Colt McCoy injured against Alabama
Can Colt McCoy Survive Blitzburgh?
Colt McCoy is starting at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns this week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I feel like I am writing an obituary. It’s a shame. He seems like a good chap.
It was only weeks ago that the occasional, “Will Colt be cut?” headlines were floating about. Now the rookie quarterback finds himself going against the scariest defense in the league, apologies to Ray Lewis. Because science has proven that Ray Lewis is more powerful than a SWAT Team battering ram.
Colt McCoy suffered two major injuries resulting from hits near the goal line during his time at the University of Texas. Whether or not he can take the hits an NFL quarterback needs to be able to endure remains to be seen. But there is reason to wonder.
We will know on Sunday.
If McCoy is still on his feet after four quarters this Sunday, it will be a huge victory no matter what the score is.
At his Thursday press conference, Browns coach Eric Mangini said McCoy looked good in practice throughout the week:
“In terms of Colt (McCoy) yesterday, he got the bulk of the reps and I thought that he did a really nice job. I thought for his first opportunity to be in that position he operated the offense well both mechanically in terms of the reads and the things that he has to do in that role.”
But he was also upfront about the hounds of hell about to be unleashed on McCoy:
“They do blitz quite a bit. It is Blitzburgh. I’m sure that they’re going to do things that they think is going to beat the protection, beat the scheme and there is always something creative that they come up with each game. That’s something that they’ve done for a long time, they’ve done well for a long time. It hasn’t really been exclusively with young quarterbacks, sometimes when it gets rolling it happens a little bit more. Sometimes it’s a feeling that they have based on the style of offense you’re playing or the blocking scheme they’re playing you see a jump in the percentage of blitzes. Some of it depends on how they are viewing it from a coverage protection perspective in addition to the possibility of facing a young guy.”
Sunday’s game will not make or break Colt McCoy’s career. Unless he literally gets broken. But this game will definitely answer a lot of questions about his durability.
Frankly, I’m scared for the guy.
