Colt McCoy’s 5 TDs and 3 INTs in 2014

Play 6 - Interception 1
Situation: 2nd and 12 at DAL 27
Description: Q1 - (1:31) (Shotgun) C.McCoy pass deep left intended for A.Roberts INTERCEPTED by J.Wilcox at DAL 0. Touchback. Pass was intercepted deep left corner of the end zone. The Replay Official challenged the incomplete pass ruling, and the play was Upheld. The ruling on the field stands.
Opponent: 8. DAL

Offensive Formation: Shotgun Twin Bunch Left Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 2

It’s 2nd and 11 and the Redskins decide to run a trick play with a little over a minute left in the 1st quarter. On an end around, WR11 Jackson runs from the right outside to the left flat faking like he’s going to take a screen pass with WR12 Roberts and WR88 Garcon blocking for him. Instead, both Roberts and Garcon attempt to sprint past their defenders on a go-route and a post-route, respectively, in order to catch them off guard. CB26 Moore doesn’t get fooled and sticks with Roberts while FS27 Wilcox reads McCoy’s eyes and helps double cover him into the endzone for the interception.

This interception is on McCoy. First, McCoy needs to see that Moore has Roberts covered pretty well on this play for the entirety of his route and this play is predicated on Roberts surprising his defender which he didn’t. Second, McCoy stares down Roberts for most of his route after he executes the fake to Jackson which gives a clue to Wilcox to attack the route. Third, Garcon was open on the his post route after breaking free around the 20 yard line between his defender and Wilcox’s 1/2 field zone which McCoy should have seen. Instead, McCoy hopes that Roberts was going to break free and forces the ball to him deep in the endzone. Some will argue that the ball should have gone to Jackson due to the separation between himself and the closest defenders, but the play was never to him. Finally, you have to give credit to Wilcox for the excellent jump and catch, however, if McCoy put the ball to the back of the endzone it might not have been a pick as Roberts had to come back for it at the last minute.

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Play 7 - Interception 2
Situation: 2nd and 13 at STL 35
Description: Q1 - (10:20) (Shotgun) C.McCoy pass deep middle intended for R.Grant INTERCEPTED by R.McLeod at SL 16. R.McLeod to SL 17 for 1 yard (R.Grant). The Replay Official challenged the runner was down by contact ruling, and the play was REVERSED. (Shotgun) C.McCoy pass deep middle intended for R.Grant INTERCEPTED by R.McLeod at SL 16. R.McLeod to SL 17 for 1 yard (T.Compton).
Opponent: 14. STL

Offensive Formation: EmptySet Shotgun - Gun 4WR
Offensive Personnel: 01
Defensive Formation: Cover 3

McCoy is in empty-set shotgun with Helu wide left, TE Reed in the left slot, Garcon is wide right, and Grant is in the right slot. The Rams are in Cover 3 with four underneath zones. FS23 McLeod is playing deep center field.

McCoy snaps the ball and immediately finds Grant running a post route through the middle of the field. Grant makes his cut and is actually open if McCoy can deliver an accurate pass to him. Instead, McCoy overthrows Grant and McLeod makes an incredible diving catch on the ball for the interception.

Keys to this play: (1) This was actually a good play call on 2nd and long. On first down, the Redskins ran with Morris and lost 3 yards, so another run probably would not have worked. (2) The Rams have been lining up in this four zones underneath zone formation for most of the previous drive so a breaking route past this and before the deep safety would work. (3) McCoy stares down his receiver (Grant) the entire play allowing FS McLeod to make a play on the ball. (4) McCoy throws the ball innaccurately allowing McLeod to make the play which is what causes the pick directly.

Good play; poor execution by McCoy. He needs to look off the safety. He could have easily looked at the far left side or even Reed running the in-route over the middle to draw the safety away from the play, so the worst this should have been is a missed opportunity as opposed to an interception.

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Play 8 - Interception 3
Situation: 4th and 11 at STL 21
Description: Q4 - (5:25) (Shotgun) C.McCoy pass deep middle intended for J.Reed INTERCEPTED by T.McDonald at SL 2. T.McDonald pushed ob at SL 22 for 20 yards (A.Morris).
Opponent: 14. STL

Offensive Formation: Shotgun Trips Left
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 0

McCoy in shotgun has trips left and Garcon wide right by himself. Rams are in Cover 0 and rush seven pass rushers. FS23 McLeod creeps into the box and rushes through the open B-gap between RB46 Morris and RT68 Compton. McCoy evades this first hit by turning his shoulder and then fires downfield for Reed running a deep post route over the middle of the field. There is pressure in McCoy’s face, so he can’t fully step into the throw. This leaves the ball short and an easy interception opportunity for SS25 McDonald.

First, great evasion by McCoy to not get taken down by the free rusher. Second, horrible throw by McCoy. If he is still going to throw a lob pass he needs to place this ball uncatchable for the defense, i.e. too far in front of Reed as opposed to behind him. Third, this play occurred on 4th and 11 and the Rams are giving the WRs plenty of room underneath to throw a screen or another quick pass to take advantage of it. The Redskins were down 24-0 by this point so it explains why the Redskins were only looking deep instead of trying to attack short, but still you hate to see it.

As you can see in the touchdowns above, McCoy does a great job with throwing with anticipation as well as showing surprising evasiveness. This was evident through the rest of his play during the 2014 season and something that has allowed him to maximize his own personal ceiling in the NFL. As far as the interceptions go, I think McCoy is directly responsible for two of the three with the final interception given partial credit to the defense for forcing McCoy to not fully step into his throw. Interception 1 is the most worrisome of the three as this shows terrible decision-making while missing an open target over the middle of the field. It will be interesting to see how the next season pans out for the Redskins quarterbacks. Last season, the Redskins played QB-roulette dividing the starting role. Hopefully in pre-season one of the Redskins quarterbacks will step up and show enough to be the franchise player they desperately need. For a complete breakdown of his play throughout the season comparing to the other Redskins quarterbacks RG3 and Kirk Cousins (click here).

Click here to see all of Colt McCoy’s plays in the GIF Database.