Minnesota Vikings News Dump (11.18.2025) | Dropageddon, QB Whisperer, Donovan Jackson is For Real

[Music] What’s going on, Jerome? It’s beautiful Tuesday. Birds are chirping and stuff and it’s time for another Vikings news dump. So, of course, the story of the Vikings right now is indeed Jonathan James McCarthy. Five starts, clutch time, good. Everything else besides clutch time sometimes not so good. Right. Uh, so Vikes vampage. Uh, Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy stats through his first five starts. 52.9% completion percent which is not good. Uh I mean it does beat the if you’re uh putting a jillion or two down on on a sports wager. Uh it does beat the 11 to 10 52.4%. Uh 952 total yards. Uh sucks that I could had to combine rushing and passing. Eight total touchdowns. So six in the air, two on the ground. Nine total turnovers, eight picks, one one fumble. He does have a pick in every game that he started. Uh 61.7 pass rating, 26.7 QBR. Now, obviously, it’s not a great start, right? But I you’ve seen some high high moments, but more consistency where he right now he’s a high ceiling but extremely low floor player, right? Uh, but part of it is, all right, so it came from a run first offense and now all of a sudden Kevin McConnell wants to turn him into prime damino just slinging it uh 40 times a game. Okay, but just a way we run the ball. Uh, anyways, but obviously things do need to get better and Kevin McConnell talked about JJ McCarthy at his press conference yesterday. This is from Will Raget Sports Illustrated. Kevin O Connell on JJ McCarthy’s mechanics. There are some plays where he’s making it hard on himself. That’s probably the most frustrating part for him. It’s talked about and repped and practiced at length and then in those moments in his fifth start, just the variance to it is causing his job to be more difficult than it needs to be. Basically, translation, brh brh, I’m scheming you wide open receivers and you throw the ball to to Alexandria, you throw the ball to Duth, rise up. You throw the ball to Rochester. Uh Marcus Cheryl’s probably John Marshall High School. I I it’s just that’s a frustrating thing too, you know, watching back the all 22. The throws that he missed were a lot of them were wide open. The the first interception you tried to force into double coverage. Didn’t see Byron underneath to Jefferson. Second one he underthrew it. I mean, if you’re going to take that shot, remember you’re within field goal range. You were not going to give up points uh before the half. Now that you’re in range, you you have to throw it deeper. All right. Nan Wright is a lengthy quarterback respect and throw it in a spot where either Addison’s going to get it or it’s going to go out of bounds, right? Uh and then you know the drops and the drops right there, but also the the the wide open misses just Yeah. Yeah. Uh continued uh he’s made of the right stuff. He’s going to keep working at it. We’re going to go back and work and continue to find every avenue to try and help build the consistency on his mechanics. And then I firmly believe the accuracy will come from that. And what makes you feel better about the situation is that JJ McCarthy is a football psycho, right? And he’s going to indeed put in that work all off season and every freaking second the rest of the season as well and going forward getting that footwork good to go. Right. And I I feel like that this is where the smaller volume of passing at Michigan sort of did him a disservice. Now, it is nice that it was a pro style offense as opposed to, you know, the, you know, wide open spread off as RPO just, you know, clapping shotgun, you’re never under center, but, you know, footwork was allowed to be, you know, a little bit looser with the footwork, uh, being a run first offense, right? Uh, but overall, has it been good at times? Is there a lot to improve? Yes. And he’ll be the first to admit it. Same thing with Kevin McConnell. Also, something that’s fantastic, though, annual November food shelf fundraiser drive. All Venmo’s cash app super chats during the live streams in November will go towards Twin Cities Food Shelves and local families in need. $2,000 goal for the month. We just passed it just shy of 21 Hundo. A couple of Venmos came in last night. Donation links in the video description below. Also, if you donate directly to our friends over at Every Meal, shoot an email to producer [email protected] to be included in the tally as well. Great month to pay it forward. And also, I feel like we need as much good karma the rest of the way. Yeah. Also, speaking of good karma, it would be good if I read this so that producer Ally does not like snuff me out. But very freaking early Black Friday sale. I I I love that she’s got my vernacular down. Friaking. 