Were Browns Wrong to Keep QB Josh McCown on Field in Losing Effort?

Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown had missed practice time throughout the week leading up to Sunday's meeting with the Arizona Cardinals, per Scout.com's Hayden Grove, having suffered rib and shoulder injuries in Week 7 against the St. Louis Rams. McCown was officially listed as questionable heading into the contest, and head coach Mike Pettine considered him a game-time decision.

McCown, ever tough, did get the start on Sunday. And he did well at first. In the first half, he completed 11 of his 17 pass attempts for 122 yards and three scores, with Cleveland's defense going three-of-three in the red zone. He had no turnovers and was not sacked once.

	Atts.	Comp.	Comp.%	Yds.	TD	INT	Sack
1st Half	17	11	64.7%	122	3	0	0
Final	34	18	52.9%	211	3	1	1.0

But the 20 first-half points were the only ones scored by the Browns as McCown starting taking increasingly big hits from Arizona's defense. Though sacked once in the game, he was hit seven times. He fumbled three times, losing one and being picked off in the fourth quarter that set up a long Cardinals touchdown drive.

As McCown's ribs and shoulder took a beating, he completed just seven passes in the second half of the game. Meanwhile, the Cardinals kept scoring, with 24 unanswered second-half points leading to the 34-20 victory. 

Pulling McCown wasn't an option throughout most of the game. But it was clear he was in obvious pain in the second half, and the interception should have been the end of his day.

In fact, per 92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter, Pettine thought about pulling him off the field at that time but chose to keep him in though the Browns had no chance of winning—given McCown's pain-induced limitations and the defense again collapsing.

Johnny Manziel did take the field in place of McCown but not until the game's final minutes. It was a move the Browns should have made sooner.

Pettine has been adamant that McCown is the quarterback who gives the team the best chance to win. But the Browns have two victories up to this point. And despite the record, McCown has been the only man keeping the team afloat and competitive in its games. 

Given that the Browns have a short week ahead before facing the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday, the goal should be preserving the health of their starting quarterback as best they can.

Exposing McCown to more and more punishment at this point can only lead to him missing more and more time. This was not a 100 percent healthy player to begin with, yet the team chose not to err on the side of caution when it had the chance.

It's one thing to pull an ailing quarterback in a close game. But it's another altogether to leave him out there when the game is clearly out of hand with just four days until he's slated to play another. And now, there's no question that McCown is "questionable" for Thursday, even if Pettine is trying to downplay McCown's condition as soreness, per the Akron Beacon Journal's Nate Ulrich:

Even at 2-6, Cleveland's season is not over. There is still time to turn things around and room for improvement. But the only way that's going to happen is with McCown under center. He was completing over 66 percent of his passes and had thrown eight touchdowns to three interceptions before Sunday and now has 11 touchdowns to four picks. 

But he's also been brutalized this year—sacked now a total of 22 times in seven games played. If the Browns need McCown, they need to protect him. And when the offensive line cannot do it, then the coaches must. Somehow, McCown's health must be preserved as much as is in Cleveland's control, and the Browns failed him on Sunday.