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October 15, 2015The Cleveland Browns had a huge win on Sunday, beating their AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens in overtime 33-30. It was an important moment in the young season to gain the first win in the tough AFC North. The victory can be highly credited to the strong performance of Browns quarterback Josh McCown, even if Pro Football Focus thought his performance was only average. On Sunday, McCown completed 36 of 51 passes for 457 yards and two touchdowns, along with another rushing touchdown. His third consecutive game over 300 yards passing broke the Browns record for consecutive 300-plus pass yard games, while his 457 yards is the second most ever thrown in a game by a Browns quarterback, earning him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
So, let’s take a look at some of the things that he did on Sunday to perform at such a high level.
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Surveying the Field/Using Eyes to Deceive
Josh McCown was very good at using the whole field to find throwing options versus the Baltimore Ravens. He also used his eyes well to hold defenders allowing throwing lanes to form. Here is an example of both these things in one play.
This was a big play for the Browns comeback against the Ravens. On third-and-8 in the third quarter, Josh McCown rolls out of the pocket and makes a huge 15-yard completion to tight end Gary Barnidge. Here is how the play transpired.
As you can see in this video, McCown scans the field for options throughout the entirety of the play. At first he looks to his left, but sees that everyone is covered on that side. The pressure forces McCown to step up and roll to the right sideline. But while he is running to the sideline, he keeps his eyes downfield. That’s when he spots Barnidge running across the field behind the Ravens linebackers.
At this point, McCown decides to throw to Barnidge, but before he does, he uses his eyes to freeze No. 54 linebacker Zachary Orr. His one little glance towards receiver Andrew Hawkins causes Orr to stop for one second, allowing Barnidge to get open behind him. It was a great example of McCown scanning the field and using his eyes.
Accuracy
McCown was 36 of 51 for a solid 70 percent completion rate. Over the course of the day, the Browns quarterback had some impressive throws, fitting passes into very tight windows. Here are two examples of one of McCown’s pinpoint passes from Sunday.
This was a third-and-10 play in the third quarter. McCown drops back and delivers a fast, hard pass directly to Barnidge. The pass was thrown right at the chest of the awaiting Barnidge. It had to be thrown in that area because two defenders were on either side of Barnidge. If it were inaccurate, the pass could have been incomplete or even intercepted. McCown only could have completed the pass in the area he threw it.
This was a great throw by McCown. He threw an absolute dart to Taylor Gabriel, but the dart was 55 yards in the air. To go along with that the length of the pass is that he was under pressure and about to get hit by the oncoming rusher. He took a hit on the throw, but his 55-yard pass to Gabriel was right on target. McCown’s pass to Gabriel was a huge play for the offense in the fourth quarter of the game.
Calm Under Pressure
Josh McCown was very good under pressure versus the blitzing Ravens defense. The Baltimore defense tried to put a lot of pressure on McCown through disguised blitzes. Here is an example of McCown’s cool presence under pressure on Sunday.
On this play, the Ravens have disguised their pass rush. The Ravens decide to rush their two interior defensive linemen along with blitzing both their inside linebackers and one of their safeties. The two edge rushers back off into coverage. This rush puts all the pressure on the interior of the offensive line. The Browns do a pretty good job picking up the blitz, but the pressure still gets into the backfield, causing havoc in the face of McCown. But with the rushers in his face, McCown delivers a 17-yard strike to Travis Benjamin, who is running an out route toward the sideline. McCown dealt with a lot of blitzes from the Ravens defense, but he stood tall and calm versus the pressure.
Highlight of the Game
Quarterback Josh McCown is the highlight of last week’s game. As illustrated in this film room, McCown was excellent in the win over the Ravens. He threw for 457 yards and two touchdowns, along with a rushing touchdown. His performance put him in the Browns record book, as he threw for the second most yards in a single game for a Browns quarterback. McCown led a comeback in the game and the game-winning drive that set up the winning field goal. He came up big for the Browns when the team needed him.
Lowlight of the Game
The Browns run defense is the lowlight of last week’s game. Their inability to stop the run almost lost the Browns the game on Sunday. The defense allowed 181 yards rushing in the game, including 121 yard to Justin Forsett. The Browns run defense fell apart in the second half, allowing 147 yards to the Ravens. The Browns defense still has no answer for the opposing team’s run game, yet.
7 Comments
Nice work
During the game the one thing that made me wince a few times was McCown being borderline late on some throws (one was the 2-point conversion where Gabriel was wide open but almost ran out of room before the pass came). But looking at the stats, seeing that he connected with 9(!) different receivers and that his 450 yards included only that one bomb, realized that he may have thrown borderline late because he’s in one of those grooves where he’s hyper-aware and contemplating every option. The few times Sunday that he failed to react to a collapsing pocket were surprising, just because he was otherwise so locked into the video game exploding around him.
Even if the Broncos quickly ice his little hot streak, whatever, it is unexpected and fun to watch no matter how long it lasts.
Great work here per usual Joe.
McCown was late on some throws, not hitting WRs in stride on many (in particular Benjamin in the 1st half), but he almost always made the correct choice on where to throw the ball, which was huge. And, similar to other games, he continued to get better as the game went on and the Browns learned what the defense wanted to do.
Nice analysis. McCown has been a very pleasant surprise given the other aging QBs brought in since the return (Delhomme, Dilfer etc). Rush defense was singled out but was the entire defence much better barring the stops in the 4th quarter and OT?
Nice breakdown, Joe. I too was impressed by his pocket awareness late in the game, as when the backside was closing in on him and he calmly stepped up in the pocket, kept his eyes downfield, and then made the throw. He doesn’t seem to get rattled.
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