J.J. McCarthy’s Injury Recovery Process & NFL Debut Against Chicago Bears | The Voyage, Episode 2

J.J. McCarthy’s Injury Recovery Process & NFL Debut Against Chicago Bears | The Voyage, Episode 2

I had to re-evaluate the things outside of my physical capabilities. I was mentioning to the guys in the huddle when we were down like where else would you rather be? Just keep running the show. That’s what we’re doing better right now. Everything’s more efficient cuz you’re driving the ship. You’re doing great, man. I’m so proud of you. We don’t stop till his right. The game ready. Yeah. So, the game ready is a fabulous tool. When the knee gets a little swollen, you just ice it up with the compression. So, two for one deal. And uh yeah, Old Faithful right there. Mhm. This was another period in time of stillness where I had to re-evaluate the things outside my physical capabilities and really see the cause of what happened. I’m provoked. It’s been great to be able to continue to work on, you know, my favorite subject, which is the world’s greatest expert on yourself and really understand the workings and the shadow work and the things my ego is trying to avoid. Just all these things that can make me a better man and a better warrior. So, There we go. [Music] I never really understood the importance of going slow. I’m somebody that really wants to just hit the ground running. [Music] Whether I feel good, don’t feel good, I just want to do whatever it is that I believe I am capable of. [Music] I’m reading Wisdom of the Bullfrog. If you’ve read or heard of Make Your Bed, it is by the same author and he just makes highlevel complex leadership traits very simple and very um very easy to understand and then apply. Being able to really listen to my body, keep my ego out of the way, and just really trust the process. want to throw. I’m done. That’s [Music] the leading up to the field has been the most beneficial for me. Once we hit the field, it’s just like I’ve never felt better running, never felt better throwing. It was all for a reason. If you don’t chase the cold, the cold will chase you, making your immune system better. all the other sciency method stuff for another day. But, uh, I’m obsessed with the Yeah, honestly, I don’t know what to expect. I’ve heard nothing but incredible things about how JJ’s playing, how comfortable he is, how he’s ripping the football, but practice and preseason is not regular season. It’s It’s all different when teams start to game plan for you. So, I’m as interested as everybody else to see who is JJ McCarthy at this point and who are the Minnesota Vikings offensively with JJ McCarthy at quarterback. There’s just pure excitement, pure confidence and, you know, I absolutely can’t wait to get on the plane with my boys and get out there. But, it’s going to be, you know, a tough road environment versus a great divisional opponent. It’s going to be a lot of fun. What a fun night and a great way to cap week one around the National Football League as JJ McCarthy, who grew up in this great city, makes his NFL debut tonight. How much will you let yourself like enjoy the moment of it being 30 minutes from home? I feel like home is in Minnesota. So, at the end of the day, you know, it’s just a business trip. We’re going to go down there, execute some football plays, and see what happens. It is as big of a stage as you can imagine. that is his first chance to prove himself on a national stage. How does he handle that? I think that’s probably the biggest storyline of week one. A lot of the criticism was, can he lift an offense? Can he drop back and throw accurate passes with touching his arm and lead a team that way in what has become a passing league? How is a guy going to come in after the guy before him won 14 games? Maybe this team isn’t going to be as good this year. You’re good. You’re good. Is he going to feel the weight of the world on his shoulders? He’s 22 years old. Is he going to be able to handle the pressure? Those are things we don’t really know yet from a national perspective and from outside of the walls of that locker room. That does create some doubt. Long watch out. Pick touchdown Chicago a big six. You know, you never want to earn wisdom that way. It sucks. It’s one of the worst things you could do as a quarterback, but you can’t do anything about it. You got to focus on the next play. You know, defense kept us in it the whole time. So, it was just on our shoulders. Just go out there and execute and, you know, play as one and, you know, move on from that. He seems ready for whatever this will be. He’s somebody who’s not going to assume what an experience is going to be before he actually goes and has that experience. You can really see that this is a person who’s absorbing every piece of this process in a way that begins to define the experience for him. I