Barely a week after leading the Washington Redskins to an overtime victory over their fiercest rivals in front of a national television audience, Colt McCoy was alone at his locker Tuesday morning, once again the forgotten man.
Over a brief but busy professional career, the 28-year-old has grown accustomed to change. One week, he is completing 83 percent of his passes and guiding the Redskins to a 20-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys. He’s the focus of dozens of newspaper articles and radio and television interviews. His name is trending on Twitter. The spotlight is fixed squarely on him.
Then, the next week, Robert Griffin III returns from a dislocated left ankle. McCoy is back on the sidelines, his helmet replaced by a headset. The spotlight is gone as quickly as it arrived.
McCoy understands how it all works, and he accepts it. After his ever-changing role in Washington changed again last week, he said he’s focusing only on what’s best for the team this week and beyond.
“I’m going to continue to be a great teammate and support the decisions that are made and support Robert and do my best to help him as much as I [can] during the week and during the game,” McCoy said Tuesday. “You know, that’s my role.”
If anyone understands the fluid nature of his job, it’s McCoy. He has played for three teams in five years, going from the starter in Cleveland to the backup in San Francisco to the third-string quarterback upon his arrival in Washington. In the first eight weeks of this season, he occupied each of the three spots on the team’s quarterback depth chart.
SEE ALSO: LOVERRO: For Jay Gruden, expressing doubt about RG3 might be only way to push back
McCoy made his first start for the Redskins in Dallas, completing 25 of 30 passes for 299 yards and one interception. In six quarters of play with the Redskins, plus one overtime period, he has completed 85.7 percent of his throws with a quarterback rating of 107.
Some believed Redskins coach Jay Gruden should have kept McCoy in the lineup last week against the Minnesota Vikings and allowed him to build on the momentum of the previous two weeks, but Gruden has maintained that Griffin will start when healthy.
“We get a good look at Kirk [Cousins]. We get a good look at Colt and now it’s back to Robert,” Gruden said Monday. “So, the jury is still out on that position. But we feel good about Robert’s progress so far and we’ve just got to continue to build and see how he does from week-to-week-to-week and hopefully we can see that here at the end of the season.”
It would be hard to blame McCoy for being disappointed in Gruden’s decision, but the now-backup said he fully understands why the decision was made.
“I mean, Jay has said all along that Robert is taking all the reps in OTAs and minicamp. He’s the quarterback,” McCoy said. “So I felt like I handled my responsibility when I stepped in and played. I was proud to be able to do that and proud to be part of this team, and I’ll continue to be a leader and continue to support the decisions that are made.”
McCoy split first-team snaps with Griffin last week but will resume his usual backup work after the Redskins return from the bye week. He will run the scout team, try to get as many repetitions as he can and continue to mentally prepare like the starter.
If and when another opportunity presents itself, McCoy will be ready. But if that opportunity doesn’t come again this season, he won’t fret.
“The commonality of everyone in here is that we all want to win. Whatever it takes to win,” McCoy said. “And I’m behind that 100 percent.”
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.