The Vikings have had great teams held back by quarterbacks. Will it be any different with J.J. McCarthy?

Boston Globe

16 hours ago

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Yet it all comes down to that big 'if' that Romo mentioned — McCarthy, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 draft. The Vikings are placing their fate in the hands of a baby-faced 22-year-old quarterback who only started two years at Michigan and averaged just 22 passes per game. McCarthy also hasn't played a meaningful snap in 20 months after tearing his meniscus last August and missing an entire season of on-field reps.
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'Didn't spend a ton of time with him,' said
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McCarthy is in a tough spot — starting from scratch, but on a team that has Super Bowl aspirations and is tired of coming up short. The Vikings haven't won a playoff game in six years, or reached a Super Bowl in 49 years.
They have been thwarted time and again by a familiar story line — good quarterback play, but not good enough. From
Kirk Cousins
to
Case Keenum
to
Teddy Bridgewater
and others, the Vikings haven't found the right QB to win playoff games since
Brett Favre
retired 15 years ago.
Last year was more of the same:
Sam Darnold
was one of the NFL's best stories from Weeks 1 to 17, but came up small in the Week 18 loss to the Lions and wild-card loss to the Rams.
So the Vikings let Darnold sign with Seattle, and turn their hopes to McCarthy, handing him the job despite his inexperience. The Vikings brought in former Commanders starter
Sam Howell
as the backup, but the Vikings want it to be McCarthy's team.
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So far, McCarthy has aced all the off-field requirements of a franchise quarterback. He organized two offseason throwing sessions with his receivers, and golf trips with his linemen. He puts in extra hours at the facility. He always shouts out his teammates, especially his linemen. He learns reporters' names and signs plenty of autographs.
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'It's carrying yourself in the locker room like you're a franchise quarterback, and at 22 it's been really impressive to see,' said Vikings center
Ryan Kelly
. 'He holds guys accountable, and he's allowed to do that because he holds himself accountable. That's a guy you can roll behind.'
But McCarthy's demeanor is secondary to what's really important — can he play? McCarthy has good size at 6 feet, 3 inches and more than enough arm strength and athleticism, but doesn't have elite traits. His training camp has been marked mostly by inconsistency. In
His teammates know their season depends on the kid, so they seem to be doing their best to talk up McCarthy.
'If you ask [McCarthy], he probably isn't super happy about some of the things that happened, but I thought in my head he played well,' Hockenson said. 'He doesn't feel like a young guy. The way he controls the huddle, his energy in the huddle, how he talks about the game, and the mentality how he talks about it, is high-level thinking.'
Yet McCarthy responded Thursday with a terrific performance, slicing up the Patriots' defense for four touchdowns in team drills and completing a dozen passes in a row in one stretch. Whether he was rolling to his right and hitting Jones for a 50-yard bomb, or threading a perfect pass over
Carlton Davis's
outstretched hand for a touchdown to Addison in the corner, or zipping a pass to Hockenson from the left hash to the right sideline, McCarthy looked the part of franchise quarterback.
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'To go out there and execute the way he did, it felt decisive,' O'Connell said. 'Incredible amount of conviction to some of the decisions he made, location of the football. And a lot to build on.'
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The Vikings don't need McCarthy to be much of a hero. Flores's defense will create turnovers and keep them in games. Jefferson, Addison, Hockenson and Jones can make plays. O'Connell is a quarterback whisperer, coaxing a 14-win season out of Darnold.
To get to the playoffs, the Vikings just need McCarthy to be a caretaker.
'We feel like we've built a team with leadership on both sides of the ball, all designed to help him be comfortable in his role,' O'Connell said.
But you can feel a tinge of nervousness behind everyone's positivity. The Vikings have a Super Bowl-caliber roster, but yet again, it all comes down to the quarterback.
Preseason playing time
Burrow, Herbert want to see action
Joe Burrow
has just a 7-10-1 record in September, with the lowest passer rating of any month (92.8), and therefore convinced Bengals coach
Zac Taylor
to let him play preseason snaps for the first time in his career.