mean, if you think about it, that’s quarterbacking, right? That is playing quarterback. You adjust, you change, you audible, you do different things, you evolve, you manipulate your life in different ways. Between those lines through the course of a game, you have to live like that, too. And I think that JJ seems equipped to me to be able to handle that. I was mentioning to the guys in the huddle when we were down like where else would you rather be? We did a great job and this team showed a lot of poise and uh responded very well. I just told him, “Keep playing the next snap together and I promise you we’ll find a way. You are going to bring us back to win this game.” And the look in his eye was fantastic. Chicago rushes four. McCarthy straight drop to the end zone and touchdown. [Applause] 13 yd strike and they’re back in business. Hey, that was the drive right there, baby. We’re back in now. Let’s go. First one. McCarthy out of the shotgun. Blitz is on. It’s picked up. McCarthy loops it to Jones. Touchdown Aaron Jones. [Music] Two-point drive. McCarthy out of the shotgun. Pass right. Caught. Felin. [Music] [Applause] Hell yeah. Let’s go, fellas. Let’s go. Got more than Hey, told you do that right there. Not surprised at all. All right. So, as we go. All right. I’m just going to need you to continue to manage this thing for me because I might still give you some chances. Real chances. All right. And then just keep running the show. That’s what we’re doing better right now. Everything’s more efficient cuz you’re driving the ship. It’s doing great, man. I’m so proud of you. We’ve seen him win at every level, but we have not seen him win at the professional level yet. So, until he proves that, I think there is always going to be just a seed of doubt. Um, it’s on him to make sure that seed of doubt doesn’t grow into something more. Third and one right here. He’s at the 14 of the Bears. McCarthy keeps. He’s got it. Forces his way into the end zone. Touchdown. This quarterback in his NFL debut is doing it all. It was just perfect play call. Offensive line did a great job. TJ with that block on Jcoan, you know, finishing the job. That was, you know, one of the one of my favorites for sure. We don’t stop till baby step, baby. away. Yeah, man. Come on. The Vikings internal belief in JJ McCarthy has been backed many times over. The Vikings breathe life into JJ McCarthy at every opportunity. It feels like everybody has backed him. The players alongside him have backed him. The coaching staff has. They all seem to gravitate towards JJ McCarthy. It’s it’s authentic and you you can’t fake that. They believe that they can do everything they want because of the guy they have at quarterback. Hey, this is one of those, man, where I’m going to try to give you everything I got right now, but like many of you probably feel, Minnesota Vikings left everything we have out on that football field. All right, you put it on the display for the whole world with what we did in the second half. Defense just kept giving us a chance and then offense when we hit that button and we figured it out. All 11 executing. We got some unbelievable plays from special teams. So, let me just first start out and say if there’s ever been one. Everybody gets a game ball. None of this happens. This feeling that we have right now does not happen without one other guy. All right. Did not go the way any of us wanted. This guy, all right, I could tell from the jump he was poised. He was poised. But this guy didn’t quit. He and you always thought he would figure it out. He had three two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown all in the second half. [Applause] That’s why you guys put a C on his chest. That’s why he’s going to break his right now. Hey, this is just the beginning, but I think we proved something to ourselves tonight. We know what we got in the tape and let’s let it out every week. On to the next one, boys. Family on me. B 1 2 3. It’s been a long journey and, you know, 609 days I think I saw it was my last, you know, competitive football game, which was the national championship. So, it’s been a while of, you know, just being in the training room, um, watching a lot of film, learning the playbook, and trying to master that. But at the end of the day, you know, it’s such a blessing to be an NFL football player and, you know, play in this league. And, you know, I’m grateful that we get to go out there next week and play the Falcons on Sunday night.

Watch episode 2 of The Voyage which features exclusive interviews and coverage of Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, his injury recovery process, his NFL debut in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football including behind-the-scenes moments and interviews with the team.

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