The Vikings’ Young Passer Spills the Beans
The Vikings’ young passer hasn’t had the season he was hoping for when things kicked off with a thrilling Monday Night Football comeback in Week 1.
Far too often, J.J. McCarthy has played far too slow. He can run fast and throw the ball fast but he didn’t process the game fast. Being able to simplify things, per the 22-year-old quarterback, has been the key to playing better ball in recent weeks.
The Vikings’ Young Passer on Playing Fast
On PurplePTSD, Janik Eckardt relayed the words from McCarthy’s press conference from earlier in the week.
The sophomore has seen the game slowdown: “Obviously, the more reps you see, the live bullets, but like I talked about, the overall understanding of the offense, it slows everything down tremendously because you’re not using that extra thinking of, ‘The ball’s snapped, I have it in my hands, is he running that route?’ So it eliminates those split-second miscues and processing. That’s helped tremendously throughout the year.”
Elsewhere, McCarthy explains that “just understanding the offense more as a whole has helped tremendously.”
All fair, all reasonable.
Last season was robbed due to injury. Sure, there were the meetings with Kevin O’Connell, the dalliance with football VR, and plenty of time with his nose in the playbook. Those things can’t perfectly emulate seeing the live bullets, as McCarthy suggests.
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To my eye, Coach O’Connell didn’t do the kid many favors.
The first-time starter was being asked to change his mechanics on the fly. He was doing so while adjusting to NFL speed for the first time, behind an o-line commonly working through injury, and under the play calling of a coach who only recently discovered the merit of running. In a lot of ways, J.J. McCarthy was set to fail.
The Vikings’ young passer didn’t put the blame at his coach’s feet in the press conference. Rather, there was an explanation of the game slowing down. Both things are true. A major part of the reason why the game is slower is due to Coach O’Connell keeping things simpler.
The season statistics see Minnesota’s QB1 with a 4-4 record. He has completed 56.8% of his passes for 1,342 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. Note, as well, the 3 ground scores alongside the 5 fumbles.
McCarthy is, in short, a tremendously talented passer who has much to learn and improve upon. Continuing to see the game slowdown will be key.
Next up are the 2-12 Giants, a team that’s leaning on Jaxson Dart. Whichever passer plays better is likely going to be the one to gift his team a victory ahead of Christmas.
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