Josh McCown thought big things were coming. Excited all week about the return of TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins and the evolution of a developing offense, McCown turned in a masterful quarterback performance in the Jets' trouncing of the Dolphins at MetLife Stadium.
"I thought he was very efficient," head coach Todd Bowles said of McCown after his team's 20-6 win. "Josh has been playing good for about three weeks in a row now. He controls the offense and he sees things. He's playing smart football."
Connecting with six different receivers, McCown was accurate and in command all afternoon. While the Jets moved the ball early, they would have to wait until the second quarter to get the scoring underway. The 15-year veteran picked up chunk plays of 19 and 24 yards to Robby Anderson and ArDarius Stewart, helping the Green & White take the lead on a 40-yard field goal from K Chandler Catanzaro.
Then following a long Bilal Powell run was nullified due to a holding penalty, McCown unleashed a perfect long ball strike to Anderson for a 69-yard connection. The Jets took a 10-0 lead into halftime and it felt like more than that as the defense was suffocating Jay Cutler and company. While McCown completed 11 of 14 in the first half for 198 yards, Cutler was 6 of 12 for 38 yards.
"It's a next play mentality, it's a next game mentality in this league," McCown said of the Anderson TD. "So we got right back in the huddle and got right back at it. Robby made a heck of a catch and score. I think that's good for us as we build."
An equal opportunity passer, McCown converted a third-and-1 in the red zone with a 15-yard connection to FB Lawrence Thomas in the third. McCown spread the ball around in the sun as Anderson led the club with 95 yards receiving on just three receptions and ASJ and Jeremy Kerley pitched in with five receptions apiece.
"It's still a new group and we're still going to have bumps in the road," McCown said. "We have to start a lot faster than that, but there are enough good things. Obviously getting the win, we can build some confidence and keep going."
Entering this contest completing 67% of his passes, McCown again remained on target Sunday with an 18-of-23 effort. This might be his 10th NFL team and he might be 38, but Josh McCown can still get it done.
"It was not an expectation that it was going to be hard to win a game this year," he said. "We expected to win games. We expect to win a lot of games."
