Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Postgame Reaction: Analyzing JJ MccCarthy's play in preseason opener

Episode Date: August 10, 2025

Matthew Coller is joined by Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press to react to the Vikings' 20-10 win over the Texans and how QB JJ McCarthy played in his lone drive of the game. The Purple Insider podcast is presented by FanDuel.

Hey, everybody. Welcome into U.S. Bank Stadium. Matthew Collar here, along with Dane Mizatani, the Pioneer Press, as we just watched J.J. McCarthy actually play a football game, kind of. It was a real football game, sort of. The preseason, he played one drive, and there was actually a lot of takeaways from that one drive that we're going to dive into. The Vikings get the win. We've got winners. We've got some areas of concern. We have a significant injury to break down.

So there is a lot to get to from the Vikings 20 to 10 win over the Houston Texans. But, Dane, we have to begin in the most obvious place and talk about J.J. McCarthy. Now, after the game, we just listened to him downstairs, talk about the operation, how the operation was smooth, and how he felt like they got the call in, they got to the line of scrimmage. They got lined up. They ran the plays. And there are two plays that I want to talk about. Dane, right off the bat that I thought were very telling about J.J. McCarthy. One of them where he threw a beautiful ball to Jordan Addison for an 18-yard gain, 25 yards through the air.

It's an out route that requires anticipation. It requires him putting the ball in the right place. There was somebody falling at his feet. It was a very, very nice throw for a first down. Also a little trust for his number one wide receiver there. That I thought was the best moment of the day for J.J. McCarthy throwing that to Addison. And then there was a throw that went flying over the head of Lucky Jackson that he talked about afterwards saying if he had just waited one more click that he would have found him open on that throw. And I thought pretty emblematic of what we've seen for McCarthy in training camp.

I thought it was a good decision. I thought the guy he was throwing to was open and was there and that's a 20-yard gain if he could get it there. just a little bit high, just a little bit sped up. And I think it shows some of the rust that J.J. McCarthy had. But overall, I would say that his day was, you know, we're only talking about one drive. I'd say a B or a B minus, probably. There was some throws that weren't the most accurate. There was a great scramble on fourth down.

And he comes out of it healthy. He comes out of it feeling good. And it seemed like Kevin O'Connell also felt good about where J.J. McCarthy was at after this game. Yeah, I think first and foremost, he was. walked away healthy, which is all you really wanted out of today. Everything else, bonus. But as long as your QB1 who's playing in the preseason is able to walk out of U.S. Bank Stadium, with both meniscuses, miniscuses, I think. Both intact. I mean, that's all you really, really care about. Because he's going to be done for the preseason. I don't think he'll

play against the Patriots, and I don't think he'll play against the Titans. So this was kind of his one chance to see it and the fact that he's going to be okay coming out of it. That's a good starting point for me. But the throws you brought up, I think, are one emblematic of kind of just his arc as a quarterback learning, how to play the position at the highest level, but also emblematic of his training camp to this point. Some ups, some downs. That was this drive that he got today. There were some ups and there were some downs. And the up was, yes, that throw to Jordan Addison on the money considering what was happening on his lower half. I think if J.J. McArthur is in a clean, not muddy pocket, he delivers that one perfectly. It doesn't have to be a diving

grab by Addison. But that was a good throw to me nonetheless because of what was happening on his feet. He still was able to set fire, throw with anticipation like you said. So that was an up. The down was the lucky Jackson throw. You got to make that throw. And we talked about that after the game with him, he said, well, when you're playing against Flo's defense and training camp, it kind of speeds you up. So I have to get more comfortable just trusting my pocket. And that's what these games are for. You can't truly feel what it's like, one, to go against someone else, but two, to really stand in there until you do it. And I think if he gets that chance to throw that ball to Lucky Jackson again, he probably completes it. But there are also probably

times where he doesn't because that is kind of the back and forth of his accuracy to this point. But the way he functioned in the offense, to me, it looked good. I think I would be right at a B, B minus with you because there was nothing egregious, nothing glaring that the ball moved. It was a 13-play drive, 58 yards, they got points. But it wasn't the best quarterback play we've ever seen. You brought up the two throws. I want to bring up the scramble that you talked about. That to me was not the most impressive play of the day, but it was, to me, the most telling of what it's like to watch coaching happen in real time. Because I go back to a play a couple of weeks ago in

practice where Jason McCarthy has a very similar lane to run. He escapes some pressure off the outside, can take off and get yards. and in that moment in practice, he threw back across his body. It nearly was intercepted. Fourth down today, he feels the pressure from the outside. He escapes it a little bit and just takes off. It's what him and Kevin O'Connell had talked about after he made the wrong decision in practice.

