Pros And Cons: Josh McCown
July 7th, 2014
Breaking down Josh McCown.
The nerds over at Pro Football Focus have spent the better part of the summer breaking down quarterbacks. Joe has to give the football Sheldon Coopers over there some mad props.
To Joe’s knowledge, no one, that means nobody, has pumped out quarterback info like that outfit has this past handful of weeks.
Now whether you covet the information or distrust the sources, that’s a different animal.
The spreadsheeters put out an exhaustive analysis of Josh McCown, and if Joe can read into any pattern McCown may have, granted it’s from only fives starts (or, in statgeekspeak, a “small sample size”), here is what Joe is gleaning from Steve Palazzolo.
* McCown’s best work is underneath throws or bombs. He struggled completing passes in the 21-to-30-yard range but excelled in bombs over 30.
* When McCown unloaded the ball under 3.5 seconds, he was quite good (hot read?). When he had all day to throw, he was good (what quarterback isn’t?).
* Crossing routes and slants? No bueno.
* Third downs? McCown was money.
You can read much more in the link above. The best common denominator Joe can come up with after reading all that statistical graffiti is that anyone who has concerns over the revamped offensive line of the Bucs, well, those concerns are warranted.
July 7th, 2014 at 7:29 am
@ Joe
I agree with the OLine concerns, but I’m confused about McCown’s performance under pressure… I think he was #1 in the league last year under pressure… ? Anyway, I fn hope he can be successful with all these weapons. I do also have hope for our OL, but we need someone unexpected to step up.
July 7th, 2014 at 7:59 am
O-Line….The question of the year.
July 7th, 2014 at 7:59 am
We just need our receivers to run a 3.5 30 yard dash and we’re good.
July 7th, 2014 at 8:04 am
So McCown looks like a QB who can deliver when put in a position to succeed. The same applies to 1/2 the starting QB’s in the league. Looks at what Treastman did for Jay Cutler last year. The Bears O-line is no better than ours. It might actually be worse. . Everything keeps coming back to McCown’s ability, but I’m more concerned with Tedford.
July 7th, 2014 at 8:11 am
No debate here. It’s the biggest ? for me. That and the inexperience of our A & Z receivers.
July 7th, 2014 at 8:35 am
Sounds like the question marks are will Jackson + Evans be as good as Marshall + Jeffreys, will Tedford’s scheme be as good as Trestman’s, and finally will McCown be playing against some of the worst NFL secondaries again this year like he did last? If all can be answered with a yes then McCown will probably have success similar to last season, but if not then it’s probably a repeat of the Arizona years. It’s hard for me to be bullish on Josh M when looking at his career body of work and not just a few games last year. Hopefully the stars all align for the guy again this season, or it’ll be time to let ‘the future’ start sooner than later.
July 7th, 2014 at 8:40 am
* Crossing routes and slants? No bueno.
———————————–
If McCown struggles in this regard, the Cannon will be firing sooner than we think!
Seriously, I’m not really sure this was a big part of the Bears scheme.
July 7th, 2014 at 8:49 am
Give any pro qb great line greAt back and best wideouts in the league u will see some success
July 7th, 2014 at 9:04 am
OOPS Joe, I think you posted the statistics for Jay Cutler not McCown ……
July 7th, 2014 at 9:10 am
PFF – McCown: Posted league’s highest grade when pressured: +8.9.
• Graded well against the blitz (+9.0) and against a traditional rush (+8.5).
July 7th, 2014 at 9:37 am
BBs92,
Thanks. I thought that info about McCown performing poorly while being blitzed was inaccurate. His solid performance under pressure, combined with our plethora of weapons, is why I’m optimistic about McCown’s potential here….
July 7th, 2014 at 9:37 am
Why are we “Breaking Down” Josh McCown, He will do that on his own.
#Old Man Mcown has never finished a 16 game season
Maybe he is due this year, after the first 15 seasons.
July 7th, 2014 at 9:45 am
@Buc the Haters,
Yes, when you look at McCown’s statistics (not Cutler’s – sorry Joe couldn’t help that) he is a great fit for the Bucs given their Oline is going to need time to gel. In fact comparing his statistics to Cutler’s I think Chicago got the worst of the deal.
July 7th, 2014 at 9:46 am
The blitz stat you’re quoting is incorrect – he was best in the league against pressure. The PFF article states it as a pro at least.
July 7th, 2014 at 9:51 am
Actually you may want to scrap this article completely. All of your rating points are about Cutler, not McCown. Go to the bottom of that article for McCown.
July 7th, 2014 at 10:30 am
BritBucsince92 Says
“…he is a great fit for the Bucs given their Oline is going to need time to gel.”
This.
