Why J.J. McCarthy was a MISTAKE for Minnesota Vikings | Colin Cowherd NFL

Why J.J. McCarthy was a MISTAKE for Minnesota Vikings | Colin Cowherd NFL

Welcome to the official YouTube channel for the Colin Coward podcast. Go on, hit that subscribe button if you’re new so you don’t miss any of our great football content this season. Okay, I want to talk. I may be too harsh here. Baltimore 27, uh, Minnesota 19. This was one of my favorite picks of the weekend. Um, Ravens third straight win. So, I don’t like to bang on young quarterbacks. JJ McCarthy, eight false starts at home. You’re the home team, not a college team. You’re a pro team. 13 total penalties. So, I went and looked this up again on the opening drive. He’s very good on opening drives. I’m I’m not the first drive with, you know, Kevin O’Connell three of four, 117 passer ratings. Vikings score a touchdown. I watched it. I’m like, that’s slick. But I said as he did it, okay, I’ve seen this before. After the first drive, JJ McCarthy 17 of 38. Okay, he’s under 50% and a 45 passer rating. So I it’s it’s almost like a comedian. You either make me laugh or you don’t. When I watch a franchise quarterback, like you either pick up first downs, you have long drives, you make big touchdown throws, or you don’t. You can’t try to convince me 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 almost every joke. Like, you can’t convince me of stuff. And I watch JJ 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 and a better than average offensive line and a solid running back and a great offensive coach. I mean overall today he’s 20 of 42. I mean you can’t you can’t win in this league like that. You know their biggest problem too is their star player Justin Jefferson who they paying a ton of money who is I would say widely considered throughout the league a high level high character guy quit on them today. There there was an interception in which he threw he just stopped. He didn’t even chase. And to me like wide receivers aren’t your leaders right? They’re your their follow. Now, luckily he’s the best follower, but he he knows. And and then, ironically, the Seattle game start, I didn’t even I wasn’t even on it yet because it started at 2:00. I look up Darnold’s first pass is like a 50 yard bomb hits JSN in the hands. And if I if I’m Justin Jefferson, this is the Larry Fitzgerald thing. You are so dependent on whoever that guy is. And he’s already had he had a good Kirk Cousins last year. He had a guy throwing 35 touchdowns who’s going to throw 40 again. And now he gets this. This kid’s over his head. You know, this is a situation that listen, it’s not his career is not written. You know, his second year in the in his career, but 20, 30 years ago, this guy’s sitting for two or three years. This guy’s never touching the field. And he’s on the field on a team with a lot of good players, a great coaching staff. I mean, their defense was playing their ass off as long as they could, but your quarterback, he threw two picks that even I think Moose Johnson was calling the game. He’s like, I I on one, he’s like, I I don’t even know what he’s looking at there. you cannot throw that ball. The that the two DBs Willie Mays catch just right in their hands. They both led they both went to field goals. Now they ended up losing by eight and I think they had another like a a kickoff return they fumbled that they they scored immediately. So turnovers killed them. But two of them directly on JJ McCarthy that are just basically acting as punts. And I I just think when you start losing high character guys on your team, I don’t really blame Jefferson here. like I I I can’t battle for this guy, you know? I I don’t think he’s good enough. And we saw it. I I keep bringing this up because I I s I was around this team a lot is when you have a team that views themselves as like a bunch of Pro Bowlers that can compete. Yeah. And the 49ers like they their star players never bought in. It’s not that they’re not nice. They don’t like the guy personally, but if you’re not good enough, like this is a productionbased business. It’s pretty black and white. You can either play or you can’t. The Bears are a good example of like their standard’s not that high. Like if they get to eight or nine wins this year, that’s a success. The Vikings just won 14 and we’re 60 minutes away from being the number one seed. So Justin Jefferson goes, I got this kid. We have to hold his hand who cannot I mean playing a real opponent at home. That was the other thing. We’re playing a real opponent at home and a big underdog with this guy. And John, operationally, eight false starts at home. That’s like a college quarterback playing at Georgia where you’re overwhelmed. You can’t hear. The whole thing is a mess. And you know, it it’s it’s one of those things where players talk. To your point earlier, they know what Darnold’s doing. Darnold’s been the number one ranked PFF quarterback for like a month. I mean, I watched him today. He has the weirdest turnovers, by the way. The ball ricocheted off his tight end’s helmet for an interception. Darnold has the weirdest turnovers in the league. Um, but it it there’s you can’t you can’t and you know the thing about Baltimore is they was field goal field goal field goal. But one of the things about Baltimore is they just keep coming at you that that team is just kind of at a relentless attack. I mean God remember a couple weeks ago when they played the Bears with Tyler Huntley the backup and you’re like Jesus this is an incredible effort. Baltimore has got a culture that’s been built for years and they even in that first half when Brian Flores has given them trouble they just can’t quite move the chains. They just keep getting points and points and then all of a sudden you look up, they blow, you know, a couple of big plays and it’s over. Yeah, I I respect the Colts. They just moved off Anthony Richardson. I respect Kyle Shanahan. He just moved off Trey Lance. I think at the end of the year, you let him play the rest of the season. Between the injuries and what I’m watching off the first scripted drive, it just doesn’t work. You can’t fool me. Football season’s here and if you want to go to an NFL or college football game, Game Time is the place for you. The Game Time app just gives you the advantage back to you, the fans. It’s a hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in a few taps. I love it. Easy to use. The Game Time Guarantee means you can trust you’ll get a 100% authentic tickets on time and at the best price. 