Josh McCown's Longstanding Issues with Pressure Return in Browns' Loss vs. Bills

The Cleveland Browns did not win their second preseason game on Thursday night, falling 11-10 to the visiting Buffalo Bills. But the point of the preseason is not the final score—it's about evaluating the progress of a team's offense and defense from the top of the roster on down.

The top of the Browns' offensive roster, in particular, did not have a good night on Thursday.

Though this is a team sport and 11 men must all work in concert to advance the football, it's hard not to look at presumed Week 1 Browns starting quarterback Josh McCown as one of the team's least impressive players in the contest.

McCown was brought on during the offseason to serve as a stopgap while young backup Johnny Manziel continued to hopefully develop into the team's long-term answer at the position.

McCown has drawn nothing but raves from his teammates and coaches, with head coach Mike Pettine in particular constantly reiterating that McCown is the starter—at least as far as Week 1 is concerned.

In fact, according to Scott Petrak of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, Pettine reiterated that point after Thursday's game:

But if that is to remain the case, not just for Week 1 but for the duration of the 2015 season, McCown must look much better than he did against Buffalo and its never-ending supply of blitzes and defensive pressure.

In 11 games last year, McCown was sacked 36 times while working behind a Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive line that ranked 29th in pass protection, according to Football Outsiders. Pro Football Focus ultimately listed McCown as its 31st-ranked quarterback out of 39 total under pressure, adding that he saw pressure on 43.2 percent of his dropbacks while being sacked 21.8 percent of the time. 

As part of a Browns offense that features a far better offensive line than he worked behind in Tampa Bay, McCown should have had far more success on Thursday.

Though McCown's night of pressure had just as much to do with Buffalo's defensive prowess, McCown's response to that pressure is what was most concerning.

Att.	Comp.	Comp.%	Yds.	TD	INT	Sack	Rating
10	7	70.0%	57	0	2	3	44.6

McCown played the entire first half of the game and did manage to complete seven of his 10 passes for 57 yards. But his missed passes were alarming. McCown's first two offensive series ended in interceptions by Bills cornerback Ronald Darby.

The first was a result of a tipped pass intended for tight end Gary Barnidge—again, while McCown was under pressure—whereas the second came after the Bills sent an all-out blitz. At first, McCown appeared to step up in the pocket, but he was hurried, his feet weren't set and he overthrew his target (receiver Andrew Hawkins). The pass was easily picked off by Darby. 

McCown also took three sacks in the half, costing his team 14 yards. He was hit while throwing on nearly all seven of his completed passes. He ended the half with a quarterback rating of 44.6.

It would have been much worse if not for the field-goal drive he led late in the half. With under 10 minutes left in the second quarter, the Browns had just nine net passing yards.

Cleveland's line is a talented one, but there is only so much that it can do to keep McCown protected when a defense as talented as Buffalo's sends nearly constant pressure.

It's up to McCown to make smart decisions when he's pressured. It wasn't just Tampa Bay's line that caused McCown to tie for the most pressured interceptions thrown last year (nine).

The offensive line cannot make passing decisions for McCown. The coaches cannot simply scream from the sidelines for him to not throw the ball without his feet set, eyes downfield and jersey clean. McCown, now in his 13th year in the NFL with his seventh team, should at least have those fundamentals of handling pressure down to rote memory.

But there's a reason the Browns are McCown's seventh stop in 13 years: He's simply not been good enough on a consistent basis to warrant being any team's long-term answer.

Now, he's not that in Cleveland either, but he must perform well enough to allow the Browns to give Manziel as much time as he needs before taking over the job.

Ron Schwane/Associated Press/Associated Press

McCown is McCown. We know who he is. We know that under pressure, his mechanics, fundamentals and decision-making all falter. The Browns need to keep McCown clean, and by the looks of Thursday night, that's going to be a hard task considering the number of top-flight defensive fronts the team is set to face this season.

But it is a task they will have to try to accomplish because if McCown continues to do the exact wrong thing when staring down an aggressive pass rush, it won't be long until the Browns may be forced to see what Manziel is capable of much earlier than they had planned.