciated the sentiment, but he knows he and his defensive backfield partner are still miles away from achieving what Bowles did as a player.

“He’s giving us the benefit of the doubt. He has confidence in himself, I know that for sure,” Adams told the Daily News. “But it’s a tremendous honor that he feels that way about us. At the same time, we’re not even close to where he was. So that’s our goal, to get where he was.”

In truth, Adams is right. Bowles reached the mountaintop, and the two greenhorns — despite their success thus far — have much to learn before they’re ready and capable of leading a team to those heights.

But the early returns are tremendously promising, and Bowles deserves credit for developing Maye and Adams this spring and It was never about proving anyone wrong anymore. McCown was on his seventh team in 14 years. He was no dummy. The end was near. If not now, then soon. So, he wondered if that pop he heard might have signaled the end of his career. He had broken toes and fingers along the way, but reality was rushing at him now like 300-pound linemen. It crossed his mind: Are these my last plays? “No matter how you slice it, I’m near or at the end,” McCown said. “So, I do treasure every opportunity, for sure. I think in that game in that moment, it was just like… you don’t not want to be out there. And with a guy like Joe Thomas, who has taken 10,000 straight snaps. I know the kind of things that bother Joe. I know his body doesn’t feel healthy all the time. And he goes and fights. Alright, so I’ll go try to do it too.” McCown went in for X-rays after his second touchdown pass. The results confirmed a fracture: “Mine wasn’t completely (broken) through,” McCown rationalized. “It was still kind of together.” Of course, playing at that point was pure insanity. On the first play after McCown got X-ray confirmation, Ravens players landed on his summer — to the point where they were ready to start in Week 1.

“The way they’re handling everything is impressive,” Bowles said.

Bowles has a unique relationship with both players because he played safety at the highest level and understands the nuances.

“That position is important on our field,” Maye said Thursday. “The keys and the job and the responsibility that he puts on our safeties is big, so we take it and we enjoy it.”

Backup safety Rontez Miles — who’s been with the Jets for all three of Bowles’ seasons as head coach — is appreciative of how Bowles coaches the position he once played. But Miles also acknowledged that Bowles holds his safeties to a higher standard.

“He ain’t gonna miss s---,” Miles said with a chuckle. “If you miss something or you don’t left side after a fumble recovery.

Somehow, McCown played all 62 snaps, including 53 with the cracked collarbone. He went 20-for-33 for 260 yards, two TDs and two INTs.

“He’s the best teammate,” said Thomas, who will wind up in Canton one day. “What a tremendous leader. I learned so much from him. He’s an outstanding person. He’s a great football mind. He’s a guy that’s fun to be around because he’s really optimistic and he brings the best out of the players around him.”

The Jets are finding that out now. McCown, who has the second-best completion percentage (70.1) in the league, has been a steadying presence for the rebuilding outfit. He is the unquestioned offensive leader for a 2-2 team that exceeded expectations so far this season.

“As far as ‘stop-gap quarterbacks’ go, he’s got to be one of the best,” Thomas said. “Clearly he can still play very well. He brings everything you want from the quarterback position except that he’s 38 instead of 28. Otherwise, you guys would be thinking, ‘Wow. We got our franchise quarterback. This is when we make our run.’ ”

“But because of his age, nobody’s going to look at him as the quarterback of the future obviously,” Thomas continued. “Everybody in this league is looking for that quarterback in his mid 20s that can be the QB that can be the face of the franchise for the next 10-15 years. So obviously Josh doesn’t fit that mold right there. But in the interim, he’s a tremendous player.”

McCown was intercepted on the final play in the Browns’ 25-20 loss to the Ravens that September day. The injured quarterback would miss the next five weeks.

Jackson put his arm around McCown on the sideline: “That’s OK,” the coach said.

He knew what just about everyone else didn’t. They had all witnessed something special without realizing it. see it how he sees it, most likely you’re wrong, because he knows what he’s talking about. But that’s the benefit — you will get more hands-on from the head coach as far as he’ll shed light on every position on the field, but the light he sheds on your position that he actually played is more solid.”

“I’m going to listen to whatever he says,” Miles added.

Adams and Maye are taking a similar approach. Bowles and his defensive coaches have raved about the study habits of the two young safeties for the past sixth months, since they first arrived in Florham Park for rookie minicamp in early May.

Bowles noted that two rookies starting at safety is “very rare” in the NFL.

“This game can be hard on you starting out. It can be too big for some people,” Bowles said. “It’s not too big for them.”