Well, you need to make the right decision in the game. He did that today. So I feel good about where he's at. You can see the growth. You can see it all coming together. We will not see him in another game until we are watching him play on Monday Night Football in Silderfield next month.

But this was, I think, a good test right now, and he passed it to me. When it comes to that scramble, what I really liked about that was that there was no hesitation from McCarthy, not just on the coaching point, which I think you're right on, that he is a few times in practice,

just try to do too much. Just, oh, I'm going to scramble, I could get a first down, but instead I'm going to fire it into this window or throw back across my body. You don't need to do that if the first down is there right in front of you, I also thought, just from a physical perspective, this is somebody who went through a very

traumatic injury and recovery at a very young age that cost them to miss an entire season. You could see where maybe there's a little hesitation. Maybe I'm not really ramping it up. Maybe I'm not really firing on that play. I didn't think there was any hesitation at all. And I also want to say about something like that, that is what was missing during a certain era of recent Vikings football that we have to bring. bring up that what you see is the velocity on the football on that lucky Jackson throw.

It's a little high, but it's scooting. And then you see him take off. And he even sort of joked that he's got another gear there, that he's going to wait until the regular season to turn it up field, that he's not going to turn it up field on a play like today with the preseason. But what I came in wanting to see was confidence, command, have him get the play call, get to the line of scrimmage, no false starts, no bad snap. no confusion of where the ball was supposed to go.

And I thought it came out quick. I thought it came out to the right places that, you know, okay, an inaccurate throw, that's going to happen. But if he looked like he was indecisive, if he looked like he didn't know where he was supposed to throw the football, then I would have said, oh, okay, well, you know, maybe they've got more work to do because you're facing a pretty basic defense. And it wasn't Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson.

It was guys I was not familiar with for the Houston Texans. And so the fact that he was able to drop back, set his feet, throw the ball on time. And if his biggest complaint is one throw came out a click too early, not, hey, I miss that opportunity or through the wrong place or, you know, what I really like about J.J. McCarthy's game. And we talk about superpowers all the time. But decisiveness is a power. It's the one that Jared Goff has really, really in spades that you see all the time. And he's not as mobile as JJ. but where the ball comes out, he sees the field well,

he sees where the ball is supposed to go. And I thought in the last time he played in the preseason, we really saw that of him having good field vision. And then we saw it here again today. So decisive with his decisions, decisive to run, decisive of where to throw the football, you can make up for a little bit of accuracy. And even when you're talking about that out route to Addison,

I thought in the NFL, that's an accurate throw. Even though he has to dive for it, even though at first glance, my thought was, oh, that was offline because he had to dive. But sometimes you have to throw the ball to an area where someone's got to dive in order to make a play because the coverage is good. The defenses are good. So overall, he walks out of this. I agree with the characterization of checking the box.

As we take this approach toward the regular season, this was a really important one to check because, as you said, I don't think we'll see him again. And initially, I'm going to take something back that I have. said, I said initially, and then we hear the explanation, okay, I'm going to take it back, that I would have liked to have seen him for an entire first half because the guy needs reps, the guy needs snaps, hasn't played a whole lot of football even just in his life compared to a lot of NFL quarterbacks. But what Kevin O'Connell said was the reason he's not going to do that is he needs the first team in there with him, first team offensive line, first team wide receivers, Jordan Mason in the backfield. And they have joint practices coming up in just a couple of days.

and those guys are going to treat those like their true preseason. And I understand that. I would not want them in there with the backup offensive line, that's for sure. I would not want him taking a lot of hits, although I thought they actually did okay, the backup offensive line. I wouldn't want him in there with a bunch of receivers

that might not know where they're going. So I get it. And these joint practices are always the highlight of training camp for Kevin O'Connell. That's where we're going to see J.J. McCarthy really truly tested. We did not see that a whole lot today. It was more like get in, get out, accomplish what you need to accomplish, and you get a thumbs up and off we go into the rest of the off season.

