McCoy’s drops in the past

Published on December 10, 2012 by Tacoma News Tribune (Feed)     

If you had posed this question at the beginning of the season: “Which of the Seattle Seahawks would be the first to record more than 100 yards receiving in a game?” There would have been an array of answers.

Sidney Rice probably would have been the favorite. Maybe Golden Tate or even Zach Miller would have been mentioned.

But Anthony McCoy?

A second-string tight end with a history of the drops?

No way. Not a chance.

Not even he would have predicted that.

But on Sunday, McCoy did what none of his teammates could do this season. He broke the century mark with 105 yards receiving. It’s more impressive considering he needed just three catches.

“We knew that no one had done it,” McCoy said. “We talked about it.”

McCoy did it. It helped that more than half of those yards came on one catch.

With seconds left in the first quarter, quarterback Russell Wilson hit a wide open McCoy downfield on a long completion. There was only one defender between McCoy and the end zone, and teammate Sidney Rice had him blocked away from the sideline. But for some reason, McCoy cut back toward the middle and was brought down by another defender who was chasing the play, four yards from the end zone.

“I had the guy blocked,” Rice said. “I told him after the play, if he would have stayed behind me, he would have scored.”

Instead, McCoy had to settle for a 67-yard reception.

“They were saying, ‘You looked a little lost out there when you caught the ball,’” McCoy said. “I told them it’s been a while since I’ve been in the open field.”

One thing is for certain: He is going to hear some teasing from teammates when they watch the game film.

“They are going to give it to me,” he said. “They are going to give it to me tomorrow and probably the rest of the season.”

Teammates talking about a McCoy reception at all is a sign of his growth as a player.

Drafted in the sixth round in 2010 out of USC, McCoy was viewed as an elite athlete with a chance to be a playmaker at the position if he improved.

That improvement didn’t come immediately.

McCoy appeared in two games in 2010 and didn’t make a catch. Last season, he played in all 16 games, making 13 catches for 146 yards. But it was the catches he didn’t make that were the problem. McCoy had a habit of dropping passes.

“I have grown a lot from my first year,” McCoy said, crediting former teammates John Carlson and Chris Baker and current teammates Zach Miller and Cameron Morrah with helping him. “I made a lot of mistakes, a lot of dropped balls, and it’s something I really harped on in the offseason, and I think I fixed it for the most part.”

It seems that way. McCoy has 16 catches for 236 yards and two touchdowns, and has one drop this season.

“He has so much speed and so much ability,” Wilson said. “He’s like a receiver in terms of the way he runs.”

That was evident on the first-quarter screen pass Wilson tossed to McCoy, who turned it into a 21-yard gain.

“He’s really, really improving every week, every game,” Wilson said. “As I throw to him more and more, we are really clicking. He’s doing a great job.”

McCoy can only get better.

“He’s understanding what it takes to play tight end in the NFL,” said Miller, who had a 24-yard touchdown catch. “You saw his playmaking ability today. He’s so improved.”

via McCoy’s drops in the past | Seattle Seahawks – The News Tribune.

Tags: Array, Elite Athlete, End Zone, First Quarter, Game Film, mccoy, One Thing, Play Four, Russell Wilson, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, Second String, Sideline, Sidney Rice, Tate, Teammate, Teammates, Tight End, usc, Yard Reception, Zach Miller