And we may have to gel again next year as well, since some of these guys may not work out. That’s the problem with such a massive overhaul, the odds of success for everyone are very low. Usually only a few do well. With something like 19 new faces? Well, we’ll see.
But maybe that is why Lovie did not draft a QB. He has McCown for two years. He has Glennon for what? 3 more years? If he had drafted a QB he would have been pressured to start him next year at the latest…and the oline may not be ready.
July 7th, 2014 at 10:36 am
BritBucsince92:
The link is accurate. Joe can’t help you if you can’t work a mouse and a keyboard, much less read a headline.
July 7th, 2014 at 10:38 am
so he is a QB who is at his best when he either gets rid of the ball before the D can fully react or when he has enough time to go over the top to giant targets. basically, the conclusion of the analysis is that he is a Quarterback
July 7th, 2014 at 10:51 am
Good thing the Bucs didn’t set the franchise back a few years by drafting Johnny Cokehead. But as you can see, that’s why Joe wanted to draft him so badly because he’d have a field day drawing hits with every Johnny story.
July 7th, 2014 at 10:58 am
Joe those stats are for Cutler and McCown. Cutler on top, McCown on the bottom of the article.
July 7th, 2014 at 11:06 am
Louie:
>>> Joe those stats are for Cutler and McCown. Cutler on top, McCown on the bottom of the article. <<<
You don't say?
July 7th, 2014 at 11:20 am
Based on the positives it’s no wonder why they want him under center with a potentially suspect offensive line, and why Glennon is going to be holding a clipboard this year.
From the article:
Positives
• Showed well on 2nd-and-Long (+3.9) and 3rd-and-Long (+4.4).
• Posted league’s highest grade when pressured: +8.9.
• Graded well against the blitz (+9.0) and against a traditional rush (+8.5).
• Excelled in the 2.6-to 3.0-second range (+12.5).
July 7th, 2014 at 11:20 am
I’m lost. I read that McCown was one of the best if not THE best quarterback under pressuure last year… Lol. Just watch his highlights from last year almost every great throw he made he was getting crushed by a D-lineman
July 7th, 2014 at 11:24 am
Sorry Joe but your wrong, McCown was GREAT under pressure last year.
July 7th, 2014 at 11:25 am
@Sam
You’re not lost, read the article closely and skim to the bottom for McCown’s stats.
July 7th, 2014 at 11:31 am
also realize that McCown played in a very short sample size against some meager teams. Its like saying a pinch hitter is batting .500 when he is 3 for 6.
July 7th, 2014 at 11:42 am
Sam:
Joe is using info that the nerds came up with (thought that was clear?). Click the link.
July 7th, 2014 at 11:54 am
Joe,
Last week in your Morning Cup of Joe you had an article on how minutiae stats are ruining sports for the common fan, and then you proceed to acknowledge this gobbledygook of subjective plusses and minuses with this.
July 7th, 2014 at 12:23 pm
BritBucsince92:
OOPS Joe, I think you posted the statistics for Jay Cutler not McCown
Joe Says to BritBucsince92:
The link is accurate. Joe can’t help you if you can’t work a mouse and a keyboard, much less read a headline.
Joe, the link takes us to the PFF article but your article is headed pros and cons of Josh McCown but it wrongly attributes Jay Cutlers statistics to McCown. Don’t get snippy with me accusing me of being unable to work a mouse and keyboard because I correctly and politely pointed out that you had made an error that has clearly confused a number of people.
July 7th, 2014 at 1:40 pm
You apparently can’t read. smh 🙁
July 7th, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Lightning:
Big difference. The nerds at Pro Football Focus provided analysis in a comprehensive form based on their film study. Of course it is subjective; what grading of tape isn’t?
Joe didn’t use any “made-up stat” with some ridiculous acronym that only some closeted Radar O’Riley worm knows what it means.
Besides, it is NFL siesta season. Be happy Joe is providing daily content. A lot of other Bucs sites can’t claim that.
July 7th, 2014 at 2:47 pm
Pros: McCown is a nice guy. Cons: McCown is a backup-caliber QB at best in this league.
July 7th, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Joe:
I hear ya! I loved that Norman Chad article BTW. ESPN should replace Gruden with him for MNF – I mean if a guy can make Poker interesting, he’d have a field day with football.
July 7th, 2014 at 4:04 pm
That would be hysterical! 🙂
The uber statgeeks (especially the baseball ones) remind Joe of Radar O’Riley of M*A*S*H fame. He would rattle off all of these acronyms for military forms and everybody would be in the scene would be starting at him as if he was speaking Latin, having no clue to what he was saying.
July 7th, 2014 at 9:19 pm
Joe is still pissed everyone passed on mad money johnny. When he was the most spectacular qb ever. Except to the football people of course. Don’t take it personally britbuc. That type of hole takes awhile to dig out of.