15% off everything using code jingle now through November 26. Purplefw.net. That link is also in the description. Now, how can Kevin McConnell help out his man, right? And as we said, it’s kind of weird where McCarthy came from this runheavy run first offense, play action, make a throw on third down, make a throw in red zone offense, right? But all of a sudden, he’s just doing not even play action, just straight drop. We’re going to throw it 30, 35, 40 times a game. And it’s all on you, bud. And eventually he’ll get to that point hopefully. But why are you why are you doing this to him? You know, I don’t know. Especially since the Vikings have been run the damn ball so good. But yeah, run the damn ball. JJ should not be dropping back 34 times in a close game where hey double digit score times of uh you know part part of the Ravens game sure but also I mean there’s plenty of time left in that game and why why is McCarthy throwing thrown 42 times go up tempo Jay Jay succeeds in two-minute drill because he doesn’t overthink defenses have to play more straight up I I feel like that’s part of it as well where if you huddle take the whole play clock you know set piece battle defenses can go disguise defense can do a lot of things a lot of trickeration But if you go up tempo and you keep the same personnel, the defense can’t sub, right? And also they have to play more straight up because there there’s not a lot of time to communicate disguises when you’re on the run. So the reads are going to be easier and the throws he’s not going to overthink things because you could tell in some of those huge misses it just like please don’t miss this throw. I miss a throw. went a little Chuck Knoblock went a little week 18 versus the Lions Sam Darnold all up in there. Also, this a this is kind of weird because you know it’s a pro style offense at Michigan, but in incorporate a few RPOS’s, you know, a couple run pass options uh and al also especially where McCarthy has the the option to take off, right? Uh you know, Kevin McConnell did this with Wentz. So, it’s in the playbook, right? It’s something that has been repped before uh and utilize JJ’s mobility and put stress on the defenses. Now, his aversion to running, I don’t know if it’s Kevin Okonnell saying, “Hey, do not put yourself at risk. Do not be Jackson Dart, but they’re missing out on huge chunk yardage.” And that’s something that we’ve been yelling about, too. And yes, McCarthy is a little slight. Yes, McCarthy has had some injuries here and there. Slide slide feet first, by the way, which is opposite of what the Blue Jays should have done, but also waterboard into his head that not every throw needs to be 100 damn miles an hour. and he had some great touch passes in that Lions game, but I don’t know what it is. He’s like Ricky Bob, I want to go fast in this last one. Also, so you know, there’s a lot of parallels between McCarthy and Josh Allen. You know, Josh Allen come Wyoming, Josh Allen’s first two years, blah blah blah blah blah. But given his mobility, which you didn’t even see it yet, you know, but JJ McCarthy is a mobile mofo. Well, I guess you’ve seen it on the two rushing touchdowns uh in the one in Chicago, one in Detroit. But Josh Allen wasn’t Josh Allen until Brian Dal got involved. And Dabes, you know, obviously former head coach of the Giants. He got fired. But I don’t know. Would he like an OC job? Now, would Kevin McConnell give up the play calling to the guy that can’t that has more playoff wins in US Bank Stadium than Kevin McConnell? I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe. But hey, hey buddy. We’re not playing the Ed Donell defense every week. You’re going to like the way we play the events. I guarantee it. My butt. Why Patuti? But you know, Dable is probably going to be very highly soughta as an OC. So, it may not work here. Also, Dal Dable kind of has a rep of being abrasive. I mean, tough to work with at times, but who knows if we win. Who winning is a cologne that covers up a lot of stink, so who cares? Next, speak of things that need to get cleaned up. So, the drops dropping it like it’s hot. Uh Seth Kaplan, uh Fox9, he’s one of the local stations. Uh Vikings drops week one, Sero, and then one two 0000. Uh week nine, Hawinson one, week 10, Sero, and then against the Bears, six drops, right? Uh, and then also the, you know, so Ian, Ian Hardit, you know, working off a, you know, PFF numbers. So, you know, numbers will always be different across sites. You know, Kaplan’s probably using one. Hard Hardit is using PFF. Uh, the the Jaguars and the Broncos, 26 drops, and most teams have played 10 or 11 games. Uh, 21 the Browns, 19 for the Vikings, 19 drops. So, you know, obviously they weren’t all during the the JJ McCarthy games, but yes, your your young quarterback is struggling, but also you got to help him out. Like, when he actually gives you a catchable ball, you got to reel that thing in, man. I understand that he may have air mailed the last two, but if he hits you right in the chest, if he hits you right in the hands, you got to bring that sucker in. Come hell or high water. Got to help your dude out. Also, helping outer, dude. I love when a Buckeye helps out a Michigan Wolverine. Notable non-quarterback rookie performances from week 11’s Sunday slate. Donovan Jackson 32 pass snaps, zero pressures, zero goose, Dandel Russell. So, it’s fantastic to see. Also, Jackson was dump trucking dudes in the run game. It was just great, man. I I know that Jackson’s had some rough times, but overall, I think that he’s trending upward. Uh, I