J.J. McCarthy On His NFL Debut: “It’s Huge To Come Out With A Win” | Vikings at Bears

J.J. McCarthy On His NFL Debut: “It’s Huge To Come Out With A Win” | Vikings at Bears

Um, obviously it’s huge to come out of one of these games with a win. You know, divisional opponent, uh, very tough opponent. You know, I thought they did a tremendous job and played very hard and played well. Um, got to give a lot of credit to the defense. You know, they bailed us out in that first half. You know, they were throwing a lot of things at us defensively and defense stuck in there and especially on the special team side, too. you know, that field goal unit, that punt return unit, jug, you know, I think it was 119 allpurpose yards and, you know, that’s just tremendous from a young guy like that to step up, but there’s a lot of things we got to clean up. You know, got to be better on third down and, uh, you know, we’re on to Atlanta now. J, what was kind of your reaction when you got the play call that was going to be the option there? I was absolutely fired up. It was like the perfect time to call it. Um, Coach Macau actually brought it up in his little pregame speech at the hotel and he was talking about how he was running Wanda Bear, that’s what we call it, um, in 2013 and I was probably running in seventh grade somewhere, but I was actually 10 at the time, so was pretty close on that one. But, uh, yeah, it was just a perfect play call. You know, the offensive line did a great job. TJ with that block on Jaquan, um, and just, you know, finishing the job. That was, you know, one of the one of my favorites for sure. You talked a ton in the leadup just about how you wanted to stay in the moment. How well were you able to do that amid what that just was? You know, I felt like I did a really good job with that and, you know, just feeding off the energy of my teammates and my coaches, you know, helped me out tremendously. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we’re so blessed to be able to play this game. So, every snap we get is a complete blessing. And, you know, that’s something that I was mentioning to the guys in the huddle when we were down, like where else would you rather be? So, I feel like, you know, we did a great job and this team showed a lot of poise and uh responded very well. After the pick six, um after the pick six, like what’s your mindset at that point? I mean, that’s certainly a momentum swing there in a lot of ways. What’s your mindset and how do you move past that? You know, you never want to earn wisdom that way. Um, but it just brought me straight back to uh TCU when I had that first one early on in the game and then the second one later. And you know, at the end of the day, yeah, it sucks. It’s one of the worst things you could do as a quarterback, but 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. You know, that’s one of those things I don’t really hang on. And I was, you know, really grateful the way coach Macau and coach Okonnell handled it and it was everyone on the same page. All right, that happened. Next play. When it came to just as you guys started to come back, was there a throw of yours where you felt like you were starting to get into a groove late in the game? I want to say the one before half to Speedy that really got me into a groove and it was, you know, as it turns out, one of the biggest plays of the game because Will striping it from 59. Um, you know, we walk out of here probably a little bit later than we do tonight, uh, right now, but, you know, I feel like just how it expressed itself, how the ball came off my hand there, I felt like it was one of those throws that really gave me that, you know, we could really do this. JJ, you said the comment in the huddle, where would you rather be? Aaron mentioned the same thing. Have you always had that mentality in the huddle or was that something that just came over you tonight? I’ve never actually said that before. Um, but I feel like it was at the perfect time. You know, guys were kind of, you know, just in their head a little bit. And I feel like if you could a smile goes a long way. So, there was a lot of smiles after I said that. And just a little bit of a perspective shift. Yeah. Things weren’t going our way, but we’re here doing this together. And the boys, they responded perfectly. Do you remember when exactly that was in the game? Um I know we were around 20 minus 20 or minus 25 um in the end zone with the jumbotron and I think it was third quarter something like that. J it looked like late after one of the touchdowns Kevin came over kind of like patted you on the head you guys just what was your favorite moment working with him tonight? My favorite moment working with KO was probably just the whole game like how he managed it. You know, they showed a lot of things that we didn’t expect and, you know, the calm, cool, collective nature that he had, you know, just gave me so much confidence to, you know, try to filter that into my teammates as much as possible. But, uh, you know, after that, you know, running touchdown and seeing how fired up he was, that was really special. J at any part did you maybe after the game take in the larger picture of how long it took you to get to this point? I think I’ll feel that on the plane ride home. But um yeah, it’s just 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. Kevin said he told you at halftime you are going to lead us back in this game. What did that mean to you to hear that? And everything that guy is, you know, one of the best, if not the best head coach in my opinion, in the National Football League. So any kind of compliment or belief like that, it means the world. And you know that just gave me all the confidence to go out there and just execute the ball plays and uh you know have a fast arm and make quick decisive decisions and you know it worked out. What was your vantage point behind some of those Jordan Mason runs in the second half? It’s just so fun when you watch a guy run and you’re like ah that’s not a tackle before it happens. And uh you know, credit to the O line, you know, they really strained, you know, the entire night. And you know, just being able to be in game one. You really don’t know how the team’s conditioned and you know, how they’re going to strain when it comes to the fourth quarter. And they did that and you know, JP obviously showed that, Aaron showed that and yeah, it was really cool to see. As far as the connecting with Aaron for the touchdown, you guys did that a bunch of times during training camp. How how was that experience through camp helped you when it came to that moment? Extremely big. You know, I still wish I would have gave him a pretty ball where he had it in stride and, you know, ran through the end zone with it, but at the end of the day, it’s a touchdown. And, you know, he’s such a special player, but I can’t speak highly enough about who he is as a person. You know, he’s one of the pillar guys of our team, pillar personalities, and he’s really, you know, a special guy, and I’m so grateful to play with him. How many friends in your family do you have here? I didn’t ask, but my dad said like 200 to 250 and, you know, I’ll have to see that. I don’t think that’s very true, but yeah, it’s probably, you know, extended, you know, family, friends, and all that, but there was a lot of people supporting and I just thank them so much because, you know, Chicago land area, the Graange Park, it made me who I am and, you know, I appreciate being able to be out there and have the opportunity to play in front of those uh great human beings and, you know, It was great, but it’s on to the next one now. Couple more for Jer. You sneak a look into that section to see before the game after. I actually, you know, I saw my dad’s roommate from college, uh, Uncle Adam. And, you know, it was when we were down and he kind of wasn’t instilling that confidence into me and I was like, you know what, I’m going to say something after that after we come back and win. So, yeah. But, uh, what was he doing? It was just like, you know, just acting like I’m not looking at him and all that. So yeah, it’s all good. I love you, Adam. Thanks everybody. Thank you.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy addressed the media after the team’s Week 1 27-24 win over the Chicago Bears.

#MinnesotaVikings #Vikings #NFL #MN #Football #Skol

Subscribe to the Minnesota Vikings YT Channel: https://goo.gl/VTGqAS
For more Vikings videos: https://goo.gl/f9Ppj3

For more Vikings action: http://www.vikings.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/minnesotavikings
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vikings
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vikings/
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vikings
Get the App: https://apple.co/2uPFQkP
Subscribe to our podcasts: https://apple.co/36BX1on