Colt McCoy ready to guide Arizona Cardinals at quarterback
Before Monday night, the last time Cardinals fans saw a lot of Colt McCoy was on another Monday night, Week 11's loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City last month.
One week earlier, the veteran quarterback was spotlighted on the second episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks," taking charge in the position meeting room and on the practice field, then making the most of his chance to play in relief of the injured Kyler Murray.
McCoy went on to lead the Cardinals to a 27-17 win over the Los Angeles Rams on the road in Week 10.
Fast forward to Monday night at State Farm Stadium, and three plays into the Cardinals' 27-13 loss to the New England Patriots, McCoy was back on the field leading the offense. It wasn't under ideal circumstances, as Murray suffered what has now been diagnosed as a torn ACL. He was lost for the rest of the game, and now the season, as was learned Tuesday.
That puts McCoy, 36, back in as the starter, presumably for the Cardinals' final four games of the season.
"I’ve played for a long time and you’ve always got to be ready. You never want to see the guy in front of you go down. You just don’t," McCoy said soon after Monday's game . "I’ve had a lot of opportunities in my career, I’ve gotten injured, so I’m thankful to be on this team and on this squad. I love the guys that we have. We’ve battled injuries all year long and the guys that are going to go in there, they’re going to fight until the very end. I don’t think there’s any more you can ask for and I’d be proud to go lead them.”
It's that mentality that endears McCoy to his teammates. McCoy isn't the athletic and mobile talent that Murray is, but he's won games for the Cardinals and has an accurate arm.
Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said his confidence in McCoy is "very high." McCoy took some hard hits from the Patriots' pass rush, but emerged from it OK after completing 27 of 40 passes for 246 yards, no touchdowns and an interception.
"(Monday) had some tough breaks. I think with a week of preparation when he gets the reps, he's really confident. He's played at a high level and not easy to come in there and play the game and try to execute like that but I thought he gave us a chance, " Kingsbury said. "We just weren't able to make some plays there in some critical situations."
McCoy went 2-1 in place of Murray last season and earned a two-year contract from the Cardinals in March. If Murray has to miss any regular season games while recovering from his injury and getting back into football shape, McCoy is in place to be with the Cardinals all offseason, training camp and then to open the 2023 season as the starter if called upon.
It's worth watching to see how long Murray is expected to miss time, because that could impact what the Cardinals do at quarterback in the offseason as far as bringing in someone else. For now, it's McCoy as QB1 and Trace McSorley set to move up to backup.
In the present, McCoy's job will be to build a stronger rapport with players he hasn't thrown to much, namely starting tight end Trey McBride and wide receivers Hollywood Brown and Robbie Anderson, and keep the offense from stagnating and not executing consistently.
"I don’t think I have anything to prove. I think I’ve just got to go out there and play good football. Distribute the ball, keep us in third-and-manageable situations, and score touchdowns in the red zone," McCoy said.
"We can’t have the previous snap penalties. We can’t have the shifting penalties. They took away two of our explosive passes. Especially against these teams we’re going to play down the stretch, top defenses. We can’t hurt ourselves."
Outside of football work, McCoy is trying to be there for his friend Murray. The two have become close and share a common experience of playing college football in Texas: Murray in high school and at Texas A&M before moving to Oklahoma, and McCoy at Texas.
"Since Colt got here. I think there was a definite level of respect because of Kyler knowing what Colt meant to Texas college football and then Kyler's appreciation for the state and football in the state, and then watching him work and how he treats the game, how he prepares, things of that nature," Kingsbury said. "I know he's had a real positive impact on Kyler. And so I'm sure he'll help him through this process and I'm glad that that Kyler has a guy like that in the room."
Remembering Mike Leach
Kingsbury was asked about his memories of the late Mike Leach, his coaching mentor and college football coach at Texas Tech.
Leach died Monday of complications related to a heart condition, Mississippi State announced. Leach was head coach there after stints at Washington State and Texas Tech, where he coached Kingsbury.
"One of the most impactful offensive minds ever in the history of college football. I don't know if he'll ever get that credit because of the quirkiness, you know, because of the presentation, if you will," Kingsbury said. "Just playing for him, being able to watch, I've only been around a certain type of coach ... and so a guy who had those type of ideas and would allow players to offer ideas and actually listen, things of that nature, way ahead of his time. So he was a great person. Great, man. Great coach, and he'll be dearly missed."
Kingsbury admitted the last couple of days have been difficult for him on a personal level, with the passing of Leach and Murray's catastrophic injury. He said he doesn't think Leach realized how big of a figure he was in college football.
"It's like he truly thought that his offense was unstoppable. And he made you believe in yourself, you know, more so than you did," Kingsbury said. "That's why like a lot of the same concepts and signals and plays are the same stuff he (was) running today that we ran and it still works. And everywhere he's gone, he's won. And so it's, there's a method to the madness, and it just was an honor to call him my friend."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: QB Colt McCoy ready to lead Arizona Cardinals for remainder of season
