Coaches and players get asked all sorts of goofy questions all the time. (And I know, because I often ask said goofy questions during interviews.)
On Tuesday, Washington coach Jay Gruden was asked by reporters whether he likes his new starting quarterback, Colt McCoy.
“Yeah, I like everybody. I even like you,” Gruden said in response, with a laugh. “Yeah, I do like Colt. I like his competitive nature and I think he brings a lot to this football team. When you’re running scout team, it’s not always easy, but he brings a competitive fire to the defense. He helps the defense considerably. He helps our receivers get better, talking to them, our [running backs]. He’s made our team better as a result of him being out here working with the young kids on scout team and now it’s his opportunity to work with the ones and I’m excited to see it.”
McCoy and Gruden arrived in 2014, and McCoy has served as a backup to Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, and Alex Smith. In fact, the organization felt so strongly about McCoy that, before applying the franchise tag to Cousins for a second time in 2017, the team seriously considered letting Cousins leave as a free agent and elevating McCoy to the starting job.
“At Texas, he was one of the all-time winningest quarterbacks in the history of college football,” Gruden said. “You’ve got to have a little bit of respect for the guy to know that he can compete and play. But it wasn’t until we really got him that I got to know him and watch him play and progress, that I thought we have a pretty special guy here in the building. When you have a chance to have two quarterbacks, last year we had Kirk [Cousins] and Colt, this year we had Alex [Smith] and Colt, it’s a heck of a benefit. We’re paying him pretty good to be our backup for a reason in case something like this happens, we feel very comfortable. I’ve seen him out here. I know nobody else has. . . . I’ve seen him progress as a player, as a person throughout his stint here. But now it’s a matter of live reps, he hasn’t taken a lot. Last week was the first time he’s taken them since preseason and he didn’t take any last year in the regular season, just in the preseason. So, I think that’s the biggest issue we are going to see, is how he handles the live reps, the entire game plan with the cadence, the protections, all that. It’s just a little bit different than sitting on the sidelines and helping out your buddy. I fully anticipate he is ready to go and I think he’ll have a big day.”
McCoy beat the Cowboys in Dallas on a Monday night in 2014. Now, McCoy gets a chance to do it again, before a huge audience on one of the biggest days of the regular season. With first place in the NFC East hanging in the balance.