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we don't really do a lot of game planning for these games. They don't. They just wanted to see how it functioned, how it moved. Did it look good? Did it look like it was supposed to? And the answer is yes. What he's been planning for, game planning, I guess if you want to call it,

but it's for the practice. So game planning, practice plan. He's been focusing on the joint practices. The preseason game doesn't mean anything to Kevin O'Connell. Neither does the preseason game against the Patriots or the preseason game against the Titans. Everything that he's put in place and everything that he's kind of put on JJ McCarthy's plate

throughout training camp, I think he's done with the vision of, let's see it all come to be in August when the Patriots come to town for joint practices. So this was a bonus, and that's kind of why I walk away, what I said right off the top just if you're healthy you did

good enough for me. They didn't go three and out and have to punt away and we have to listen to is the sky falling because they went like it was a drive that looked like it should from your QB1 they scored points he's healthy let's move on onward

to joint practices I can't wait for those but there's also a lot to talk about from the game itself outside of just JJ McCarthy you and I will definitely be recapping those at the end of the week but here's what I did. I made a list of the winners and of the concerns

throughout this game. My number one winner was J.J. McCarthy because it went well, there were no issues and off he goes. My next biggest winner was Jordan Addison because he made two really nice catches. Okay, not much to talk about there. I was glad that he played because

at least he can simulate having Justin Jefferson in the game. I don't think there's anybody else who you can feel like, oh, that's a real number one wide receiver in the way that he runs his routes or the catches that he makes. So the next guy on my list was Sam Howell, who I thought overall had a very strong performance. And Kevin O'Connell afterward said that he felt like when practice was going, he didn't say the practice was going poorly.

We've said that kind of repeatedly on the show. But he said as they were going along in practice, he was feeling like I need to see Sam Howell in an actual game. feeling like Sam Howell was a little bit of a gamer more than a practice quarterback. I guess I understand where he's going with that because he's played a lot of football in the NFL before. He looked in pretty good command of the offense where I was impressed was he converted a third down to Ty Felt. And they were kind of backed up in their own zone, converted a third down, found Lucky Jackson on a little bit of a jump ball, through a tight window pass.

And then they ran the football very well with another winner that we'll talk about very soon. but if there was terror about Sam Howell, I think that this quells that a little bit. And as we've looked at the other options for backup quarterback, at this stage in the game, it's really hard to find someone else who's going to be a significant upgrade over Sam Howell. So I felt like what Kevin O'Connell needed was Sam Howell to come out and just quiet some of the concerns down. Now, he still has to play well in the rest of the preseason, in the joint practices. he's got to prove himself because I don't think that just today was enough to say, okay, everybody, Sam Howell's all set, forget everything you just saw.

But I was reminded of when Case Keenum kind of turned a corner around this time of year after playing in his first preseason game. So that's now what I'm going to look for for Sam Howell after he put together what I thought was a very solid backup quarterback-y-looking performance. Our standard for Sam Howell is not go out and crush practice every single day like you're Joe Montana. It's more like just just seem competent. Get the ball to the receivers. And the biggest thing to me was we got to evaluate some wide receivers because the ball came out. It got it to their hands. And maybe he just needed to not be playing against

Brian Flores' defense. Yeah, I did actually have that exact thought while he was moving the ball today pretty effectively. 11 or 13, 105, a rush for a touchdown on a quarterback sneak. But I had that thought to me, we've seen it in practice with J.J. McCarthy going against the ones where it's like, that looks terrible. Sam Howell has to go against the ones all the time. So there is probably at least a little wrinkle of that that I probably have not put enough credence in. He's going up against these freaks of nature on defense every single day, and that's probably going to at least downgrade how he looks in the aggregate. it. But what I was looking for out of Sam Howell today was what I got. It can't look like it does in practice. If it looked like it did in practice today, then I think we do have a real problem on our hands. But it didn't. There was a clear cut shift. He looked comfortable. He looked confident. We talk about the operation with J.J. McCarthy. I thought the operation with Sam Howell looked just as good. There was no clunkiness, no pre-snap penalties. The ball moved. He moved the team. so good I need to see it again now I need to see it in joint practices I need to see it

in training camp moving forward I need to see it in the preseason game against the patriots and maybe the preseason game against the titans one good moment or one good stretch of play from sam how it's not enough for me to just crown them and say this isn't an issue but I do think we all need to kind of pump the brakes a little bit on let's go find the next good backup quarterback Because backup quarterbacks are that for a reason. They're not good enough to be starters. So in whatever fairy tale land that exists that you find a guy who's better than him, sure. But like if Sam Howell is kind of as good as it gets right now,

