JJ McCarthy Gets Concussed
Excuse me, NINE gets concussed.
JJ McCarthy has entered the concussion protocol after the Packers game. The concussion is probably real, but people can’t quite pinpoint when it might have happened. This leaves Max Brosmer as the starter: a late-round rookie. Normally, this would make people unhappy. For the Vikings, things have gotten so bad at QB that the potential of Brosmer is actually kind of interesting.
A lot of people assumed McCarthy was “soft benched’ with his high ankle sprain earlier this year when they left Carson Wentz out there to die for a couple weeks. After watching McCarthy since he came back, I find the theory more plausible. McCarthy hasn’t just been bad. He’s been historic. JJ has been playing such bad football that he is being compared to legends like JaMarcus Russell.
Before the draft, I did not want the Giants to draft JJ McCarthy. At least not at #6. I could see the warning signs. He was part of the Bortles effect, a guy who was projected as a mid-round talent who suddenly shot up draft boards for no reason as draft pundits got bored about writing about Maye, Caleb, and Daniels. He even looked like Zach Wilson. He won a championship handing the ball off 40 times per game on the back of the best defense in college football (and also sign-stealing!). I barely study prospects and even I could tell this kid was going to be overdrafted. One of my personal favorite football channels (Thinking Football), put out a video before the draft that called out a lot of his warning signs. This is the same channel that correctly called the Eagles defense sending Mahomes to hell in the Super Bowl. I trust their analysis.
McCarthy being bad is one thing. I think many expected that. He’s essentially a rookie this year. Rookie-esque struggles would be one thing. He’s not playing like a normal struggling rookie QB. He’s putting up some of the worst QB performances you’ll watch. Cam Ward, a rookie who is struggling, is playing better football on a much worse team with much less support to back him up. That’s the other thing about this. This Vikings team is not bad. McCarthy has possibly the second-best WR corp in football right now to work with in Addison and Jefferson. The Vikings defense is solid. The coaching is good. The offensive line, while problematic, has stabilized during his most recent string of games. JJ just can’t throw a football accurately to save his life.
Is it too early to give up on JJ? I dunno. It still seems like a mechanics issue more than anything. The Jitters are rookie stuff. I would have said no to giving up but he’s putting up such putrid performances that the Vikings might need to instantly rip the bandaid off and be done with it, Rosen style. I cannot see McCarthy improving much by season’s end. He probably needs an entire offseason of his mechanics being broken down and rebuilt to stand a chance. That kind of thing can take years. Josh Allen took three seasons to start having good mechanics, but he was able to help the team in other ways in the meantime. Nine is an active detriment to the team whenever he doesn’t hand it off.
Brosmer is being given a golden chance right now. There’s no expectations on him, so all he has to do is play mediocre football and make the offense watchable. If he does that, the Vikings are going to have issues putting McCarthy back out there because fans would riot. I personally would love it if the Vikings lucked themselves into their own version of the Trey Lance/Brock Purdy dynamic. It would be hilarious.
JJ has got to go. Been a Vikings fan since ‘67 and can’t remember the last time we had a team this good (not great, but very good) undermined this hard by one player. The team is that good that if we throw JJ in the ditch where he belongs, we can look at developing Brosmer AND be in a position to have a squad that can be attractive to free agent QBs next season. At this point, there’s nothing to lose. The season is lost, our record and what we’ve thrown away to get JJ screwed next year’s draft, and the fan base are baying for blood. Anyone involved in drafting him needs to taken behind the ice fishing hut and thrashed with a longboat oar.
Oh, and if we approach the Failclowns about taking Cousins back, I will burn my Tarkenton jersey and piss on the stadium entrance.
It’s a weird case of getting worse as the season has gone on. The first few weeks didn’t look pretty and the accuracy issues were always evident, but there were some flashes, and I had leniency as the entire offense looked like a mess. I pinned it on coaching, and still do to an extent. The penalties for example (on the entire team. Honestly, the special teams have been just as brutal this year, partly because of that. I atill can’t believe that the coordinator wasn’t fired after blowing the ending of the second Bears game) are inexcusable
But, yeah, the past few weeks have killed off any enthusiasm I had. The “soft bench” theory seems necessary at this point, as it feels like playing him more this year will just reinforce bad habits at this point. Either way, whatever happens to McCarthy next year, the FO needs a better plan for backup (unless the very ardent Brosmer diehards are proven right). Getting Sam Howell, just to trade him and sign Wentz extremely close to the start of the season was terrible planning. Even if Wentz stayed healthy, he didn’t have much time to form chemistry with the team. We need more certainty going forward
NINE needs to be told NEIN to throwing the ball lol.
Point of information: Brosmer is an *undrafted* rookie, not a late-round one.
There’s bad and then there’s what we are seeing out of Nine. Carson Wentz is bad, Christian Ponder was bad, but they were bad within the parameters of being an NFL Quarterback. JJ McCarthy looks like he needs to completely relearn how to throw a football, like there’s normal rookie struggles and being incapable of throwing a ten yard out that isn’t six feet over everyone’s heads.
Brosmer could probably come out and go 15-26 for 205 and no tds and ints and we’ll all fall over him for simply looking like a professional.
It feels like JJ needs to sit for the rest of the season. See what Brosmer can do, not only initially but how much progress he makes over the rest of the season. JJ is overwhelmed now. He has a chance, if allowed to grow up, to be what he was expected to be.
I’m… sorry, but it’s kinda… hard to keep… a straight face reading your comment, Darth Brooks. X’D Now I’m laughing thinking about “The Thunder Rolls” but turned into “The Sand Blows”.
*ahem* But yea, I agree. I saw a video that said his main issue is he’s throwing the ball too aggressively every single time and putting his entire body into the throw, thus his accuracy being garbage and lacking any element of touch. As it so happens, I am a professional twice over – an analyst AND a therapist – so I’m confident saying if we can cure him of his schizophrenia… there IS a chance!
An analyst and a therapist – would that make you an analrapist?
We’re ritual sacrificing the QB room when the season is over, the traditional Viking way.