Film Study: Breaking down how J.J. McCarthy played for the Minnesota Vikings Vs the Houston Texans

Film Study: Breaking down how J.J. McCarthy played for the Minnesota Vikings Vs the Houston Texans

All right, we got to see more JJ McCarthy here in the NFL. A guy who is now playing in his second ever NFL game. He played a preseason game last year before getting injured. So, only getting to see him for the second time, I was very fascinated to see how it would work out. And a play like this is where I want to start off because and first off, it’s just his first passing play, but also I think right off the bat, you could tell that he just he feels comfortable in this offense. So, this play is a zone coverage concept that he’s going up against. Uh, it’s going to be a play action roll out towards the top of the screen. A lot of routes going in the direction he is, which makes sense, right? As you see, hopefully this play action is going to get players out of position, especially when you’re not going up against starters. But here, give the Texans depth players uh some credit here. They’re able to stay in position, not allow anything deep down the field. So for JJ McCarthy, ideally he would like to just hit Jordan Addison who’s only, you know, 3, four yards past the line of scrimmage at this point, but it’s hard. I mean, he’s, you know, currently facing the top of the screen. He’s doesn’t have his hips turned at all. You have to move quickly if you’re going to make this throw. But look, he is able to adjust, uh, you know, get his shoulders square, adjust, and able to make this throw. Nothing crazy, but you’re gaining some yards. And and this just kind of felt like what he was doing out there. Again, it it just it’s comfortable in the offense, which I thought last year he he maybe still needed to get a little bit of this down, the timing, the rhythm. I think you’ve seen with like both Jackson Dart and Chitter Sanders, they’ve kind of had a little bit of issues with that. I didn’t really see any of those issues with McCarthy, which is definitely good to see. This plays another example of kind of what I’m talking about. It’s a third down and four. So, these are, you know, important plays to make sure your quarterback can convert on. Uh going to be a mesh concept that the offense is uh running right here. So when this play begins, what’s the value of this type of concept? A lot of guys running, you know, over the middle, right? Starting on the offensive left and running to the offens’s right or vice versa. You see that linebacker for Houston, he’s completely turned around trying to take away the tight end. What does this mean? Well, it means that he can’t play the zone that he’s currently standing in. Jordan Addison is about to get into this zone. And while ideally a further down the field throw maybe could be something you would look towards in this situation. You just want the first down, right? It’s third down and four, that has to be the mindset. Really, I I think that uh McCarthy is reading this play very well. He sees who the right player to throw to is and watch him be able to, you know, time it well, makes the correct throw, and, you know, get the ball down the field. Again, this is nothing crazy, right? This isn’t going to go on any highlights. No one’s going to post this on Twitter and, you know, re retweet it and all that stuff. Not a play that’s going to go viral, but you know what? It’s still an important play. And these are the differences between, you know, quarterbacks who flame out in the NFL or are successful in the NFL. It might not be the difference between the quarterbacks who are good to great. But you need if you’re going to be good or great, you have to be able to make these types of plays. And we’re seeing him be able to make this at least in the preseason, which again, a little bit easier. It’s the preseason, all that stuff. It’s still good to see. Heading over to this next one. This is going to be a second down and five situation. You have Jordan Addison running a route that’s going to ultimately go up uh towards the sideline on this play against zone coverage. So, okay, let’s see how it works out. JJ McCarthy takes a snap, runs a play action. And as of right here, he’s firing. Did get hit a little bit. So, worth mentioning has to throw while getting hit. That is never easy, but still uh you do have an opportunity. Not wide open at all, but definitely you can lead your receiver. hopefully make a this play work. And as you see, I mean, listen, is it a maybe a little low and outside perhaps, right? But it’s still a a catchable ball. And that’s also part of the value of being a Minnesota Viking right now and being in this situation is he’s going to have guys he can throw to that are good at making difficult catches. So, he doesn’t have to be perfect on every play. And this is part of why, you know, a lot of times for young quarterbacks, the number one predictor of success is situation they’re brought into. He can still feel comfortable and feel confident after a throw like this that maybe wasn’t perfect, but was still good enough and it can kind of teach him the right lessons essentially cuz it was a good read. He found the right player. I don’t want to say missed a throw, just, you know, was it was a little bit off, but was still catchable and was ultimately caught. That was not the case for every throw. We did see uh really one misfire uh here for JJ McCarthy. This play is a zone coverage concept. You see the route that