Breaking Down the Colt McCoy Project in Washington
Colt McCoy did enough on Sunday to earn a second consecutive start as the Washington Redskins' quarterback.
"I feel like he competed and did a good job out there," said head coach Jay Gruden, despite the fact the McCoy-led Redskins lost 49-27 to the Indianapolis Colts. "He came back and gave us a chance."
With four weeks remaining in another spoiled season and hope basically lost on erstwhile franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III (now benched), that means McCoy will at least continue to have a chance to make his case.
TOP NEWS
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Colts Release Kenny Moore
Projecting Every NFL Team's Starting Lineup 🔮
Rookie WRs Who Will Outplay Their Draft Value 📈
Coming out of his debut showing in what might wind up playing out as a five-start audition, here's where the oft-maligned veteran backup-turned-temporary starter now stands.
Reasons to Believe
First and foremost, here's McCoy's stat line: 31-of-47 (66.0 percent), 392 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, 8.3 yards per attempt, 113.1 passer rating.
Sheer numbers can be misleading, but McCoy put together the second-best performance we've seen from a Redskins quarterback this season.
Kirk Cousins was probably better when he had 427 yards, three touchdowns and an 8.9 yards-per-attempt average against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3, but Cousins isn't really part of this conversation due to his struggles in the four weeks that followed that game.
The last time Griffin completed over 65 percent of his passes for more than 300 yards, three-plus touchdowns and zero interceptions? Never. RG3 has never done that. And on only four occasions in 34 career games has he posted a passer rating as high as the one McCoy put up against the Colts.
Griffin's had better games, because again, stats don't tell the whole story. He's done more with his legs, especially as a rookie. But we're not comparing McCoy to the rookie version of Griffin. Right here, right now, McCoy is coming off a better game than Griffin's had in over a year.
And it does go beyond the numbers.
McCoy and the offense struggled early Sunday, which probably did them in. More on that in a moment, but you have to wonder how much better things could have been had receiver Andre Roberts not dropped this perfectly thrown deep pass on a first-quarter 3rd-and-long:
As the game wore on, though, McCoy clearly began to establish more of a rhythm with his pass-catchers. You really saw him turn a corner on a touchdown drive late in the second quarter. At that point, he was making reads much faster than we're used to seeing from Griffin and hitting receivers in stride from the base of his drops. He was keeping it simple and making things look easy.
This is what he was dealing with on an impressive 21-yard touchdown pass to Roy Helu:
In the third quarter, he kept a touchdown drive alive on third down by throwing it almost magnetically to where only Roberts could get it while being knocked on his ass:
And the fact that this turned into a completion to Helu for positive yardage goes to show how quick he can be on his feet:
I fear what such immediate pressure would have done to Griffin.
He also completed a pass in this situation:
In fact, among the 23 quarterbacks who were pressured at least eight times this weekend, McCoy was the second-most accurate in the league when under duress, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
| 1. Cam Newton | 100.0 | 0 |
| 2. Colt McCoy | 87.5 | 2 |
| 3. Philip Rivers | 83.3 | 1 |
What's more, McCoy accomplished a lot of that without top receiver DeSean Jackson, who suffered a leg injury in the third quarter.
Keep in mind that the 28-year-old former third-round pick hasn't spent much time working with Jackson, Garcon, Roberts or Reed. He was the third-stringer throughout the summer, so this unfamiliar experience with the first-team offense constitutes a baptism by fire.
As McCoy continues to work with these guys, he should only get better.
Reasons for Concern
But on the other hand, defenses are only going to become more acclimated to him. It's funny how often we see backup quarterbacks take the league by storm early in their relief ventures before being brought back to earth completely—and often painfully—by opposing defensive coordinators.
Those guys have an ability to catch on quickly. Point being, we can't possibly declare McCoy to be anything close to a legitimate candidate for the franchise quarterback role this early. He's thrown just 89 passes in two-and-a-half games this season, which isn't a sufficient sample.
That's especially true when you consider how much he struggled during those ugly first three seasons with the Cleveland Browns, with McCoy winning just six of 21 starts and posting a passer rating of just 74.8.
Besides, on Sunday, he accumulated too many of those completions, yards and touchdowns during what was essentially garbage time. McCoy deserves credit for a big second half, but that's not unusual when you're down by a large margin.
The reality is McCoy spent much of the second half digging himself out of his own hole.
| 1st half | 58.8 | 94 | 5.5 | 1 | 93.8 |
| 2nd half | 70.0 | 298 | 9.9 | 2 | 124.0 |
I know the final score doesn't indicate the defense helped out much, but you have to consider that the Redskins forced three turnovers in the first half. As a result, McCoy and the offense started three first-half drives inside Indianapolis territory, yet they came away with just three points in total.
In fact, they started a ridiculous five possessions beyond their own 45-yard line and had only six points on those drives. On Washington's first five possessions, that McCoy-run offense had minus-four passing yards. And at halftime, McCoy had been sacked four times while the 'Skins had three total points off three Indianapolis turnovers.
Some of it was rust. McCoy and intended receiver Darrel Young weren't on the same page on his first pass from scrimmage, which came on a 2nd-and-6 at the Indianapolis 11-yard line. That was the key play amid a three-and-out inside the red zone. If McCoy had been more comfortable with the first-team offense, the 'Skins might have found the end zone there instead.
They also inexplicably ran passing plays that didn't get them first-down yardage on consecutive third-down attempts to start the game, so hand-holding factored in.
But it's still concerning that he was sacked six times in total, which can't happen regardless of how poor the pass protection is. Greater quarterbacks with worse protection have managed to perform much better.
In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, five of McCoy's six sacks came on plays in which he held on to the ball more than 2.6 seconds. An alarm should be going off earlier than that, which explains why only four quarterbacks held on to the ball that long as often as McCoy did in Week 13.
Sacks are better than interceptions or even intentional grounding penalties, but reliable starting quarterbacks can't consistently get sacked in situations like these:
That was his pocket three full seconds after the snap, which is not on the offensive line. McCoy had a checkdown but tucked it back in and took a drive-killing sack.
He simply made it easier on the Indy pass rush. On another example on a fumble and sack from the second quarter, he simply fails to climb the pocket against the rush:
He didn't stand much of a chance on the fourth-down strip sack that led directly to Indy's game-clinching touchdown in the third quarter, but it should also be noted that he fumbled on three other occasions. Luckily, all three of those were recovered by players in burgundy.
Even the play of the game—a 16-yard third-quarter touchdown pass to Logan Paulsen, which came after he dodged three rushing defenders—came as a result of McCoy taking a rather silly risk inside the red zone.
So it was by no means a flawless performance. McCoy has a lot of improving to do in a short period of time, and he has to make better decisions.
Mixed Bag Is Better Than Nothing
Right now, a little bit of good and a little bit of bad is a lot better than what the Redskins were getting from Griffin. Football beggars can't be football choosers, and at least McCoy has the pedigree to provide a semblance of light at the end of the tunnel.
The jury is definitely still out. But considering that at the start of the year, McCoy wasn't even supposed to get a trial, that's not so bad.
Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
