New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020nypost.comBy Ryan DunleavyIn the eyes of another career
backup quarterback, Colt
McCoy checks the two most im-
portant boxes for the position.
“I’ve always felt that being able
to come on the field and fill in
for somebody, you need to make
good decisions and have some
mobility,” Matt Cavanaugh told
The Post. “Colt has both of those
qualities.”
McCoy will start Sunday for
the Giants against the Seahawks
unless Daniel Jones makes a mi-
raculously fast recovery from a
hamstring strain. Cavanaugh,
whose 13-year playing career in-
cluded a Super Bowl ring on the
bench with the 1990 Giants, has
spent more time around McCoy
than any other NFL coach, in-
cluding four seasons as Wash-
ington’s quarterbacks coach or
offensive coordinator.
So, what would Cavanaugh
emphasize in an offense geared
toward the 34-year-old McCoy?
“I’m not going to say they have
to change anything in their game
plan,” Cavanaugh said. “He has
very good mobility for a guy
who is as strong as he is. Don’t
sleep on his arm strength.
“The Giants want to run the
ball. I would use him in the play-
action game. He’s very good at
the play-fake. As witnessed Sun-
day, he can convert some third
downs for you because he
knows how to read a coverage.”
The in-season improvement
of the Giants offense coincides
with offensive coordinator Ja-
son Garrett dialing up more
run-pass-options (RPOs) for
Jones, who is the team’s lead-
ing rusher with 403 yards. The
impact of the injury decreases
if McCoy can keep defenses
honest with his legs.
“He did that for us in Washing-
ton,” Cavanaugh said. “Alex Smith
was running some RPOs coming
out of the Kansas City offense
and we incorporated a lot of what
he was doing into our offense.
Colt was backing him up and got
a lot of that experience, too. He
can absolutely do the RPO game.”
A hallmark of Joe Judge’s
coaching staff is tweaking
schemes to fit different players.
Case in point: More power and
fewer outside-zone runs with
Wayne Gallman than with Saq-
uon Barkley. But Garrett called a
RPO and a bootleg run for
McCoy in fourth-quarter ball-se-
curity mode against the Bengals.
“Jason called our offense off
the same play sheet the same
way and Colt executed it,” Judge
said. “Colt has a history of run-
ning the ball. You can put the
ball in his hand and put him onthe edge and let him run around
and throw the ball, or sit him in
the pocket. There is not much
we have to change in the offense.
Colt is very good as far as adapt-
ing to different things.”
McCoy was 1-3 as a fill-in
starter in 2014 and 0-3 since
then. All but seven of his 28 ca-
reer starts came as a rookie and
second-year player under then-
Browns head coaches Eric Man-
gini and Pat Shurmur.
Washington still had playoff
hopes when McCoy replaced the
injured Smith in 2018, but those
crumbled when McCoy broke
his right fibula just above the an-
kle. A grueling recovery in-
cluded three surgeries.
“There were some mishaps
along the way,” Cavanaugh said. “I
saw every day the frustration of,
‘Cav, it just doesn’t feel right. I’m
doing all the rehab and it’s not
right.’ It took a long time, to thepoint where he tried to come back
early and couldn’t quite do it.
“He battled his a-- off and
never stopped believing in him-
self. I never doubted his tough-
ness, but to watch it happen and
see him recover, it puts a stamp
on everything I ever thought
about how committed he is to
helping his team win.”
Judge cites Giants practices
where McCoy leading the scout-
team creates fits for the starting
defense. That was his reputation
in Washington, too. Can he do the
same to one of the NFL’s worst
defenses against the Seahawks?
“He’s looking at his role as,
‘You call me a backup, but I
know I can play and I want to
help this team,’ ” Cavanaugh said.
“If Daniel comes back this week,
Colt is still a great guy to have
around. If Daniel doesn’t play,
Colt will play well and the Giants
will be glad they got him.”By Ryan DunleavyPractice makes perfect, but James Brad-
berry came close to it even with missed
reps last week.
