Playing it safe
Josh McCown is doing just enough. While the Jets rode their defense and run game to a 23-20 overtime win over the Jaguars on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, McCown put forth another effective effort as game manager, completing 22-of-31 passes for 224 yards.
With the team’s second straight win, McCown, who is completing 69.8 percent of his passes this season, won back-to-back games as a starter for the first time since 2004. The 38-year-old had gone 51 straight games without recording consecutive wins.
“To leave this quarter pole at 2-2 is encouraging for us, to know that everything you desire when you start an NFL season is still out in front of you,” McCown said. “We’re in a good place. No doubt.”
For much of the game, McCown was like a good referee, doing a good job by going unnoticed. He played it as safely as he has all season, taking few chances downfield, while completing 10 of his first 11 passes, for 95 yards, as the Jets built a 20-10 lead on two long touchdown runs.
Then, a pair of mistakes turned an easy cruise into a near-choke job.
After McCown hit Robby Anderson with a 41-yard pass, the Jets were in the red zone, and about to seal their second straight win. Instead, on the next play, McCown threw a backwards pass to Bilal Powell, who wasn’t looking for the ball, which dropped to the ground after hitting him in the shoulder, allowing Jacksonville linebacker Myles Jack to scoop it up, and return it 81 yards for a touchdown with 10:20 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Powell helped produce another error after slipping on a route, which allowed Jacksonville’s A.J. Bouye to intercept McCown with 3:19 remaining. The Jaguars took over at the Jets’ 35-yard line, and then hit the game-tying field goal.
“It was just a bad break,” McCown said of the fumble. “It killed all the momentum completely and gave it to them, so we can’t have that happen, but it was just a deal where we got hit a little bit quicker than obviously [Powell] understood.
“It was unfortunate, but I’m thankful we were able to overcome it.”
For now, the placeholder quarterback is secure in his place.
“We have two wins with Josh as the starting quarterback,” Powell said. “He’s a good leader. He’s a guy who’s been around for a long time and we bought into it. He’s our starting quarterback and we move forward with it.”