Josh McCown Savoring Playoff Moment
PHILADELPHIA – Josh McCown stepped onto the practice field inside the Eagles’ bubble in the early afternoon of New Year’s Day and reality quickly sunk in.
He wasn’t in Charlotte, N.C., with his family getting ready to watch his sons Aiden and Owen play basketball at Myers Park High School nor was McCown studying the upcoming slate of NFL playoff games for wildcard weekend so he can talk about them for various media outlets.
No, McCown was still involved with preparing to play a game. The only way he will play on Sunday as the quarterback for the Eagles when they host the Seattle Seahawks is if an injury strikes starter Carson Wentz or the Eagles are blowing out the Seahawks in the fourth quarter.
“Just standing out there on the field preparing, I was like, ‘This is awesome, we’re preparing to play a game in January,’” McCown saisd. “How special that feels. I know these guys have had the success, but it was 12 years ago for me. This feels like – I can’t remember.”
To refresh McCown’s memory, the last time – the only time – he was on a playoff team was in 2008 when he was the backup to Jake Delhomme with the Carolina Panthers. Carolina won the NFC South that year at 12-4 and had a bye.
Now 40, and on his ninth team in his 17-year NFL career, McCown doesn’t know how many more opportunities he has left. He wasn’t even sure he would get this one after being talked out of retirement by the Eagles.
McCown has taken just 15 snaps in relief of Wentz, but what he and fellow backup quarterback Nate Sudfeld have done behind the scenes has helped the Eagles make it into the playoffs for a third straight year. He has a well-deserved reputation of being a great teammate.
“This is part of the reason why (I came back) was to come be a part of a group that’s had success and to watch that,” said McCown. “To have this kind of season and to kind of go through the ups and downs and to watch a group kind of in the middle of the moment turn and to trust and believe in each other and run the table has been special.
“It’s very, very gratifying, just humbling to watch it, to see it and it’s kind of this thing you’ve chased and wanted to see happen your whole career. To finally get to see it happen was cool. It was a special moment the other day in the locker room.”
It is well known by now what the Eagles have done by having to rely on several players who were on the practice squad to start the year, or not even on the team until later in the season, but were forced onto the roster by the slew of injuries at the receiver and running back groups.
Yet this team played its best football down the stretch with those players, such as Boston Scott, who is the reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week, Josh Perkins, Deontay Burnett and Rob Davis.
McCown and Sudfeld have worked hard with these players to help ensure their success.
“He’s always the most energetic guy on the sideline whenever one of us makes a play and that has helped instill a lot of confidence, especially in players who are young and haven’t been around the league a really long time,” said Davis, who was signed to the practice squad on Oct. 7 and promoted on Dec. 12. “To have a vet who been in the league 16, 17 years, it’s always big to get encouragement from guys like that.
“He’s been a huge help, obviously helping us learn the plays because we’ve only been here for a short period of time. He’s been one of the main pieces in helping us get up to speed.”
Burnett, who spent 12 days on the Eagles practice squad before being elevated on Dec. 24, knew McCown when McCown was on the Jets and Burnett was on their practice squad.
“Josh is a great dude,” said Burnett. “Love Josh. He was one of the first people to believe in me when I was in New York. He has been helping me along the way here, so kudos to him, and I appreciate him a lot. He’s a great leader and he’s always pumped for guys. He was always telling me what to expect when I got here, and where to be. He has helped me a lot.”
McCown doesn’t shrink into the background on game day, either.
Against the Giants when Cre’Von LeBlanc made a tackle for no gain against Saquon Barkley in a fourth-and-two situation, McCown went several yards onto the field to congratulate LeBlanc.
“If he didn’t make the tackle, I would have,” said McCown.
“You see a guy do something that you talked about during the week or you watch a guy nail a coaching point that one of these coaches gave them during the week and, for me, I just get fired up for ’em. When you don’t get to get out there and play, the next-best thing you can do it is go over there and be another set of eyes and bring juice and energy the best way you can for the group.”
McCown isn’t sure what the future holds, whether he will have an opportunity to return for Year 18 if a contract is offered or settle in to help coach and be a spectator for his sons’ high school football and basketball games.
“These last few years every week toward the end of the season you kind of maximize every moment because you think it’s going to be your last,” said McCown. “So I feel like I’m trying to do that even better just because you never know and am enjoying every bit of this.
“This is special to have it go this way, to have extra time and you don’t want it to end. So you give everything you can, every walkthrough, every practice, the meetings, to get it done so we can keep this thing going.”