then I just need to see that he can run the offense in a pinch. I saw glimpses of that today. So I have turned down the worry meter. I was kind of ready to push the red button and say this is an issue. Today helps. Today helps kind of turn that knob down. I don't think there's as much

heat on him. But let's see it in joint practices this week. Let's see it as the rest of the preseason continues. But this was a good day for Sam Howell. If we're going by your list of winners of the day, outside of J.J. McCarthy, Sam Howell is the

biggest winner of the day because he did everything you would want. him to do and I think and then some given what we've seen of him to this point there was almost a relief feeling in Kevin O'Connell's comments about Sam Howell like okay because it doesn't look good and I really needed him to look that way and you're right that if you look around the league you'll see Josh Johnson out there somewhere performing well in a preseason Tanner McKee performing well in a preseason it's not exactly the greatest evaluation time so there is that like if you're still concerned about it. You're not a crazy person. But at very least, you went, oh yeah,

this guy has played in the NFL before because at times during practice, it looked like he was still really trying to figure things out. So I want to go over to a concern, which also brings us to the fan duel question of the day. The concern is for Rondale Moore and for the rest of his season. Rondale Moore caught a punt, ran over to the right sideline, looked like he kind of got hip drop tackled and his left knee gave out and he was down for a long time. They brought out the cart. The whole team surrounded around him. We could actually hear him punching the cart out of frustration because this is a guy that worked insanely hard to get back to this point. It was looking explosive, was looking like somebody who was trending toward a wide receiver who could impact

this offense positively and bring something new to it. He wasn't quite there yet. I think gathering the whole offense together. But this is a wide receiver. I think, was supposed to be a big day for him and a big game for him to show that, hey, I can be something in this offense. And now I can't say for sure that his season is done, but that looked to me like a season-ending type of injury. And Kevin O'Connell said he can't say yet, but significant is the way that he described it for Rondell Moore. And I think you could tell in his voice how upset he still was for Rondell Moore, who we know that O'Connell loves a project guy. We can make it work here with you. And I think more was kind of on his way to that. And I had a conversation

with him the other day about how positive he was viewing this opportunity. And it just, it's crushing to see something like that happen. Unfortunately, because it's the NFL, we move forward to the next guy in the depth chart and the situation that they're in. And the guy who continues to get those top snaps, those premium snaps with Jefferson on the sideline is Lucky Jackson. So the Fandul question of the day is, will you be drafting Lucky Jackson at the back end of your fantasy draft just in case he actually elevates himself to a wide receiver three for a while and maybe some sort of playmaker in this offense? Are you buying Lucky Jackson? That is the Fandual Question of the Day. So I pose that to you. After Lucky, I thought had a good game. He reached up

and made a grab, had another reception here, and has looked very comfortable so far with the first team both today and then and the second team today and in practice. So are you buying Lucky Jackson? I would buy a little bit of Lucky Jackson stock if I'm late on the clock in my fantasy draft. Yeah, why not? If I have nobody else that I really love or have circled on my board in round 14, Lucky Jackson is a worthwhile flyer because he plays in this offense and because Jordan Addison will not play for three games. And because Lucky Jackson has proven to us throughout training camp and he's continued to prove the coaching staff throughout training camp

and now in the preseason that he can do something when he gets the opportunity to do so. So, no, I don't think you should risk your season on Lucky Jackson, but he's probably a good person to have. And for that Fandau question of the day, I think, yes, I am drafting him because why not have a depth piece on a really, really dynamic offense that loves to throw the ball that will be with. without one of their top receivers for nearly a month.

Will you be playing Lucky Jackson in your fantasy football championship if you get there? Probably not, but maybe he helps you win a few games in the early stages of this season. He had three catches for 30 yards today and probably should have 20 more yards if J.J. McCarthy hit him on that in-breaking route over the middle. Lucky Jackson ran a good route. He was open. J.J. McCarthy said it himself, should have hit him. So three catches, 30 yards with a little meat left on the bone. The guy just continues to show up and make plays.

He's a winner to me from today's game. I know this started with the concern about Rondell Moore. It's just the nature of the beast in the NFL, though. The thing keeps going, and somebody's misfortune is somebody else's opportunity. I think Lucky Jackson is taking advantage of that in spades throughout the early portion of training camp. but really his career as a whole with the Vikings to this point. I think so too.

