The Philadelphia Eagles are in the midst of an NFC East race, and they nearly were forced to turn to an unlikely source for help during last night’s contest against the New York Giants – 40 year old Josh McCown.
The former Detroit Lions quarterback played for 10 additional teams throughout his career and quickly gained a reputation as a journeyman. After he retired in 2018 and joined ESPN as an analyst, he was lured out of retirement by the Philadelphia Eagles after injuries to backup quarterbacks Nate Sudfeld and Cody Kessler.
After Alshon Jeffery exited Monday night’s game with a foot injury and only J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Greg Ward remaining as healthy receivers, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson was was ready to turn to McCown, who was ready to go.
“I was ready to go,” McCown said after the game, a 23-17 Eagles OT win. “We had the helmet ready to go. The equipment guys were all over it. Had the radio-less helmet because you can’t have two green dots on the field at the same time.”
“As a quarterback, you know the offense,” he continued. “I’m not quite the option that J.J. (Arcega-Whiteside) is or Greg (Ward), obviously, but again, we were kind of up against it a little bit. Just being able to have a contingency plan was the main thing. I was ready to roll.”
To his credit, McCown has dealt with that situation before, pulling in three catches for 10 yards; two of those plays came during his year in Detroit in 2006.
“It’s accurate,” Pederson explained when asked if Mccowen’s post-game comments were true. “He’s actually done that in a game before in his career…but he has lined up as a receiver in an actual football game before.”
