QB Colt McCoy
December 24, 2020
Q: It sounds like and seems like Daniel (Jones) is doing a lot more this week than he was last week. How has he looked to you? What’s your practice week been like in terms of reps? Probably less than last week I would think.
A: I think Daniel’s moving around better. You’d have to talk to him, and the trainers, and Joe (Judge) and kind of see where we are with that. But we’ve had a good start to the week. Good walkthrough yesterday, good third down day getting ready for the Ravens. They obviously present a lot of problems with their pass rush and with their blitz packages. I think that’s going to be our main focus on how to handle those, how to protect those. That’s kind of where we are.
Q: You told us and a couple of other places too how close you were about thinking about retirement during last offseason before you came here. Has this season rejuvenated you? Has this season made you want to stick around a lot longer? Maybe shown you that you can play a little longer or are you still going to go into this offseason with that as an option?
A: That’s a great question. I think a lot of where I was at last offseason had to do with my health, and if I could recover from that injury and play the way I want to play. I feel pretty confident in the way that I’ve played this year. First time being out there in a while and it kind of rejuvenated myself. I’ve enjoyed it, I’ve had fun, I really enjoy being part of this team and this group of guys and these coaches. Obviously, you’d like to come out with a win last week. I felt like we did some really good things offensively. But talking individually, talking about myself, I feel very confident that I’ll keep going, yeah.
Q: What are your impressions now that you’ve been around him for a year of Darius Slayton? He’s still a young receiver but what kind of weapon could he be? He put up a lot of touchdowns here as a rookie, then got off to a fast start here. He’s kind of quieted down. I’m wondering you’ve been around a lot of young receivers. What have you seen from him?
A: I’ve been very impressed with Darius. He’s fast, he runs crisp routes, he understands what we’re trying to do offensively, you can count on him being in the right spot all the time, he’s smart. I think with this group of guys on this team, everybody needs experience. He’s getting some valuable reps last year and this year. He’s good to throw to. He makes tough catches; he works hard in practice. If I was to say anything about our group, whether it’s the receiver room, the running back room, just the skill positions in general, this is just a hardworking group of guys. I think Slayton fits that mold. For me, that’s fun to come to work to. It’s knowing that when we step out on the practice field, it’s work time and we’re going to figure out ways to get better, and nobody’s shying away from that. That part has been fun. Specifically, to Darius, I think he’s right in that group with everybody.
Q: Does he remind you of anybody you’ve been around in your career? His skillset or his length or anything remind you of a receiver you’ve played with?
A: That’s a good question. No one off the top of my head. He fits what you want from an X receiver. He can beat you deep, he runs really nice slants and in cuts, and he tries to get open every time. A lot of the things that we do have an X receiver on the backside of all your progressions and all of your plays. Knowing that he’s going to win, that’s a nice thing to have. We’re certainly lucky to have him.
Q: Can you put your finger on why the point production hasn’t been there. We were talking to Freddie Kitchens a little earlier and he said the offense was close but at the end of the day, it’s about the results. What are you seeing there that’s missing?
A: When I think of the red zone, I think of tight windows. I think of being accurate with the football. I think of making contested catches. I think of protecting well. Sometimes you have to get outside the pocket and make play. We just didn’t do any of that last week. All the things I just mentioned. We can be better as a whole unit, on all of those. That’s what you have to do in the red zone. It’s its own entity. I’ve played a long time in this league. When you make the plays down there, you win games. When you don’t, you come up short. I have no doubt that our team can accomplish those things. We’ve done them throughout year. We just have to do it more consistently.
Q: Two weeks ago, you guys were in the driver’s seat to win the division. Now on Sunday, you’re facing potentially elimination if you don’t win and Washington does. If that comes to fruition, do you view that as a blown opportunity, given where you guys were just a couple weeks ago?’
A: I see our entire teams’ focus on this week. This is a game that we just have to go out and perform and compete and play. If we do our job, we’re right where we want to be. I don’t want to think too far away from that. What I will say is, the feeling in here at practice, in the locker room, is the same feeling I feel every week. Guys are walking around, we’re working hard. This game matters. We have to go out there and execute what our game plan is. Take what we do out here to the field and convert when we have to convert. Make the big plays when the big plays present themselves. Hopefully, we collectively as a team play well together, complimentary football. Go out there and give it our best shot. That’s sort of where we are and sort of where my focus is.
Q: We talk about offense with you guys. Getting up and down the field is a grind for you guys. You’ve been talking a lot about the red zone. The other thing that’s been missing when you look at the stats, is explosive plays. Is that lack of opportunity? Is it game situation? Is there something that you guys can do to sort of unlock some of those big plays?
A: One example is we had a play action called during the second half. We had run and run and run. We wanted to take a shot. Protection broke down a little bit. I had to get out of the pocket. None of the routes developed. To me, we as an offense can do a better job. When we take shots, when those things present themselves, some of the big plays present themselves. We have to take advantage of them. We have to do the little things the right way. I felt like last week, we moved the ball very efficiently. Up and down the field. We only punted once. However, our offense takes shape every week, it’s going to be different. Defenses play us differently. Games are different. You only have 53 plays in a game or whatever we had, it’s hard to come up with a bunch of explosive plays. Every game is different. For us, I think most importantly, when there’s opportunities within the play calls to make big plays and to make explosive plays, nobody needs to feel like I’ve got to go make this play. As a unit, as an offense, we just have to make the play. I know that sounds kind of simple but there’s been times where big play opportunities are there and we didn’t make them. We hurt ourselves. Whether that’s a breakdown in a route, a missed throw or breakdown in protection, little things. I’ve played for a long time. You can’t just call a play in this league and say oh this is going to be a big play. Most of the big plays in my career, have come on plays that you didn’t really know if it was going to be a big play or not, it just turned out to be a big play. To me, I don’t stress out about that. I let the play call come in and let’s all as 11 guys execute this play. We put enough of those good plays together and several of them are going to be big plays then we’re going to score a lot of points. I think like Freddie said, I do believe that we’re really close.