think Quy certainly hit on this pick and I think Jackson just Jackson Darasaw on the left side is going to be really damn good for a really long time. You respect there. Also, just the communication on a couple stunts and games, you know, him working with Brandle, him working with Darasaw, it’s really good. Also, Blake Cashman, fantastic, man. So, Cashman, Eric Wilson, been the spine of this defense this season. a Vikage, a Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman since returning from IR five games, 55 total tackles, so averaging 11 tackles a game, which is fantastic. Four and a half run stuffs or tackles for loss. Uh, a force FMA two miss only two missed tackles. So, Cashman also his leadership, communication skills, you know, calling out twists and stunts and games up front. It’s really important. So, Ian Prair, rise up, man. Also, so this is what’s unfortunate. So, the Vikings playoff dreams, hopes and dreams, uh, hanging on by a thread, right? But 2025, this is from Spot. A real time look at 2025 salary cash totals for each NFL team. The Vikings, $345 million, which a lot of high price free agents. And, you know, the cash is big this year because of those free agent contracts. There’s a lot of frontloading of the deals. signing bonuses are up front as well. So yeah, the Vikings win all were in and only the Cowboys, which Cowboys are playing right now. We’ll see if they lose to the Raiders, but they’re they’re the only one in the top five besides the Vikings that have a losing record. And Buffalo obviously is in the thick of things. Jacksonville is going to be a player in the AFC. The Niners are going to be a force out west. So yeah, if you’re the Wolves, like you got to be a little mad. That’s a lot of coin for potentially not a playoff season. It’s look it’s not looking good and it’s not even we’re not not even out in November yet, man. So, we we’ll see. Like I I think that Quy and Kevin are safe for as of right now. But if the bottom falls out in this thing, who knows? But of course, we’re going to rally and fish 11 and six and make the playoffs. That’s all. Starts on Sunday. Uh so, notably, you know, Josh Jacobs got banged up in the Giants game. May not see him on Sunday. Ian Ra wrap sheet a Packer standout running back Josh Jacobs knee is structurally sound and no surgery is needed per me and Tom Pelosero he’s considered dayto-day aren’t we all but could miss the game against the Vikings so obviously Josh Jacobs has been a phenomenal running back he’s he’s the hammer for them that would be a big loss but you know you know next man up mentality and also just watch the backup running back for the Packers going to run for a buck 50 and two touchdowns it’s like the Kenneth Gainwall Kamani Vidal game, but hopefully not. Also, some other injuries around the league. Bleacher report grid iron. Michael Penn Jr. overcame so much already. Uh 2018 to All right, so PennX has a partially torn left ACL, not his reconstructed right ACL. And he’s going to be placed on short-term IR. And we’ll see if he comes back. Uh but PennX overcame so much already. 2018 torn ACL back in Indiana before Indiana was Indiana, man. 2019 season ending shoulder surgery, 2020 torn ACL, same knee, the right knee, uh 2025 season ending knee injury. So, I mean, PennX has been through a lot, man. And that was concerning, too, in the draft before obviously before Atlanta made the the pick easy for the Vikings because I actually think that, you know, Penn and McCarthy were kind of on similar footing. Now, obviously, you know, drawbacks for Penn were the health. Uh he was an older prospect uh as well, but man, he could sling it. He could freaking sling it, man. And he’s been pretty uneven for the Falcons. Uh but wishing him the best, but also Kurt Cousins has the next four games at the con. There you go. Yeah. Lastly, uh so Jamar Chase spit on Jaylen Ramsey. Ramsey punched him. Ramsey got tossed out. And you know, Jamar Chase after the game. I didn’t spit on him. There’s very clear video of him spitting on Jaylen Ramsey. Pelisero. The NFL suspending Bengal star receiver Jamar Chase one game for unsports conduct after he was caught on video spitting on Steelers DB Jaylen Ramsey being barring a successful appeal. Chase is now set to miss Sunday’s game. All I got to say is I don’t see Justin Jefferson doing that. No problem, man. No problem. Yeah. Anyways, it’s going to be Tuesday coming up. So Kurt Cousins won’t be working for the Falcons. Yeah. But I mean there there’s a lot of weird nar well not even weird but there’s a lot of narratives around Jay McCarthy right now and yes it has only been five games and yes he needs to get better at the soft skills. We need to see the accuracy. We need to see see non 100 mph fast balls. But clutch time, he gets it done, man. And some of those deep balls, yes, some have ended up in interceptions. Some have just been beautiful place touchdowns, you know, looking at Jefferson, Addison, Naylor, but it’s okay. Light up the Packers and let’s turn around the season. Do it up. Anyways, that’s it. Vikings news done for this beautiful, glorious Tuesday. You guys are the best. You know what to do. Skull production value.

