With all the frenzy surrounding the greatest aerial performance in NFL history as Carson Wentz threw for all of 190 yards and a touchdown on Monday night and continued his journey to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, let’s focus for a minute on a quarterback the Browns didn’t pass up in the NFL Draft, Josh McCown.
If you’re on this site regularly, then you know I’m not a big McCown guy. He puts up some big numbers and makes some eye-catching plays from time to time, but in the end, he does just enough for his team to lose. He’s done that his entire career, and Sunday’s 25-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was just another perfect example of that.
But the aspect of McCown I want to talk about today has nothing to do with yardage or pass completions or touchdowns or even winning. Where this man really stands out as among the best in the league today, and one of the best the Browns have ever had not just at quarterback, but at any other position as well, is in his toughness. They don’t come any tougher than Josh McCown.
McCown has shown that toughness on any number of occasions in his relatively short time with the Browns, but his signature performance in that regard came on Sunday when he played a good portion of the game with what was later diagnosed to be a separated shoulder that will sideline him a while.
He fought through the immense pain and stayed out there because he knew the Browns needed him. They were in the game and had a chance to win right down until the very end, and he knew that he gave them the best chance to pull it out. Only Cody Kessler, a green rookie, was in reserve. He couldn’t put the Browns, or Kessler, in that kind of situation. As such, he put his teammates – and his team – above himself.
The Browns have a lot of young players who have everything to learn about the pro game. They learned a lot of lessons against the Ravens, such as not getting complacent despite a three-touchdown, first-quarter lead, not giving the officials any reason to make an unsportsmanlike conduct call, especially late in the game, and not taking extra-point kicks for granted.
But perhaps the biggest thing they learned was from McCown about toughness, selflessness and the responsibility the players have to each other and their coaches. It is a lesson they had better make sure to take with them for the rest of their careers.
