The Minnesota Vikings dropped to 4-5 following a 27-19 defeat against the Baltimore Ravens on November 9 at U.S. Bank Stadium. The offense had a tough day, racking up eight false start penalties at home.
J.J. McCarthy, in his second game back from injury, struggled to replicate his performance against the Detroit Lions in Week 9. He went 20 of 42 for 248 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions, unable to find a consistent rhythm.
After the loss, FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd, known for his candid takes on McCarthy, said the young quarterback still hasn’t done enough to convince him he can be an NFL starter.
“When I watch a franchise quarterback, you either pick up first downs, have long drives, make big touchdown throws, or you don’t,” Cowherd said on “The Colin Cowherd Podcast“ after the Vikings fell to the Ravens on November 9. “You can’t try to convince me [that] something is true. If I go to watch a comedy show, you’re either funny or you’re not for 45 minutes. Bill Burr makes me laugh [at] almost every joke. You can’t convince me of stuff.
“And I watched J.J. McCarthy and I didn’t like him out of college, so I don’t want to do confirmation bias. But after those scripted drives, I don’t get it. I don’t see it. He’s not accurate. Everything’s a fast ball, and they have good receivers, a better-than-average offensive line, a solid running back, and a great offensive coach. I mean overall [in Week 10] he’s 20 of 42. I mean, you can’t win in this league like that.”
Critics Continue to Emerge Over Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy
Unlike Cowherd, NBC Sports’ NFL insider Mike Florio isn’t ready to give up on McCarthy. Still, he believes Minnesota should pursue a quarterback this offseason who can challenge him, helping push McCarthy toward his full potential.
“Vikings need a quarterback competition,“ Florio said on the November 10 edition of “Pro Football Talk.” “I think they need to sign somebody in the offseason, not as the ‘You’re going to be the starter and J.J.’s out.‘ I think they need to make him earn it against someone. They need him in day-to-day competition to push him toward his ceiling. And whatever his ceiling is, it is what it is.
“Right now, I am concerned the ceiling isn’t where it needs to be because we can’t have one week where it all clicks. It’s not like he’s ever going to be a gunslinger. He’s never going to be Matthew Stafford. It’s going to be about what he can do at the right time—make the right play in the right spot. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t.
“I think they need to be looking for somebody with a higher ceiling. So they need to either push him toward that higher ceiling internally or just pull the plug.”
Vikings Week 10 Loss Isn’t All on J.J. McCarthy
The main takeaway from the loss was the offense’s recurring mistakes, not solely McCarthy’s output. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke to the media about the issue after the game.
“Well, I think we got to have a conversation as a group,” O’Connell told reporters postgame. ‘What transpired? It doesn’t feel like all eight of those were the same scenario, the same sequence. We try to eliminate them all.
“That’s been a huge point of what we think it’s going to take to win the game every week, whether it’s Monday or Wednesday or Friday, talking with the team about eliminating those self-inflicteds, and we didn’t do that in any way, shape, or form. We’ve got to fix it. We’ve got to understand what was different today than what had been something we felt like we eliminated from maybe early on in the season.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Colin Cowherd Doesn’t Hold Back on Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy appeared first on Heavy Sports.