Also, just a quick note, Lucky will be on the podcast. We recorded the other day. So I was sort of crossing the fingers that everything would go well for him today so we could play that interview. That'll be coming up later this week. But when it comes to Lucky, he is a guy that has a very high IQ and the physical traits are not of the same level of other guys in this offense, Jefferson and Addison.

but a lot of times IQ is going to get you to the right places at the right times, like on that crossing route where he's there and that has the potential for a big gain. In terms of fantasy, I mean, that's kind of up to you, late rounds, that kind of thing. But just putting that part of it aside, I don't think they're going to look elsewhere for another wide receiver. I think that's the main point here is, yeah, Amari Cooper is out there, Keenan Allen already signed with the Chargers. I know that Vikings fans want Adam Thielen. You told me you also want Adam Thielen here if there's an opportunity for that.

I feel like it's getting pretty late to do something like that, to bring somebody else in where you have Lucky that knows the offense really, really well. And that also dovetails into another guy who I had as a winner, which is Ty Felton. I don't think Felton is quite ready yet, but I thought it was a really good game for him. He caught a couple of passes, made a real nice catch on a third down that I referenced from Sam Howell, just a nice pitching catch there for a first down. He handled a bobbly little kickoff, which, you know, Kevin O'Connell said, like, we have to be ready for that.

That's going to be a significant play. And he's got ball skills to track the ball down when there is those kicks that are going to skip to the returner. That becomes all of a sudden a really big deal for someone like Ty Felton. And then here's what I really liked from Ty Felton. So Oscar Chapman comes in. He punts some sort of crazy football that you could see spin. spinning weirdly in the air. It's bobbed on the initial catch and Felton knocks the ball out as he gets there. What I loved from Ty Felton when he knocked the ball out as a punt gunner was that he got up

and he was jacked up. Like he looked to the sky, let out a big roar after that play. I think that this year he could have a serious impact on special teams as a returner where he looked comfortable and as a gunner because I'm not sure that's going to be Tim Jones if he's going to have a spot on this team right now. So I thought Felton had a very good day from that perspective. I don't think that he's more ready than Lucky Jackson is to be a part of this offense, but special teams and maybe the occasional handful of reps per game while Addison is out, and they can really start to assess where he's at.

Yeah, I think truthfully, this is going to be more of a red shirt year for Ty Felton when it comes to functioning as like a piece in this offense. However, I think he has a huge role. on this team, on special teams. I talked to Ty Felt in the beginning of training camp, and he was gushed over the fact that he loves being a punt gunner. Okay? Like how many people actually say I love it?

He's like, no, I love it. I really took pride in college, and it's where I thought I could make a little bit of a name for myself in the NFL. Well, then he does this today, and in one or two reps he got as a gunner, he beats his guy clean, and he forces a fumble. So I know Matt Daniels is going to love that. they're already invested in using him as the kickoff returner he has just a role on this team

even if he isn't a guy who's going to catch 30 balls and go over 500 yards receiving he's a third round pick that i think could ascend into being that player down the road but right now is a guy who will contribute right away in some way sometimes you see it where it's like oh that guy might be good later but we're not going to get anything out of them while they grow. Well, he's going to continue to grow in this offense whilst also making a huge impact on it. On area of the game, Matt Daniels always talks about the hitting yardage.

The Vikings like to talk about winning on the margins. That's a place you can do it with a guy like that who is good at it and takes a lot of pride in it. I think you're not wrong to take note of the fact that he was freaking jacked up to that he forced to fumble. like some guys who say they get put on as a punk gunner probably just shrug their shoulders like oh man I don't think no he he really likes that part of the game and it's a good thing because that is going to be a part of the game that he probably plays most at least as a rookie okay I got two guys

who I thought were a player of the game I don't know if they do like a hockey belt that they give out for a player of the game for a preseason game but if we were doing that I know who I we give it to on offense and defense, Xavier Scott on the offensive side, and Gabe Murphy on the defensive side. Now, I want to talk about the guy who could make a faster impact on this team, which is Gabe Murphy. We came into this wondering, all right, so you got Dallas Turner, you got Van Ginkle, you got Jonathan Grenard, it's one of the best units in the NFL, but what after that? And to see Gabe Murphy, not just play well, play absolutely dominant. KOC was giving him credit for five quarterback hits after the game. I don't know if he had

five, that would be kind of insane. But he had at least two or three where he really popped the quarterback. He got low on one where he beat the offensive tackle. He had another one that was kind of a hustle play and he kept going and drove the quarterback all the way to the ground. Gabe Murphy had a phenomenal day. And we've talked about this team's ability to kind of identify and find guys that are undrafted free agents and invest in the undrafted free agents and find players in kind of corners of the world that you wouldn't expect. And I think Gabe Murphy just showed us, hey, Gabe Murphy's here. Like, it's funny because we talked about him so much more last year when he emerged on the scene.