he’s going to want to look towards on this play. So, okay, you know, simple enough. Again, third down and four. Not the easiest throw to make. Well, when this play begins, you’re going to see that this is not wide open, right? But there is a window. You can potentially make this work. You would like to see him be able to throw a competitive ball right here. Again, sort of similar to the last one where it’s like it doesn’t have to necessarily be perfect. However, on this one, it’s just off. That’s not a comp competitive ball. It wasn’t horribly off, like, you know, only has to bring it down a little bit. And who knows, maybe he thought the receiver was running a slightly different route. You do have to be very precise on this stuff, but you know, again, they got to figure this stuff out. They’re the first team. Like, this is why you play in preeason. You make the mistakes now instead of later. But, yeah, definitely definitely an error on this one. just not a competitive throw. So that’s going to bring up fourth and four and they’re going to go for it cuz I think mostly they they just want to have kind of a lengthier possession so they can only have the one possession for the first team and then get to the second team which is what ultimately happened. Um good play though here by McCarthy. So this is going to be a it’s a it’s a cover one blitz. And the way this typically works is you you see how many Houston players are at the line. Uh for the Minnesota Vikings, they have a tight end and a halfback who are in the game who could be blocking. You don’t know if you’re Houston, right? So essentially what you do is if you’re the guy in charge of covering the halfback, that player, what your job is is if the halfback blocks, then you make sure you rush the passer. So that way you’re, you know, not giving them an extra blocker and you don’t have to worry about covering him. If the halfback runs around, well then you cover the halfback, you know, simple enough. So when McCarthy takes the snap, you see right here, halfback’s running around. Okay, no worries. Linebacker did his job. Covered the uh covered the halfback. Everything is good there. So what’s the issue? Well, for a defense, when you do this, you have to know if you’re the second guy over to make sure that you are still containing the quarterback. You see right there, that is not happening. There’s essentially no player setting an edge here. Uh no player off the edge here. So for JJ McCarthy on a fourth down and four, well again, what’s priority number one on fourth down? You just got to find a way to get the first down. Don’t even worry about trying to get as many yards as possible. Get the first down. As you see, he’s going to be smart. I mean, if you’re a quarterback who can run, use that as a as a tool. Use that as an option. He runs, he picks up the first down. Just a smart, you know, uh, play of being heads up, seeing what’s available, and being able to take it. So, that was definitely very good. Um he did have a play that kind of went wrong a little bit later in a similar vein. It’s this one. It’s a third down and five situation. So after they convert on the fourth down, they’re now in field goal range. I’m not even going to break down the play cuz that doesn’t really matter. McCarthy takes the snap and relatively early on on this play, but right around when you have to make a decision, uh you know, he realizes that there isn’t a throw he wants to make right now. I do have to say as well that uh internal time clock seems to be uh correctly set. Let’s say he’s doing a good job of knowing, okay, I got to get rid of the ball now or make a decision now. You know, looks over and says, “Hey, I think I can get outside the pocket right here, get some extra time, maybe even run for the first down on this one.” This time, however, he just wasn’t able to do it. Uh McCarthy, to his credit, still read the play and got the ball down there, but uh ultimately bit of a high throw. Probably wouldn’t have been a first down anyway. Maybe would have given you a chance to go for it, though, had it been uh complete. So maybe, you know, had he stayed in the pocket in hindsight, it probably would have worked out. But also, I understand why he did what he did. He thought he had room. So, you know, didn’t work out. But ultimately, like, if this is the JJ McCarthy you’re getting as a Vikings fan, get excited. I mean, this is fun. Like, this was good stuff from JJ McCarthy. I think it wasn’t perfect every play, but like, and it’s, yes, it’s one drive in the preseason. You can only take away so much. Uh, and I know the numbers aren’t aren’t anything special. Four for seven for 30 yards. I thought he played well. I really did. So, I was and I thought he looked comfortable, which is the most important thing. So, yeah, those are my thoughts on McCarthy’s performance. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Always love hearing from y’all. And of course, as always, thanks for watching.

Check out my movie Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@jacksonkruegermovies

Check out JKS Clips for podcast clips and Twitch Streams
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnvk4ge8GItwlOe065XWKAg

Follow me on twitch https://www.twitch.tv/jacksonkruegersports

Check out the JKS website https://www.jacksonkruegersports.com/

Follow me on Twitter @jacksonkrueger https://twitter.com/jacksonkrueger

Also follow me on Instagram @jacksonkruegersports https://www.instagram.com/jacksonkruegersports/