Josh McCown has served as a mentor to many young quarterbacks throughout his career, and he even told one of his pupils to study Deshaun Watson as he was beating their very team.
During the Dec. 15, 2018, game in which the Houston Texans prevailed 29-22 over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, McCown was telling then-rookie first-round quarterback Sam Darnold to learn from the way Watson was playing the game.
“I just think both of those guys, and we’ve talked about it because I was telling Sam because Sam has some of the some of the same out of pocket, intangible abilities,” McCown said. “We watch each other — guys, a lot of times, there’s no better teacher than the guy you’re watching on Sunday. Look how he processes, look how he plays, and I just remember him making some big-time throws and playing at a high level, and interacting with him after the game, just how poised he was.”
Watson completed 22-of-28 for 294 yards and two touchdowns, including a 14-yard pass to receiver DeAndre Hopkins to take the lead 26-22 with 2:15 to play after Ka’imi Fairbairn’s extra point. Watson pulled off the fourth quarter comeback and game-winning drive while taking six sacks on the afternoon.
Darnold wasn’t too shabby himself completing 24 passes on 38 attempts for 253 yards and two touchdowns. The Texans defense got to the rookie half as often as the Jets were able to sack Watson, and Darnold posted a 100.0 passer rating.
In coming to the Texans, McCown is enthused to work with a field general he has watched on tape time and again.
“Like I said, he’s been fun to watch when you catch him on tape,” McCown said. “He’s fun to watch because he’s an exciting player and watching his growth and how he continues to enhance his knowledge of the game of football and apply it to the field has been cool. I think it’s what every young quarterback’s chasing. You look at the progression of a young player to go and get better and better and I think there’s a way that you want that to look on tape. You want to see less of some of those things and more of the other things and I think you see that with Deshaun.
Early on that was the talk with Sam. There’s a fine line between being able to do some of these things you can do physically, but at the same time winning from the pocket. There’s this beautiful balance that the great players figure out.”
Watson and Darnold aren’t having tremendous success in 2020. The Texans are 2-6 while the Jets are 0-9. Both former first-round picks could be getting new coaches in 2021, which could help infuse optimism back into their careers.