100%. So, they even let you preview your seat on the app. That’s special. Plus fees roll is included. So what you see is what you pay every time. Take the guesswork out of buying professional football tickets with Game Time. Just download the Game Time app. Create an account. If you use the code Colin C, 20 bucks off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code C L I N 20 bucks off. Swipe tap ticket. Go download the Game Time app today. Like you said with the comedian analogy, like it’s not even you just got to watch them. And as the game goes, he can make a good play and then he makes two horrendous plays. And the interceptions of just throwing yolo balls. The Ravens are healthy now relative, you know, beside the guys on injury reserve. That’s right. So who are his two interceptions to? Starks firstrounder from Georgia and Marlon Humphrey’s one of the more versatile DBs in the league. So it’s like you’re playing those type guys. This is real. This is no longer you’re not getting Ruters here on a on a Saturday at 1:00. This is Marlon Humphrey, Mai Starks, John Harbaugh, Lamar Jackson. They’re fighting for their lives, right? This is a team over the last couple years who has been they would say we have we just haven’t figured out in the playoffs, but we have been the Chiefs equal, you know, one through 17 throughout the season, right? But we just we are better than you and there’s no way this essentially a rookie quarterback cuz and as the game went on, that’s the one thing with football, right? Anyone that gamles knows this, you can’t get too excited after a quarter. Let the game play out. the cream usually rises. The, you know, the more pressure comes on a quarterback, they keep bringing them different looks. And uh I I think the Vikings, listen, we all make decisions, some of them don’t work. That’s a pretty that’s a decision that’s going to be hard to live with for a while. The Sam Darnold situation, cuz it’s one thing, if like, hey, Seattle gave him $200 million, it would have ruined our whole They gave him $55 million guaranteed. And like you said, he he’s been one of, if not the best, like he is playing at a level that’s no different than good Mahomes, good Allen. like he’s an elite player and it’s and now you got this guy because you drafted him really high who’s you’re not going to make the playoffs this year. I mean they got a game I think this upcoming week or maybe they’re on a I’m pretty sure they play this upcoming week against the Bears. I mean that’s you know now the Bears are going to have a lot to play for because ear that week one kind of embarrassed them. They got some momentum coming in. JJ’s kind of at a point you’ve been talking about this. You kind of get till Thanksgiving your second year. Now, I think they would say he didn’t get his first year, but like you you think they’re just going to roll it out again year three? That’s that’s just not the way the league works. It’s a pet peeve of mine when people say like uh no one has any patience anymore. Well, yeah. The league in like 1987, the teams were worth like $100 million. They’re now worth $7 billion. They’re paying people $150 million. Yes, patience is shorter. Welcome to 2025. Well, the other thing, John, is you shouldn’t have as much patience because these quarterbacks come in with 10,000 throws. They have private coaches. The seven on seven camps. This is not the Eli Manning era. This is the Arch Manning era where you’re making $6 million in college. Private coaching. Sometimes you fly private jet, you can get places faster. So, I I I’ve always said Thanksgiving, second year, I’m going with my GM in the room and telling him it used to be I want three full seasons. I’ll give you three full seasons unless you’re just absolutely out of your mind uh overmatched. So I I don’t have a problem with And you also say, “Well, he hasn’t been healthy.” That’s kind of a you problem. Like nothing against Brock Pury, but you know who was always healthy mostly was Brady and Big Ben and Brett Favre. And those guys are healthy because they’re durable. You know, Caleb Williams doesn’t get hurt. He’s big and strong. That that’s that’s one of the reasons, John, that traits matter, size matters, thickness matters. I remember when Matt Ryan came out, I’m like I like everything about him. He looks like a four iron. Like he just Now Matt was one of those golf by the way. Never gets hurt. Has a thin frame. Dude at Cal was ragdalled three years. Never gets hurt. I’m sorry. JJ McCarthy struggled with injuries. [Music]

Colin Cowherd is joined by ‘3 & Out’ host John Middlekauff to react to Week 10 in the NFL. Colin and John give their takes on why they aren’t impressed by Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy and discuss why letting Sam Darnold go was a mistake for Kevin O’Connell and the team.

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