It’s been a season to forget so far for the Minnesota Vikings. Though, to be fair, as much as they want to forget it, they will need to remember it for the lessons that it is teaching them.
A lot of fingers are being directed at young signal caller J.J. McCarthy. The play of McCarthy has been overwhelmingly lackluster, even with the qualifier of the expectation that young quarterbacks struggle early in their careers.
An Underwhelming Start for the McCarthy-Era Vikings
GettyJ.J. McCarthy #9 and Justin Jefferson #18 of the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings have a record of 2-4 with McCarthy at the helm. In those games, the individual stats aren’t looking too great for the former Michigan Wolverine.
Through six games, J.J. McCarthy boasts a lowly 54.1% completion percentage. He also has marks of 929 passing yards, 6 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. His 57.9 passer rating is the cherry on top of the disappointment Sunday.
The last two weeks have been the most disappointing of them all. In those games (vs. Chicago, at Green Bay), the statistics are alarming. McCarthy threw for a combined 237 yards, 1 touchdown, and 4 interceptions. Minnesota scored a combined 23 points in these contests.
- Josh Metellus Comes to Defense of J.J. McCarthy
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GettyJosh Metellus #44 of the Minnesota Vikings looks on before the game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Per Adam Patrick of The Vikings Age, Vikings safety Josh Metellus came to the defense of J.J. McCarthy.
“I ain’t going to lie, I think [No.] 9 is playing great. When you don’t play as a full team and we don’t give each other a chance to win, quarterbacks get the blame. Just like DBs get the blame when some run pops off, we miss a tackle, and it goes for [a long gain].
It’s never [just] one guy.”
Metellus elaborated further:
“In terms of his ability to grow and develop, we’re talking about a guy who’s had six starts? I think he’s playing really well. I know he’s going to keep getting better. I know the kind of guy he is. Shout out to J.J. for being able to step in and just keep going and ignore the noise.
I don’t know too much [about] what’s going on, but I know it’s not just a QB problem. It’s an all-11 problem. Whenever we’re all on the field, we all have to play as one.”
It’s a great token of respect from the Vikings’ veteran towards McCarthy. It paints a picture that the Minnesota locker room is still behind him, as they understand getting up to NFL speed isn’t the easiest for 22-year-olds.
It is paramount that Kevin O’Connell keeps the locker room rallied around the young kid. Losing the locker room because your young quarterback is struggling could be lethal to the job security of Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
Josh Metellus’ comments indicate that everyone in the TCO Practice Facility still has faith in McCarthy. But could this all change if Max Brosmer does in fact start Sunday and is obviously a better option right now than J.J. McCarthy?
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