The Giants’ top cornerback delivered
his typical shutdown performance Sun-
day against the Bengals, allowing two
catches for 15 yards to a trio of receivers
hyped among the NFL’s best. Bradberry
missed two practices last week to deal
with an undisclosed family emergency.
“If anyone on this call was dealing with
the same thing, we would encourage
them, ‘Go take care of your family and
make sure everything is good,’ ” coach Joe
Judge told reporters. “James did a great
job for us staying engaged. He was in all
the meetings through Zoom. He showed
up and had a good practice on Friday. He
played a good game for us.”
Bradberry was awarded a game ball for
the way he handled his business.
“He really made a lot of sac-
rifices and was able to com-
bine personal adversity and
some sacrifices to make sure
he was still there for the team,”
Judge said. “I’m really proud of the way
he handled that. I hope for his family’s
sake and for everyone’s sake that he
doesn’t have to deal with it again. If it
comes back up and he does, same as last
week: We’ll support him.”
Judge did not rule out Bradberry miss-
ing more practices but teammates are onboard with their respected leader.
“When he speaks everybody listens,”
safety Jabrill Peppers said. “His play speaks
for itself as well. We all prayed for him. He
did what he had to do but he stayed en-
gaged so when game day came,
he was still able to go out there
and be locked in and perform
the way we need him to.”➤The Giants are bringing in Alex Tan-
ney for a visit with the intention of signing
him as an emergency quarterback, accord-
ing to a source.
Tanney spent the 2018-19 seasons with
the Giants and learned Jason Garrett’s
playbook this offseason before he was cut
at the end of the preseason. Cooper Rushalso was with the Giants in the preseason
but is on the Cowboys practice squad.
Under NFL rules, the Giants needed a
player to begin COVID-19 testing Mon-
day to be eligible to fly with the team to
Seattle on Saturday. Tanney was already
brought in to begin COVID-19 testing.
With Daniel Jones injured, the Giants
only healthy quarterbacks are Colt
McCoy and Clayton Thorson.➤OLB Kyler Fackrell (calf ) will be
evaluated during the week to see if he
can play against the Seahawks.
Special teams standout Nate Ebner
(knee) “looks like he’s going to rebound
pretty fast,” Judge said.
[email protected]Vet corner Bradberry nearly perfect without practice
THE REAL Mccoy: Barring a miraculous recovery by Daniel Jones, Colt McCoy will be under
center when the Giants take on the Seahawks on Sunday. Coach Joe Judge doesn’t think there will
be many tweaks to the offense to adjust to the new signal-caller. Getty ImagesSunday
giants
at seahawks
4:05 p.m.
FOX
WFAN (660 AM,
101.9 FM)
Line: Giants +10 • O/U: 48.5atWFAN (660 AM,Line: Giants +10GIANTS
NOTES
PHILADELPHIA —DK
Metcalf again made the Ea-
gles regret passing him up
in the draft, and helped the
Giants in the process.
Metcalf caught 10 passes
for 177 yards, Russell Wil-
son threw for 230 yards
and a touchdown and the
Seahawks beat the Eagles
23-17 on Monday night.
The Eagles (3-7-1) fell a
half-game behind the Gi-
ants and Washington in the
woeful NFC East. The Sea-
hawks (8-3) moved one
game ahead of the Rams in
the NFC West.
Carson Wentz didn’t
cede many snaps to
backup Jalen Hurts but
had another rough game.
He was 25 of 45 for 215
yards, two TDs and one
interception.
Seattle’s defense entered
the game allowing the
most yards in the NFL and
most yards passing but
held Philadelphia’s inept
offense to 250 yards.
Metcalf was on the board
when the Eagles took J.J.
Arcega-Whiteside in the
second round with the 57th
pick in 2019. Arcega-
Whiteside has 12 career
catches and was a healthy
inactive before landing on
the COVID-19 list. Metcalf,
the final pick of the second
round, again showed why
he’s one of the best receiv-
ers in the NFL. — APEagles
‘L’ keeps
Big Blue
in first