Yahoo Sports Eagles almost had to play 40-year-old backup QB Josh McCown at wide receiver against Giants
Josh McCown, the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-year-old backup quarterback, is always ready to do whatever it takes to help the team win. On Monday night, he was ready to put his helmet on and take the field if necessary, but not as a QB.
He was ready to be a wide receiver.
That’s how bad things got for the Eagles, who managed to scrape out an overtime victory over the New York Giants on Monday night. They’ve been bitten by the injury bug all year, but it got even worse during the game. The Eagles only had three healthy wide receivers going into the matchup against the Giants — Alshon Jeffery, JJ Arcega-Whiteside, and Greg Ward — and when Jeffery went down with a foot injury, they were in dire straits.
That’s where McCown comes in. He didn’t end up playing, but he was ready to go out on the field and do whatever was needed.
“I was ready to go,” McCown told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark. “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.”
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson confirmed that McCown was ready to go in his Tuesday morning radio hit with 94WIP.
Doug Pederson confirms that Josh McCown did switch his helmet and was available as a fourth receiver: "Why can't he? He's active, he's dressed! He has actually done that in his career before." 🤣 #Eagles | #On94WIP🎙️
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) December 10, 2019
McCown had done that in his career before, and he even remembered the last time he caught a pass in an NFL game.
“We were ready to roll,” he said. “Shoot, I’d get in there and go. Obviously, as a quarterback, you know the offense. I guess it was like 12 years ago in Foxboro I had to go in and do it.”
That game happened just over 13 years ago in December 2006, when McCown was playing for the Detroit Lions. He caught two passes, and even remembered that he’d had a longer pass called back for offensive pass interference.
Putting McCown in the game at receiver would have been far from ideal, but having a backup QB on your roster who’s willing to fill any role necessary is a blessing when your team has been decimated by injuries the way the Eagles have.
“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,” McCown told NBC Sports Philadelphia. “Just being able to have a contingency plan was the main thing. I was ready to roll.”
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