BEREA, Ohio -- Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown fought through everything from a concussion on the first drive of the regular season, broken ribs and right shoulder injuries, but being driven into the ground near midfield in the third quarter of Monday night's 33-27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens brought his season to a premature end.
McCown suffered a broken right collarbone in the loss, and will need "like six weeks" to recover from the injury.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed with everything kind of it being the way it is," McCown said Wednesday. "You have a set of goals that you plan on before the season and want to get accomplished, and when you fall short of those, obviously it's disappointing, and so, this adds to it for sure.
"I've not finished a year with this type of injury this late in the season, so that's a first, but I've said it before, it's part of it, so I'm no different. There are guys in here that are banged up that fortunately, haven't broken a bone yet, and so, at this point in the year, everybody is banged up.
"It's part of this game, and so, you gotta work through it as best you can. It's disappointing and obviously, going all the way back to Week One and leaving that game that earlier after the way we opened up, you just wonder what it would have been like if you could play every snap. I think that's the frustrating thing. but again, it's a part of this game and you adjust and move on."
McCown said he did not know whether or not to question the legality of the hit that ultimately brought to an end his first season with the Browns, as he was too focused on playing through the pain. But after throwing the ball twice, he signaled for help from the sideline and fell to the ground before being attended to by the training staff.
"It hurt pretty bad," McCown said. "When I threw and I felt like I could get through a throwing motion and all that, I felt like talking to (trainer) Joe (Sheehan) and all them, I was like, 'Let's give it a go' and it's just, especially going back to last question of just leaving the field a few times this year, I didn't want to again, and so, to me, it was like I want to just give every shot, every opportunity I could until I completely couldn't do it.
"I made the first throw and I felt a little something and I made the second throw and felt a little something more then and knew at that point, as much as I wanted to be out there, it's probably not fair to everybody else because I didn't know if I could push the ball downfield the way I needed to and those things, so I thought it was best to come out then."
On the season, McCown completed 186 of his 292 throws for 2,109 yards and 12 touchdowns against four interceptions. Despite being sacked 23 times for 137 lost yards, McCown finished his season with a 93.3 quarterback rating.
"When you're sitting here at 2-9, I always just say that if that's the record of your team, then I think everybody can look at it and go, 'You know what? We gotta play better,' so that's my first looking at it and I'm pleased with some things that I did, but at the end of the day, you always feel like you can be better," McCown said.
"I felt good, especially the situation I went through last year, just to be back in a system again with veteran NFL coaches that have been in the league a while certainly considering last year. I don't know statistically or whatever, but I felt like I did in 2013 with the Bears as far as the rhythm and timing and playing and all that stuff.
"I'm encouraged by some of the things we did and certainly, I'm encouraged by the opportunity to get back out and function in this type of offense. You always walk away thinking you can be even better, so I feel like I can turn that up a notch, too. That's what the offseason is for."
Although encouraged by the things he accomplished, including setting Browns records for the most passing yards in a game (457 against the Ravens on October 11) and the most passing yards over a three-game stretch (1,154) and becoming the first quarterback in franchise history to throw for 300 or more yards in three straight games, McCown will always remember the ending to his final start of 2015.
Baltimore returned a blocked field goal 64 yards for a touchdown as time expired for the game-winning score.
"I'm like everybody else, just broken-hearted and my jaw was on the floor," McCown said. "You think at a minimum, you can end up in overtime and feel pretty good about our chances. Shoot, the last two times I've played those guys, it's been overtime games, and so, I thought, 'Here we go.' At a minimum, we're going to get a third overtime game, we're going to beat these guys, and so, for it to end like that, man, it was a crazy ending. It's unfortunate because, like I said, the effort's out there.
"You just hate that you don't finish the game, reflecting on some of the overall effort. That's part of taking another step though, and part of becoming a good football team is doing that and that's what, as we continue through these next five weeks and on in, that's what we've got to do better, and I think if you go out and prepare hard and you work hard in these five weeks when, essentially, you're not playing for the playoffs or anything like that, I think that's the kind of resolve that you build that you eventually win those tough games because of the resolve that you build when you're 2-9 and you go out to work and you practice hard. I think it's critical for us, these next five weeks, to do that."