And we were going, oh, wow, they got a UDFA. But then he got hurt. We didn't see him until the Atlanta game late in the season. Didn't really see him much after that. And so kind of out of sight, out of mind. And I think he's been really good in training camp. But this was a, hey, let's not forget. There's a little bit of depth here.

And maybe it's going too far off one game. But I thought, is he going to get like a Jihad Ward role out of this where he is thrown in as an extra on that NASCAR package that they have on third down? Like, he was that good today. Yeah, I think he's a guy who they've liked going back to last summer. And I think if he didn't get hurt last summer, he might have carved out a role for himself last year, last season. I think he's proven that he makes plays when he's out there. We talked to him in the locker room afterwards. He said this game was fun because I've been getting to the quarterback a lot in practice,

but I can't take them down because they're wearing those pescue red non-contact jerseys. He has an intensity about him. He really likes. We talk about how Ty Fulton likes punt gunning. Gabe Murphy likes tackling the quarterback. That was pretty clear based on our talk with him today. But he is a guy that they've liked for a while now and a guy that maybe has flown under the radar in training camp because guys like Dallas Turner.

Dallas Turner's been maybe the biggest riser of training camp with how he's looked. So by nature, I think Gabe Murphy does get lost in the sauce a little bit. Well, here he is. Dallas Turner plays a couple of series and he's done for the day. Gabe Murphy gets a lion's chair of the reps at Edge and he makes the most of it. He was dominant today. I mean, I don't think that's overstating it. I think he was dominant.

He looked like he shouldn't have actually been playing in the game because it looked like he was a starter. It looked like he was what it would look like if we threw Jonathan Gernard out there. It really did at times. And I'm not saying he's Jonathan Gernard. I'm just saying there are levels to this in the NFL. And sometimes the guy looks like he doesn't belong on the field because he is so much better than his peers in a preseason game. That was Gabe Murphy today. And I can guarantee Brian Flores is going to watch this back.

And yeah, you said, is he going to find a role in this defense? I would be stunned if Gabe Murphy does not find a role in this defense, not just because he had a sack and a half today, but because of the body of work that he has kind of put his name on since he was signed as a UDFA last year. Let's remember, too, he was a hugely productive college player that for some reason slipped through the cracks of the NFL draft, and I'm not exactly sure why.

I mean, maybe he was because he was on the older side, maybe the quick twitch or something wasn't there, but Flores seems to have a really great eye for guys like Gay Murphy. So him stepping up, and you're right about practice where we've gone, Turner's look great, the interior, the D line has gotten after it a lot, but he's been with the twos practicing yet the ones, creating a lot of pressure on JJ McCarthy throughout camp, and we've probably just not said his name enough, consummate with how well he's played. Now, Xavier Scott, this is a guy that if you're listening to every single show and you know how much I love our daily listeners who walk their dogs or drive into work and you're always listening to Purple Insider, I'm sure that when you saw Xavier Scott, you were like, that's the guy he's been talking about in training camp like a lunatic because he's looked so good day after day in camp. And then here Xavier Scott has a tremendous game where he's finding holes. He caught a pass. And even I noticed the pass protection rep that he stepped up. And there is a question that comes out of this one with Xavier Scott, which is spelled with a Z, by the way, if you're wanting Z, A, V, I-E-R.

Is he going to be R-B-3? I mean, because I don't know, like, how far down that road I really want to get with somebody like Xavier Scott, who has not made a team before. He actually was a wide receiver in college and then switched to running back slash wide receivers. You could see he's got the hands and so forth. Doing it in a preseason game, we have to have all the proper caveats of doing it there. But I've also thought he was really good in camp. And considering that Ty Chandler wasn't the one kick returning today, which I thought was kind of interesting being Ty Felton.

