With Sam Darnold out, Jets turn to 39-year-old Josh McCown to get a win against awful Bills and remain in postseason picture.
39-year-old McCown gets chance to start again for Jets, and he’s ready as ever
Uncle Josh is back in the saddle with his boundless energy, awesome spirit and desire to make the Jets great again … for at least this week.
He's choppin' wood, throwin' passes and ready to snap a threegame funk for a Jets offense begging to be brought back to life. He's 39 going on 19, firing everybody up, 3-6 record be damned, fueled by the power of positivity.
It's cool to see Josh McCown get another chance against the lowly Bills (2-7) on Sunday nearly one year after he left Denver in tears with a season-ending broken thumb. The 16-year veteran will lace 'em up for his 74th career start with the expressed desire to send Gang Green into the bye week on a high note, while the team waits for Sam Darnold's ailing foot to heal.
It's Go Time for the old man, who walks, talks and acts like a much younger man ready to conquer the world.
“I'll go out and expect to play to my standard and to the standard of this football team and win a football game,” McCown said. “As a backup quarterback, you have to serve your team in that role and go in and play winning football. That's what's fun. That's what you look forward to and that's why you play this game.”
McCown, frankly, has his work cut out for him given the offense's recent struggles. Jeremy Bates' group has scored a grand total of one touchdown in the last 27 drives, including just 4.0 yards per play during this three-game slide.
The Jets have converted just 7 of 40 third downs en route to averaging 11 points per game during that stretch. They haven't reached the red zone in the past two games. That's enough to make the green-and-white faithful violently ill.
“Well, we struggled all the way around,” Todd Bowles said. “Play calling has got to get better. The players have got to play better. We've all got to coach better. … We have to be better at execution with whatever we're doing, whether it's running the ball or throwing the football. … Aggressiveness only counts when you're doing something well. We've got to run it better and we've got to throw it better. Aggressiveness comes with successful plays.”
McCown isn't a miracle worker. It's fair to expect some rust given he hasn't actually played since he threw eight passes on 16 snaps in the preseason finale in Philly on Aug. 30. On the other hand... “(McCown looks) like a spring chicken right now,” Bowles said. “He hasn't played in a while, so he is very camp fresh right now. He should be fine.”
Bates should be able to dial up a few more things with the veteran, who has proven that he can be successful with this supporting cast.
McCown set career highs in passing yards (2,926), touchdowns (18) and completion percentage (67.3) in 13 games last year. He developed an instant rapport with Jermaine Kearse, who had a career season despite not arriving until about a week before the regular season. Although deep threat Robby Anderson (ankle) isn't expected to play, McCown will have new weapons Quincy Enunwa and Chris Herndon who should help.
Bowles made it clear that Darnold will be the starter once he's fully healthy, but there's good reason to believe that some of the issues that have plagued this unit with the rookie won't happen with McCown under center. “With Josh's experience, he might see things a little quicker,” Kearse said. “That's just because he has 16 years of experience. That would probably be the biggest difference.”
Bates shouldered the blame for the offense's inability to find the end zone during this funk, but the truth is there have been plenty of reasons for the struggles. Darnold's growing pains are the cost of doing business with a rookie quarterback. The offensive ebbs and flows are par for the course with a young signal caller.
McCown's transition from backup to starter this week has been seamless, which isn't surprising considering his familiarity with Bates' scheme.
“Josh is a pro's pro,” left tackle Kelvin Beachum said. “He'll be fine. He's handled himself as a leader on this team from Day One… It's not a huge adjustment. He'll probably get a little winded since he hasn't been in there for a while. He'll have to catch his wind after the first quarter. That's about all.”
To that end, McCown ran gassers on his own in between practice drills this week. Conditioning aside, his command of the huddle and offense has been solid, according to eye witnesses. The veteran quarterback is fully aware of why the unit has had hiccups in recent weeks.
“More than anything, I just think our tempo and just staying in manageable downs (is important),” McCown said. “A couple of weeks ago in Chicago, penalties. We were behind the sticks and last week (in Miami) a little bit of the same thing. … All 11 on offense (must do) what it takes to keep us in manageable downs: Running backs hitting holes, guys opening the holes for them, guys staying onsides, quarterback completing the ball. All 11 of us have to be together. I think that's the fight. We've captured that at times this year and it looks really good, but we got to be more consistent with that.”
McCown believes anything is possible and nothing is promised.
“He's (39),” Bowles said. “But he has a 20-year-old's mindset.”
Will Uncle Josh save the day?