Another quarterback from the 2020 draft,
Justin Herbert
, also planned to play his first preseason snaps this weekend. The NFL didn't have a preseason during Herbert's rookie year, and in other seasons he has been nursing or trying to avoid injury. But Herbert told Chargers coach
Jim Harbaugh
he wanted to play Saturday against the Rams.
'It was actually me going to him and saying, 'Hey, would it be OK if I went in and played?' ' Herbert said. 'Because I think in years past, the plan was to rest. But I wanted to go out there and feel the pass rush, because in practice, as a quarterback, you don't always get the true feeling of the pass rush. He was understanding and we worked together talking through it.'
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Tony Romo
said the 'secret sauce' to his career always was playing in at least one preseason game, and it had to be on the road.
'Because there's going to be a new guy somewhere [on offense],' Romo said. 'You've got to have hand signals, you've got to communicate. Everybody's got to get off the ball at the same time. You have to get reps off that, because you can't recreate it in practice in Cincinnati.'
Kicking around numbers
Jaguars' Little has 70 in mind
The Jaguars might not be any good this season. But they might be the most fun team in the NFL.
They have a rookie, cornerback/receiver
Travis Hunter
, who is trying to become the NFL's first true two-way player since
Chuck
'Concrete Charlie'
Bednarik
, who played from 1949-62.
And the Jaguars might be attempting 70-yard field goals every week now that
Cam Little
drilled one in last week's preseason game against the Steelers. Little's kick doesn't count in the record books, which only adds to his motivation.
'That means I am just going to have to go out there and make it again,' Little said.
Jaguars place kicker Cam Little is 21.
Gary McCullough/Associated Press
With the average NFL drive starting around the 28-yard line, the Jaguars might only need to gain about 20 yards to get in field goal range.
'Whether it's end of half, end of game, critical moments, we need points, you feel like you've got a weapon to go and give yourselves a chance,' Jaguars coach
Liam Coen
said.
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Little wants to get back out there and try again, because 'there is probably going to be a guy this season who will kick a 70-plus yarder. I would bet my money on it,' he said.
NFL kickers have never had stronger or more accurate legs.
Tom Dempsey's
old record of 63 yards in 1970 wasn't tied until 1998, and stood until
Matt Prater
kicked a 64-yarder in 2013.
Justin Tucker
holds the NFL record at 66 yards in 2021.
There have been 41 field goals of 60-plus yards in NFL history, with 19 in the last five years.
Brandon Aubrey
hit two last season, including one from 65. The race to 70 is on.
Bad signs
Dolphins appear in trouble
The Lions' joint practice against the Dolphins on Wednesday was peachy keen from their perspective.
'It was a good day,' Lions receiver
Amon-Ra St. Brown
said. 'That was a lot of fun.'
Not so much for the guys in aqua and orange. The Dolphins struggled to generate anything positive on either side, and this was coming off a poor showing the previous week with the Bears, when
Tua Tagovailoa
threw three interceptions in one practice.
Lions linebacker
Grant Stuard
predicted that the Dolphins wouldn't be ready for how the Lions practice, and he pretty much nailed it.
'I think today offensively was a very frustrating day in regards to what we wanted to do,' Tagovailoa said. 'We just weren't able to get things jump-started. So that was very frustrating.'
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It's one thing for reporters to conclude that a team had a bad day. It's another when the starting quarterback says it.
'It just felt like we didn't have the energy that we're used to when we practice and when we play against opponents,' Tagovailoa said. 'Our timing in the pass game was well off of what our pass [protection] looked like. That's just not a good recipe for success in this league and against good teams you know things like that are going to happen.'
Those quotes don't reflect well on coach
Mike McDaniel
, whose seat is scorching hot as he enters his fourth season. The Dolphins still have the offensive weaponry to be a playoff competitor, but McDaniel better find the right buttons to push, quickly.
