Josh McCown Is Not the Answer to Tampa Bay Buccaneers' QB Situation

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers built a shiny new sports car this offseason, spending all six of their draft picks on offensive players, including a pair of 6'5" pass-catching weapons in Mike Evans and Austin Seferian-Jenkins. 

Then they handed the keys to 35-year-old free-agent acquisition Josh McCown.

McCown's blunder-riddled afternoon on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, in which he went 22-of-35 and threw for as many interceptions (two) as touchdowns, confirmed the murmurings that began when Tampa Bay signed McCown to a two-year, $10 million deal in March: McCown's 2013 season in Chicago was a fluke.

In the eight games he played in place of the injured Jay Cutler last season, McCown posted a completion percentage of 66.5 and a passer rating of 109.0—both records for his 11-year career at an age when journeyman quarterbacks don't generally begin to show sudden and drastic improvement. 

	Games	Passing Yards	Completion %	TDs	INTs	Rating
2002 (ARI)	2	66	38.9	0	2	10.2
2003 (ARI)	8	1,018	57.2	5	6	70.3
2004 (ARI)	14	2,511	57.1	11	10	74.1
2005 (ARI)	9	1,836	60.4	9	11	74.9
2007 (OAK)	9	1,151	58.4	10	11	69.4
2008 (CAR)	2	0	0.0	0	0	0.0
2009 (CAR)	1	2	16.7	0	0	39.6
2011 (CHI)	3	414	63.6	2	4	68.3
2013 (CHI)	8	1,829	66.5	13	1	109.0

At the time of his signing with Tampa Bay, concerns surfaced that McCown was merely the beneficiary of the scheme and personnel in Chicago, an offense that, under Marc Trestman, included two of the league's top 10 receivers in 2013 in Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery and the No. 2 running back in Matt Forte. 

As the Bucs' 20-14 loss to the Panthers Sunday demonstrated, it turns out simply swapping Marshall, Jeffery and Martellus Bennett with Vincent Jackson, Evans and Seferian-Jenkins isn't all McCown needs to be successful in his first game as a starting quarterback. 

Tom Sorensen of The Charlotte Observer wrote four days before the season opener that heading into the season as a 35-year-old first-time starter, McCown is "proving he's no joke." But during his embarrassing outing Sunday, that's exactly what he was. 

The box score alone doesn't tell the story. Sure, no quarterback quarterback wants to throw as many interceptions as touchdowns, but what really sounded the alarm bells in Tampa Bay Sunday was McCown's demonstrated poor decision-making. 

In the third quarter, on 1st-and-10 at the Tampa Bay 43, McCown dropped back, fumbled the ball and recovered it at the Tampa Bay 40. He then almost blindly attempted a screen to Mike Evans, which was promptly intercepted by Roman Harper. Take a look at the Vine from FanSided's Mike Dyce:

Football Outsiders' Aaron Schatz awarded McCown's folly with a particularly undesirable place in history. 

The situation McCown found himself in Sunday was not an especially challenging one. The Panthers were without Cam Newton and led by backup quarterback Derek Anderson behind a suspect offensive line and with a rookie as their top receiving weapon.

While allowing Carolina to go up 17-0 was on Tampa Bay's defense, McCown went 2-of-4 before being sacked in his first drive, and his second ended in an interception while the game was still scoreless.

On multiple occasions throughout the game, when under pressure McCown simply threw the ball up, hoping it would stick. 

Rather than praise McCown for staging a fourth-quarter comeback, the Buccaneers need to take a hard look at the reason they were in such a hole to begin with and realize they cannot play an entire season with him at the helm. 

Coach Lovie Smith spent the entirety of last season out of the league after being fired when the Bears failed to reach the playoffs in the 2012-13 season. This offseason, he was welcomed back by a Tampa Bay team for which he served as the linebackers coach from 1996 to 2000, but with the sting of unemployment so fresh, Smith needs to put together a team that can win now.

McCown's career history, save for last season, and poor decision-making are already demonstrating that he isn't the player Smith can rely on to get that done. Yes, the Bucs lost offensive lineman Logan Mankins Sunday, casting doubt on the ability of an already-questionable unit to keep anyone under center for Tampa Bay upright.

But McCown needed to be better. And for three quarters, he hardly resembled the player who posted a win percentage of .600 in his eight games with Chicago last season. 

McCown's first outing has already led to calls for Mike Glennon to start in Week 2, and Smith would be wise to heed them.

The second-year player wasn't perfect in his rookie season for the Bucs in 2013, completing 59.4 percent of his passes and throwing nine interceptions to 19 touchdowns, but the organization has an opportunity to develop him and give him time to build chemistry with Jackson, Evans and Seferian-Jenkins, all of whom could comprise the core of this offense for years. 

NFL.com's Chris Trapasso called Glennon the best rookie quarterback in 2013. 

There's no doubt that coaches like their own players, and while he inherited Glennon, McCown is Smith's guy. As Gary Shelton of the Tampa Bay Times reported, wherever Smith would have ended up, he planned to call McCown.

But that's not necessarily a good thing—McCown's success in Trestman's system does not mean he'll be successful in Smith's, and Glennon, though inexperienced, hasn't shown his floor is as low as McCown's. 

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

Smith and his play-calling isn't off the hook here, either. When, down 17-0 in the fourth quarter, Smith elected to punt the ball on 4th-and-1 just outside the red zone rather than go for it, it became clear that McCown wasn't the only member of the Bucs organization who suffered from poor decision-making Sunday. 

It also, however, could have indicated that Smith didn't have faith in McCown to convert a 4th-and-1. Though that might seem like a major issue for a franchise, the sooner Smith loses his trust in McCown, the better it could be for the franchise. His history with Rex Grossman is a sure reminder that Smith tends to stubbornly back his own quarterback.

"We realize the position we're in. We have to be together and know the other one has each other's back," Smith told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times Friday. 

"You say all these things about Josh, but I think he can play, too," Smith said. "And to me, with what I wanted in a quarterback, knowing when to make a great decision, he can throw the ball. And then the mobility he brings…this is all about winning right now."

The qualities Smith listed weren't visible on Sunday in the quarterback he picked to lead his team. And if they don't emerge—quickly—Smith will need to decide if winning right now is more important to him than continuing to back a veteran whose best season is assuredly behind him.