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It's easy to pull for McCown in Bucs' QB battle

Tribune photo by JIM REED

As far as Luke McCown is concerned, the Bucs' starting quarterback job is his.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 13, 2009

TAMPA - "And you're going to have to shoot me."

That's what Luke McCown says it'll take to stop him from being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterback this season.

He has observed the mandatory (apparently, in his case) waiting period. You can't keep a good man down.

Or maybe you can.

For five years, he has waited on his turn, including these last few seasons with the Bucs.

Then it looked like he would get his chance.

No chance, at least not here, at least not long term.

First came the Jay Cutler rumblings.

But the drafting of Josh Freeman isn't a rumbling. It's the real deal.

How many times can a good guy smile?

McCown keeps on keeping on.

That alone makes me hope he gets a shot somewhere else when the Bucs turn to Freeman, which will be sooner than later, maybe as early this season.

No, he wasn't blindsided by the drafting of Freeman. McCown gives Bucs coach Raheem Morris credit for keeping him in the loop.

McCown wants to keep us in the loop, too.

No, he doesn't feel like he's auditioning for another team, for another new contract.

"No, not at all, not at all," McCown said. "I'm a Buccaneer, and I'm playing in this contract. I've got an opportunity right now this year. I'm not worried about what might happen after this year, what might happen during the season."

There's no getting around the Bucs' plan for Freeman.

McCown knows the "P" word all too well.

"I learned my rookie year that plans are just that — they're just plans."

Drafted by Cleveland in 2004, he was told the plan was to sit two years, "and then you're the guy."

"I started four games and I'm traded," he recalled.

"Plans are plans. Things change and things happen. All you can do is focus on the opportunities that you have today, to be the best that you can be."

It's real easy to pull for McCown. It's real easy to hope he gets his chance to show what Matt Cassel did to New England and the rest of the league. He has played the good teammate all along.

But he wants his shot. There's a Texas gunslinger in there somewhere, and the gunslinger wants to sling it for real, in games.

As far as McCown is concerned, this is his job. Period.

"Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. This has been a long time coming for me, and I'm not letting anybody take it from me. The first legitimate opportunity. This is my first real opportunity to be the starter, to be the guy. I look at it as mine. And you're going to have to shoot me."

Another smile.

"Nobody knew what New England had in Matt Cassel. You just don't know until you get out there and play — and not three games, you've got to play eight, 10, 12 games in a row to get that experience, to get that confidence, to get that respect, to be able to be vocal and be a leader. You have to earn things in this league."

I remember listening to McCown right after the Cutler fiasco, not to be confused with the Jake Plummer fiasco or the Brett Favre fiasco or the Warren Moon fiasco. The Bucs did look at Warren Moon, right? McCown stood near the field at One Buc Place and said then what he'd say now.

"It's always been something, it really has. In the five years I've been here, it's been Jake Plummer, it's been Jeff [Garcia], you know, Chris [Simms], Brett Favre, Jay Cutler. That's just elevator music. … It's in the background, you hear it, you don't pay attention to it, it doesn't affect you, it can't affect your mood, can't affect your preparation. It's part of being a professional. It's that tunnel. You have to have it.

"You guys know how much I rely on my faith. That's my core. That's who I am. That's not just something I believe. It's how I live my life, and it's the fact that God has complete control over my life, over every situation in my life, and that makes it east to have tunnel vision, just to see what I have going on in front of me, because ultimately if that's what God wants, it's going to be, and it's going to be the best for me."

Still, this is some plan, isn't it?

He's not asking for anything more than a chance, a real chance.

In the long run, I don't see that in his future here. He seems more like a caretaker than anything, a caretaker with a chance to finally show off his finery, maybe enough for another team to make him another Matt Cassel.

McCown smiles at the thought.

And behind the smile is all that waiting, and wanting.

"And you're going to have to shoot me."

Bring it on.

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