Arm length and left tackle
Watt disputes current theory
J.J. Watt
, who was nicknamed 'J.J. Swat' because of how many passes he batted at the line of scrimmage, does not believe that short arms are automatically a hindrance for left tackles.
'That's such a funny thing to me,' Watt, now part of CBS's No. 2 broadcasting team, told me in New York last week. 'We're talking 1 inch here. It's not that big of a difference. Everything else matters so significantly more. Is he a quick setter off the line? Is he a short setter? Does he like to set wide, does he like to set vertical? If a guy is strong, and he can get his hands on you, it doesn't matter how long his arms are.'
Extra points
The Texans are transitioning from the
Kyle Shanahan
offense under former coordinator
Bobby Slowik
to the Patriots' offense under new coordinator
Nick Caley
. Rookie slot receiver
Jaylin Noel
has been watching a steady stream of Patriots tape. 'We watch a lot of [
Julian
]
Edelman
, [
Danny
]
Amendola
,
Wes Welker
,' Noel told KPRC 2 in Houston. 'How they went out each Sunday and made plays, it was impressive and to watch it on film, it helps me a lot.' … Speaking of the Texans, owner
Cal McNair
has high hopes for a team that finished 10-7 and won the AFC South in consecutive years, but lost in the Divisional Round each time. ''I think we've got a shot at doing some things we haven't done before. Really excited about where we go this year,' McNair said last week. It feels like the pressure is on GM
Nick Caserio
, not respected coach
DeMeco Ryans
, to make sure those expectations are met … The Commanders have the sixth-best Super Bowls odds, but aren't having a great training camp. They had a mediocre joint practice with the Patriots, had a sloppy preseason opener rife with penalties and poor tackling, then canceled their joint practice with the Ravens last week because of roster management. Plus the
Terry McLaurin
situation remains at a stalemate, casting a gloomy shadow over the locker room … The Browns can't keep their quarterbacks healthy.
Kenny Pickett
and
Dillon Gabriel
have been limited with hamstring injuries, and
Shedeur Sanders
likely will miss a week or more with a strained oblique. It's good news for
Joe Flacco
, who might be the Week 1 starter by default … Patriots new No. 2 quarterback
Josh Dobbs
had a rough preseason opener and threw two pick-6s on the first day of joint practices with the Vikings, leading
Mike Vrabel
to say, 'Josh just has to be more consistent.' Considering Dobbs doesn't have any prior experience with
Josh McDaniels
, and his 2025 salary is $1.7 million, I don't know if he's a lock yet as the Patriots' backup. One name to watch is
Aidan O'Connell
, who appears to be losing out on the Raiders' backup job to rookie sixth-round pick
Cam Miller
. O'Connell was drafted by McDaniels in 2023 and has a veteran minimum $2.175 million on his contract over the next two years, with no guarantees. … It sure is convenient that Chiefs receiver
Rashee Rice
pleaded guilty on July 17 to two felonies related to a high-speed crash, receiving 30 days in jail and five years of probation, but the NFL isn't holding his disciplinary hearing until Sept. 30. This will allow Rice to play in the Chiefs' Week 1 opener in Brazil, their 4:25 p.m. Week 2 game against the Eagles, their Week 3 Sunday night game against the Giants, and their 4:25 p.m. Week 4 game against the Ravens … The clock is ticking for McLaurin, Bengals defensive end
Trey Hendrickson
, Steelers defensive end
Cam Heyward
and Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons to sign a new contract before Week 1. Will any have the guts to go through with a 'hold-in' during the regular season? …
J.J. McCarthy
said he developed his in-season routine with some help from a fellow Michigan alum. 'I learned this routine through
Tom Brady
. He actually gave me a great week routine to go through, and I've just had little add-ons,' McCarthy said. He wouldn't reveal what is part of the routine, but, 'The No. 1 thing [Brady] wishes he did better in college is hydrate his butt off.'
Ben Volin can be reached at