Minnesota Vikings News Dump for Tuesday, November 18th.

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43 comments

  1. It was very interesting to look at the number of drops this season, and how the Vikes compare to other teams. Thanks Andy! 👍
    One thing of note is that, this Sunday, the offence found a new way to shoot itself in the foot. (this week, it was at least 6 drops against the Bears, and the previous week it was the offence's 8 pre-snap penalties against the Ravens. Of course for much of the first half of the season, it was blown assignments & terrible pass protection by the O-line, TEs & Jordan Mason. Overall, you have to give credit to the Vikes offence for their creativity. For every game, they manage to find a new way to screw things up..I guess it's their way of doing something unique like the defence does after getting a turnover! 🙄
    However, I have to say that those stats for drops seem rather low. I don't know what the heck those folks consider a dropped pass, but it seems to me that they don't have high expectations for the Vikings pass catchers thatmany fans do. FWIW, I have watched enough football over the decades to discern between a receiver dropping catchable balls, versus failing to grab a ball well outside of a receiver's catch radius, versus not adjusting to a ball that was tipped. With that in mind, IMHO there is no way that Hockenson has had just one drop all season, and I am pretty sure that Thielen had a couple in just one game earlier this season. Overall, I would think that the Vikes have had at least one drop in virtually every game this year, and I have a hunch that all other teams' drops are higher than the stats Andy shared.🤔

  2. I wonder if his personal life has anything to do with his performance? New baby, he must be living with fiancee (why not just get married? Don’t get it). Perhaps there are sleepless nights, arguments, etc affecting him???

  5. Kaplan’s drop count is way off. Jefferson had multiple drops in week 1 and a couple last week. Is he just excluding him because of superstar bias? I’d stick with the PFF count.

  6. Vikes need an elite super megagoat running back. That would help things a lot. Better yet, drop KoC as play caller and hire someone that can do the job

  9. Its funny people's expectations of McCarthy. He's a ROOKIE. Likely will throw a pick in every game. Where did this idea of going deep in the playoffs come from? We won games last year because Sam Darnold was playing his ass off, and when he wasn't we lose to the Lions and Rams in the first round of the playoffs. But then we assume we will go make a deep playoff run the next year with a rookie… really?? Sure about that?

  10. Last game they ran it plenty of times!
    KOC called a great game vs the bears!
    OLine played great!
    He still missed a lot of throw and wide open guys he didn’t even see……
    Got a lot of work to be a good QB!!

  11. If I had to dive into the mind of koc I’d say his mindset is probably just to develop McCarthy this season bc there’s no way this is a winning scheme it’s a rep scheme

  12. The whole thing that bugs me about everyone bashing jj rn if the special teams wouldn’t have given up that long return and we did win this last game everyone would be saying he’s gotta start better and would be praising him for his final drive. He’s 22 years old and played what 5-6 games give the kid sometime and think we will be fine

  16. Need to backoff the JJ MVP and HOF overhype until he proves himself. That way you dont have to make up excuses after the losses.