And the fact that Scott played so well is there a chance that they move on from Ty Chandler and keep Xavier Scott? I will go there and say yes. I thought that was a little overreacty when that thought was being thrown out there a week ago. You did a good job. You were kind of pegged on that. Xavier Scott's been your guy from pretty early in training camp. I remember sitting there watching practice with you and you saying, I think I like Xavier Scott. And I rolled my eyes, he might get cut tomorrow. No, he's not. And you know what? I don't know if he gets cut at the end of August because I think he's going to make the team. I really do. I'm not just overreacting to seven carries for 40 yards. I'm kind of overreacting because he looked so good doing it. But he looked like he belonged on the field today, which is important. He runs with like a nastiness about him, really hard to bring down at point of attack. He seemed to have built his, I remember seeing him last year, and he looks much bigger this year. year. So I think he's taken that into consideration heading into the offseason. But what I'm kind of piecing together through his performance today, his performance in training camp is not

just how good he's looked, but I do think this was a competition that could be won because of some of the deficiencies in Ty Chandler's game. Attention to detail. Pass protection. When you have an RB3, you want them to be kind of just a guy you can trust. And I'm not sure the trust is always there with Ty Chandler. I think Kevin O'Connell has mentioned it a few times. There are plays or stretches or sequences throughout Ty Chandler's career. Well, he'll rip off a 25-yard run and look dynamic and then it'll go the wrong way. If he'll go no huddle and he'll just forget the play. That can't happen as an RB3. So I think if Xavier Scott continues to ascend, like he has virtually every day of practice

and now here after preseason game one, it's going to be a competition and it's going to be a competition that Xavier Scott can absolutely win. I think if I was making the line in Vegas now, Xavier Scott would be minus money. I think he'd be the favorite to be RB3 to me. That might sound crazy.

We're getting crazy out on preseason game one. But I really think he's been impressive through the summer. I think today he was good. I think he was hands down better than Ty Chandler today. And I just, I don't know. I look at Ty Chandler as somebody who has kind of left himself vulnerable with some of his deficiencies. And especially if he's not going to be your starting kick returner,

then you better be damn good at all the things that it takes to be a running back. He's fast, he's explosive, but there are areas of his game that need improvement. And areas of those areas that need improvement for Ty Chandler, Xavier Scott might just be better than him at those right now. So it's absolutely a competition. I'll go ahead and say Xavier Scott for RB3, maybe in that few weeks. I will be wrong, but I'm okay to stand on business right now and say it. I'm not quite there yet, even as the Xavier Scott guy, but he made an argument for himself.

And I also think maybe, too, if you're going to be RB3, you can't just be RB3. You've got to return. You've got to play a big role on special teams. and I saw Xavier Scott out there quite a bit today on special teams, and that may swing the tide in one way or another. Maybe they've just seen enough from Chandler that they want to go a different direction. We'll see. That's suddenly becoming a very interesting cut-down day conversation.

Now, I want to go to a concern, and that would be Donovan Jackson. Did not feel like it went well for Donovan Jackson today in his handful of reps. It was only 12 snaps, but he did. did get bowled over on one play, didn't really look like he was able to get much drive in the run game on a couple of handoffs. And what do you make of just a couple of plays? I don't know, but he is a first round draft pick who should not really be at the quarterback's feet in a situation like this where there wasn't anybody else coming at him. It wasn't a blitz. It wasn't confusion. It was sort of mono-imano, and he ends up getting knocked back. That was not what you wanted to

see from him. He did not look like the first round draft pick if someone had told you that there was a first rounder out there. I wouldn't have guessed it was him based on how he looked. And again, this is with all recognition that we're talking about one drive that he was out there. But I would have had him on my list of most interesting players to watch, even in a very tiny sample size. And I think what today does for Donovan Jackson is it really puts him under the gun for the joint practices here because the New England Patriots have some fantastic interior defensive linemen, including Milton Williams, who they spent $25 million a year, $26 million a year on. That's one of the guys that he's going to be going up against this week.

So I'm not trying to say that it's the next Ed Ingram. I'm not trying to say that Jackson should just pack up his bags and go home and decide that he's not a Viking. I just didn't love the way that it looked here today in a handful of snaps. And now it's got a little more of my attention because I've been watching him through camp. I feel like he's been pushed back a lot, just being overpowered, not unusual for a young offensive lineman. And he's got fight in him for sure, even when he gets beat.

And KOC has brought that up. But when the biggest compliment is, hey, when he gets beat, he is recovered. That's also a little bit red flag to me. And today was a little bit red flag to me there. And do you, at least they have Blake Brubble. Randall, if it starts to go bad, that they could always go there. But they've really dubbed him the starter from day one. Brandl has not been a part of this at all.

