Over the years Washington Redskins quarterback Colt McCoy has been referred to as the “People’s Champ” by several of his teammates. McCoy has been one of the Redskins most liked players for his willingness to blend into the fabric of the team’s locker room and also provide leadership despite being the teams backup for most of his five-year tenure.
The former Texas star has had a productive NFL career, albeit, it may not be of the Pro Bowl variety. Nevertheless, McCoy has endeared himself to his past and current teammates.
McCoy is driven and will compete. That competitive nature should serve him well in his next opportunity to prove that he is an NFL caliber starter.
The opportunity is upon McCoy and the Redskins because of the gruesome leg break of starting QB Alex Smith in yesterday’s loss to the Houston Texans.
McCoy understands that he will be the next man up and will have to lead the team as early as Thursday for a nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game against the rival Dallas Cowboys. The game will have first place in the NFC East on the line.
“You pray for opportunities to get to play,” McCoy said. “You never like to see how it happened today, but for me, I just have to go out there and give it all I’ve got. I’ve been a starter before, had it taken away, and it’s not a good feeling. I kind of battled my way back. Been here for a while now so hopefully, I can go out there and play good ball and help our team win. We have a good team here and they’ve got us in great shape, Alex [Smith] has got us in great shape, we’ve just got to go continue to play football.”
McCoy has been around long enough to know that his opportunity will be a transition for the Redskins offense who now have to move on from Smith for the remainder of the year.
“We’ll see, it’s tough, it’s not ideal,” McCoy said about his confidence level on starting with the first team. “I think for me I’ve been here a little while. I haven’t taken reps with these guys in three or four years so I think there will be a little bit of a transition there but probably more for me than for them. Them getting used to my voice and those things, but again, it’s football, we’ve got to just strap it up and play.”
The Cleveland Browns drafted McCoy in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft and a lot was expected of him. After three seasons in Cleveland, McCoy was traded to San Francisco along with a 2013 sixth-round pick in exchange for the 49ers 2013 7th and 5th round picks. McCoy was signed by the Redskins in 2014.
During his time with the Redskins, there have been times where McCoy seemed to be in line to lead the team as the incumbent starter. He led the Redskins to a Monday night overtime victory over the Dallas Cowboys where he completed 25 of 30 passes for 300 yards and a rushing touchdown. Unfortunately for the nine-year veteran, whether it was Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousin or a neck injury that put him on season-ending injured reserve, he never had an extended period of time to lead the Burgundy and Gold.
McCoy has worked hard and kept the faith that another opportunity to start would come.
“This league is all about opportunity, and for me, I’ve known my role the past several years is to help our defense get better and to be prepared every week, help our starter, help our team, be a leader, be an encourager. Do the things that I can behind the scenes to be successful and I don’t think from my standpoint anything will change, I’ll just get to play now, and so I’ve got to get myself ready to go for Thanksgiving.”