    Patience is a requirement for Vikings fans. Its hard waiting for 50 years for a SB appearance though.

  17. After some time to ponder. Pun intended, i think JJ will be our guy. This season has been strange and when JJ does well the team/Koc fail him and then when he's off the team seems to be on. Just need to line up

  21. "Let's light up the Packers this Sunday and turn the whole season around"- all in Andy, thought last week was going to do this very THING!
    SKOL-CRAZY 4 A WIN Again!😮

  23. Think the problem was him not starting during pre-season games it would have given him more reps. Think his confidence is lagging a bit. But he did
    bounce back in the 4th quarter. Plus we have one of the hardest schedules too.

  24. If JJ McCarthy is going to "figure it out", then he can do it in practice. You're asking 50 other guys to put their bodies on the line every Sunday just so one guy can try and "figure it out" on the field? JJ MCCARTHY CANNOT HIT WIDE OPEN RECEIVERS WHILE STANDING IN A CLEAN POCKET. That's all you need to see.

  25. KOC can’t adapt to save his life, run the ball and put JJ in positions to succeed! Stop hamfisting your scheme in all the time and let JJ play to his strengths

  29. People need to be patient. It’s unbelievable how everyone’s panicking. JJ is basically a rookie who could not even practice last year because of his knee injury, then he misses another five games due to an ankle injury. He needs time and reps to develop.
    He is learning. At least wait till the end of the season before you judge his potential.

  30. Nobody seems to take into account JJ has a little baby at home. Lots to process for a 22 year old kid who wants nothing more than to win and kick ass. Get behind this kid. He needs us. Lift him up, and he won't disappoint.

  31. The Vikings need to go back and look at how the 90s cowboys did things, with Troy Aikman, Emit Smith, and Michael Irving, because they all would go off, and it was a run first offense. Irving still found ways to make an impact, everyone remembers Aikman doing his thing, and of course Emit Smith was Emit Smith. Just food for thought.. 🤔🤷 I think play actions should be our best friend in the offense.

  32. Conspiracy: Vikes are tanking but covering it by looking somewhat competitive. Addison dropping 3? Designed. Sailing the ball 10ft above a wide open 3rd down conversion? Designed. Not running the ball after picking up like 4+ per carry? Designed. Giving up like 3 consecutive 3rd and 10+? Designed. Hitting camera wires? Designed!

  35. I want to have hope for this kid…. But what exactly is this "high ceiling" everyone is talking about exactly?

    I mean,… What specifically for him qualifies as "high ceiling?" I don't understand.

    He doesn't appear to be able to pass on an NFL level, so does he have a high accuracy ceiling? He doesn't take off and run, but even if he did is that the high ceiling you want for your QB?

    I guess I'd like to know – what is the apex of a JJ McCarthy in the NFL?

    Are we talking a Josh Allen ceiling? Are we talking an Alex Smith ceiling? Are we talking a Kirk Cousins ceiling?
    Are we talking a Sam Darnold Ceiling?

    There just seems to be a lot of "happy hope" and not a lot of quantitative (or qualitative) projections…

    I feel like we drafted this guy with a smile and a hope that he would "just work out" without really knowing what we were getting…

    I just want to have something of a bar set to know at what point we can say "OK, this guy is getting it" or "let's put aside the sinking ship mentality and move on."

    There are 58 guys on that sideline who want to win now… Putting them all on a subpar level because you want to relive your dreams through a young QB you picked isn't really the calling card of a Coach of the Year…

    We will see …

  39. Ok, so I've listened to you for quite some time. years upon years. Remember Jordan love starting years experience? I do. He was so far behind. JJ has to adjust bro or we get a Sam darnold experience. I believe O'Connell is learning with fresh meat like us all. We all loved Culpepper because of his arm and connection with Moss. but what happened? injury. I believe we support JJ ride or die, he's not ponder. It's over. Give him Time bro.

  40. Why don’t the Vikings just play up tempo the whole game then…. J.j McCarthy definitely has the clutch factor. Play to his strengths then. That or we need to fix the run game that has been mediocre since 2020 when Dalvin Cook went off

  43. Have you never watched football?The reason that they run the ball is because they pass so much.And the reason they throw so much is because they have the best wide receiver core in the league

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