There is no question that Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy is a cerebral player trying to catch up mentally to the speed of the game after just five NFL starts, but the 22-year-old offered a densely scientific explanation for his struggles following perhaps the worst game of his young career against the Chicago Bears last week.
McCarthy essentially told reporters that he has to relearn the position as the Vikings starting QB after spending multiple years playing it in a completely different way for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan.
“Coming in here, I was taught how to play quarterback a very different way,” McCarthy said, per Alec Lewis of The Athletic. “It’s really hard. You’re rewiring neurological pathways, and that’s not something that happens overnight.”
JJ McCarthy Hasn’t Made Huge Strides With Regards to NFL Game
GettyQuarterback J.J. McCarthy of the Minnesota Vikings.
In the simplest of terms, McCarthy is saying that he has to entirely rethink how he understands the quarterback position and reteach his mind how to process information, react to it and understand why new responses are more valuable in the long-term than those already ingrained in him.
In other words, McCarthy has to change his habits.
Ben Solak of ESPN didn’t frame his study of McCarthy in precisely this way when he did a deep dive into how the young quarterback currently processes and plays the game following Minnesota’s improbable road victory over the Detroit Lions three weeks ago.
However, Solak offered some insights into McCarthy’s development for a Vikings team that is 4-6 and in desperate need of a win next week against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
McCarthy had several accurate throws and is at his best just ripping fastballs into the sideline. But as was the case in September, throws with touch challenged his ball placement, and poor pocket footwork sapped his consistency. McCarthy remains fearful of windows in the middle of the field, which led to a couple of his sacks and limited the sort of concepts O’Connell could call.
McCarthy looked calm and controlled on the first two drives, which were scripted plays — but once the offense got off script and the Lions hit him a few times, his composure started to wane. He was sacked five times, turned the wrong direction during a couple of run plays, dropped a snap and sprayed several throws.
Vikings Brass Miscalculated JJ McCarthy’s Readiness This Season
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
McCarthy’s assessment of his play and the necessary development isn’t problematic because it’s wrong, it’s problematic because of how long it might take to correct. As he said in his own words, it’s “not something that happens overnight.”
Apparently it’s also not something that happens over five games, across which McCarthy is 2-3 with 842 yards, six TDs, eight INTs and a completion rate of 52.9 percent.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo Mensah let Sam Darnold walk to the Seattle Seahawks after a 14-3 campaign last season. They also watched Daniel Jones leave for a one-year deal from the Indianapolis Colts in free agency.
Darnold is 7-3 this season, while Jones is 8-2. Neither has been perfect, but both have been more competent than McCarthy by a wide margin. Minnesota went cheap under center because the organization believed McCarthy could close the gap with his veteran predecessors, despite missing his entire rookie campaign with a knee injury.
An ankle issue that cost him five games this year has likely played into his lack of development, but the Vikings clearly overestimated the speed with which McCarthy could become a viable starter. And that miscalculation may cost Minnesota a season of contention, as the team is now in last place in the NFC North Division with a tough game at Green Bay coming up this weekend and a quarterback who is openly saying he may not yet be there mentally in the middle of his second professional campaign.
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