Could McCown be blamed for the pressure he faced?

[yuccaneers]

While everyone an their uncle is calling out the offensive line for the breakdown in protection once McCown was ushered into the game after the rain delay, just how much of it falls on McCown's shoulders for possibly calling the wrong protection to account for the pressure he faced? The same could be said for Leftwich as he recognized the hot player and called the right protection to pick up a potential blitz which allowed him to have more time to scan the field and deliver the football.

We of course will never no the real answer it is not the first time this pre-season that once McCown entered a game he had less protection the Hefty Lefty

[SunnyD]

Hard to say yucc. Probably a mix of Mahans god awful ness and McCowns TRex brain

[dalbuc]

Hard to say yucc. Probably a mix of Mahans god awful ness and McCowns TRex brain

You know while Mahan is a whipping boy keep in mind:

1. He was a average pass blocker, it was run blocking he stunk at
2. He was miserable at OG but at C he was never as out of place.
3. By that time MIA was rolling in some backups of their own - in fact both guys who sacked LM were 2nd stringers.

[yuccaneers]

Sunny - It just seems odd, that the pass protection would just go down the drain every time McCown enters the game, but yet  a player with a much slower delivery and wind up seems to be able to stand like a statue in five and seven step drops while receivers come uncovered unless he is better at calling protection schemes. Which from my vantage point seems to be part of what the decision will be based on when the team names a starter.

[BucFan9720]

WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE DEFENDING MCCOWN?! This is the same guy we have been watching for 5 years now, he is quck to roll out, he holds onto the ball way too long in the pocket and now we are seeing he has piss poor blitz recognition. McCown himself said the blocking did their job when he was in there, and IIRC its now the QB job to make the line calls.

For better or worse, Leftwich is the QB. Now lets hope the coaching staff finally realizes this and they can run the football much more frequently than this QB competition has allowed them to in preseason.

[TheShadow]

Because he's been sold as "The Great White Hype".

[SunnyD]

Only a fool would interpret what I said as a defense of McCown. I saw McCown freeze and Mahan get embarssed. Even on passing downs Dal. Hence, I believe it was a combination of the two.

[DanTurksGhost]

To answer the original question:

Yes, to at least some degree.

[SunnyD]

Agreed

[benchwarmer69]

Hard to say yucc. Probably a mix of Mahans god awful ness and McCowns TRex brain

2. He was miserable at OG but at C he was never as out of place.

He's horrible no matter WHERE you place him on the field. Just plain aweful! I think even caddy could do a better job blocking than him lol.

IMO Rah WANTS BL to start but couldn't sell it yet.

....But that's how you get your "boy" in there. ....Just place Mahan in front of any guy you DON'T want starting...lol.

[CurtR1995]

He shows he can hit the hot read for 6 and the blitzing will slow down.  Otherwise, it will be a jail break and his trade mark roll to the right.

[SepeBucs]

A couple of things of note after watching the game video again.

1) Caddy was far better than Ward or any other RB at picking up the blitz.
2) The majority of the big pressure came from the right side, lined up wide and running deep. It appeared specifically intended to stop Luke rolling to the right as his rock solid tenancy is. Go back and look at it again, the DL on the left side would dive inside and the right side went wide and deep. Had Luke either stepped up in some cases rolled left, he would have had a better passing lane and/or more time.
3) The other key item I saw and finally broke me away from supporting Luke was his cry baby act. Yes, his O-Line and others failed him. But just look at his last play as it is shown the best. When the play is over, he doesn't approach the guy who messed up or try and correct an error, instead he has a minny hissy fit trying to make sure the coach saw the others failures and that it wasn't his fault. Even though he may have been 100% correct, a true team leader doesn't act like that. I understand Luke may have been frustrated realizing he just lost any chance at the starting gig, but still. And Luke did this on many plays and I know if I was a teammate and he pulled that garbage on me I'd let him get pancaked too.

One must also take into account the rain delay. It acted like and extended halftime. More than enough time for Miami's DC to look at pictures and even video of what wasn't working before and game plan a new approach. Think about it, how many times have you seen a defense get no pressure in the first half of a game then come out and just eat the QB for lunch?

[SunnyD]

So as I guessed it appears to be both the O-Lines fault and McCown's fault.

[dalbuc]

One must also take into account the rain delay. It acted like and extended halftime. More than enough time for Miami's DC to look at pictures and even video of what wasn't working before and game plan a new approach. Think about it, how many times have you seen a defense get no pressure in the first half of a game then come out and just eat the QB for lunch?

I doubt they're making halftime adjustments in a pre-season game. I doubt anyone does.

[flyinbuc]

Couple of points.  First he has to have a receiver who also reads the blitz.  I didnt see any of the receivers in a short pattern who could have taken a dump pass.  Luke really didnt have a chance guys were coming in untouched from the DE.  IMO had Luke stared and gotten the protection that Byron did he would have lit up the night.