A look at the highlights of quarterback Colt McCoy's first season with the Washington Redskins, which included wins over the Titans and Cowboys.
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden announced today that Colt McCoy will start at quarterback on Sunday, when the team travels to Indianapolis to take on the Colts.
McCoy — a five-year veteran out of Texas — has played in two games this season for Washington, starting one, and led the Redskins to victories in both contests.
"The reports are accurate: Colt is going to start this week at quarterback," Gruden said Wednesday in a conference call with the Indianapolis-area media. "We're going to play Colt. He's done some good things in his time as a starter. I felt like he deserved a bit of a promotion."
McCoy, who signed with the Redskins in April, came on in relief of Kirk Cousins in the second half of the Redskins' Week 7 matchup against the Tennessee Titans. His first pass wearing the burgundy and gold was a 70-yard touchdown to Pierre Garçon, who raced down the sideline untouched for the score.
McCoy that day would complete 11 of his 12 passes (91.7 percent) for 128 yards and a touchdown, but, most importantly, he led his team on a drive in the final minutes that culminated in a Kai Forbath field goal as time expired to give the Redskins a 19-17 victory at FedExField.
He got the start that next week on the road against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football and shined on the national stage, completing 25-of-30 passes (83.3 percent) for 299 yards, while also adding a crucial seven-yard touchdown late in the game, which the Redskins won 20-17 in overtime over their NFC East rivals.
In that game, McCoy — who was starting his first NFL game in 1,054 days — admittedly came out of the gates a little rusty, but said he became more and more comfortable with every snap.
"I felt like as the half went on, we got better and better and I started trusting everyone more and more," McCoy said. "I'll take a ton of the blame early in the game. I'm just thankful that we stuck with it and our offense kept plugging away and we made big plays at the end of the game."
In his one-and-a-half games this season, McCoy has completed 36-of-42 passes (85.7 percent) for 427 yards and a touchdown. On Sunday, he'll be facing an Indianapolis Colts defense that ranks 17th in the NFL in yards allowed per game at 359.3.
The Colts (7-4) — leaders of the AFC South — allow 249.4 yards passing per game, ranking 20th in the league.
Gruden this week elected to go with McCoy over Robert Griffin III, who has completed a combined 34-of-51 (66.7 percent) of his passes for 313 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions the last two weeks in losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers.
In those two games, the Redskins scored 7 and 13 points, respectively, and Griffin III was sacked a combined 11 times.
Gruden said Wednesday Griffin III will be the team's No. 2 quarterback this week, putting Cousins at No. 3.
RELATED LINKS:
— 5 Takeaways: Nov. 24 Gruden Conference Call
— 2014 Redskins Statistics
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