There’s a Weird J.J. McCarthy U-Turn
The Minnesota Vikings swung big in the offseason when they allowed Sam Darnold to walk in free agency after a Pro Bowl season with 14 wins. Instead, it’s second-year passer J.J. McCarthy at the helm. The big swing has long turned into a strikeout.
There’s a Weird J.J. McCarthy U-Turn
Injuries have overshadowed McCarthy’s first two seasons. He has participated in eight games (including the preseason), and we know about four injuries. A knee injury cost him his entire rookie campaign, an ankle knocked him out for five games this season, and a concussion robbed him of the reunion with Darnold. A hand injury didn’t cost him any playing time, but it’s noteworthy regardless.
Sure, optimists could classify those problems as bad luck. But then there’s still the subpar on-field product. Depending on which statistic is used, McCarthy is either the worst or one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL.
Throughout the season, head coach Kevin O’Connell, who’s in charge of the sophomore’s development, maintained the position that cleaning up the mechanical mishaps would be a significant point of emphasis. Those sloppy mechanics have indeed led to several missed passes, and his inaccurate throws can be directly attributed to those.
This week, the fourth-year skipper of the Minnesota Vikings suddenly changed his tone. “Just play ball,” he implied.
“There will be time to fundamentally focus on things and continue building this layer and a foundation that will be important for him into the future. But now it feels like he’s got enough experience. He knows a lot of these principles that we’ve talked about. I want him to have a clear head and a clear mind to just go play, but play with an understanding of the decisions that I make with the ball in my hand, the decisions that I make as a passer, and as we’ve learned, very important as a runner to protect himself and make sure that we can keep him in there.”
The new focus: Making the right decisions. Work on fundamentals will be postponed until the offseason.
McCarthy, too, explained the change in philosophy, “A lot of the mentality has changed, for sure. I was just so focused on doing every rep perfect and making sure every little detail was crossed and checked off. I feel like coach O’Connell and coach (Josh) McCown, them talking to me about ‘Hey, let’s worry about that stuff in the offseason. Go out there, play your ball, just execute the play.’ That just frees up a lot of space mentally to be instinctual, react, and respond to what the defense is giving me. Very excited to play.”
In his first six games, McCarthy tossed the ball to the opposition a total of ten times. More than his six passing touchdowns and two rushing scores combined. He has yet to finish a game without an interception.
McCarthy called himself a “natural overthinker” this week. He apparently tried to do too much, adding that “it’s not against [the coaches]. I need to do a better job compartmentalizing those coaching points and realizing when it’s game time, it’s time to let it loose and not focus on that.”
The five games will be crucial for McCarthy. He needs to show some growth to prove that he’s even worth the time in the offseason to work on the fundamentals. Another month of bad football could lead the Vikings to pivot from adding competition to bringing in a real replacement.
Maybe the plan to work on the mechanics during the season was bound to fail. Perhaps delaying that until the offseason and simplifying the offense would’ve helped. The complete 180 in December is a little strange, however.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.