In fact, Brandl played a lot of right tackle today with the second team. And maybe if they're not too happy with school, that they could use Brandl as the swing tackle also. But the fact that Jackson didn't really look the part today, I thought that that goes under the concern category. Yeah, it probably gets my antennas up a little bit. I will be interested in joint practices, and I guess I'll be interested to kind of go back and look at each rep from the game today, all 12 plays that he played with the offense. Basically, he was in the game when Jay-J. McCarthy was in the game. And I think with him, is it a competition at left guard? No. I don't think it is. I think Blake Brandel existing helps you pivot if you have to down the road. But I think they've given him the job at left guard. And basically, said it's yours run with it let's see what you can do there have been times in training camp where i've thought is this just because they're not going like full 100% like where he's getting driven back or is this just an issue that he's maybe just a little weaker than these guys

is it an issue that he's going against a couple of demons like jonathan allen and jvon hargrave all of it's probably true but today there were examples and again i'll go back and watch it again to really kind of diagnose where the deficiencies were. But upon first glance, where he's getting driven back. And that is something that has been a recurring theme throughout training camp, where he's getting driven back. I think his skill, or one of his biggest skill sets or biggest parts of his game, is that he can get out in space.

We've seen him on screen passes in practice, be the first guy leading the way. He's fleet of foot at his size. But at the end of the day, this team talks about play style. They talk about establishing the run, winning the line of scrimmage, all the things that you see win in the playoffs. That's what the Vikings want to be able to do. He's not doing that right now with the consistency that I think you would maybe want to see out of a guy that you invested a first round pick on.

But it's early. And I am willing to let this ramp way continue, let him kind of have the next month or so. But I think if we get to week one and Donovan Jackson's getting driven back by the Chicago Bears offensive line, we will think back to the preseason and say, okay, we were on to something because it has been at least something to note right now where we're at in the climb to week one. I also think it'll be telling if he plays in the second and third preseason game. I remember when Ed Ingram was in those because they felt like he needed more work. So to me, it becomes officially something to keep an eye on. I'm going to rapid fire through a couple of these so we can finish with Max Brosmer. All the tight ends I had as concerns, I didn't think anybody stepped up today.

Bryson Nesbitt had a couple of catches, but he was with the third slash fourth team. Logan Brown, interestingly, Walter Rouse was one of my winners, had a great game, I thought, was on the left side, on the right side. Logan Brown didn't play until the fourth quarter. He was a guy who was taking second team reps just a week ago. and then all of a sudden not. Tim Jones, special team specialist who commits two penalties, not ideal there. Mackay Blackman played a ton of football. I put him under a concern because I think that if he was really in the competition with Jeff Okuda,

that he would not have played as much as he did, but he played a lot. The interior D-line got pushed around in that first drive. I'm not making too much of it, but you expect more out of Levi Drake and Jalen Redmond and the other guys that were in there to start the game. And they were just non-existent to begin the game. They ran well against them. They had time to throw against them. Again, it's not a huge concern, but just something to note that those were guys I wanted to see going into this game.

And they had their chance against the ones sort of of the Texans, really the twos, and did not make a difference there. Michael Juergens, a couple of snaps that didn't go right. KOC seemed to downplay that a little bit, but I don't know, man. It's been an issue in training camp as well. and starts to make you wonder if Ryan Kelly goes out, can they even snap the football correctly? Because that's going to be pretty important. I had Elijah Williams is a huge winner today. He played extremely well.

This is the UDFA from Morgan State, very productive guy, and KOC raved about him. After the game, Joe Huber looked to me like he played really well, another undrafted free agent. And, oh, Will Reichard made all of his kicks, so the national nightmare of him having one bad practice kicking is over. Will Reichard, great at kicking again, all good. And the last guy on my list is Max Brozmer. Every turn we see Max Brosmer, he looks the part and man did he look the part today. I thought he was poised. He was accurate. He throws a really nice football. I just thought he had a great appearance. And I know, look, it's the fourth quarter. But the ball came out on time. He got through progressions a couple of times. And even when something went wrong with the Felton, or not Felton, it was

Fleming, didn't handle the ball going to the ground to get a touchdown. He comes right back on fourth down and delivers a touchdown to Miles Price. I just thought it was a really good appearance from Max Brosmer and sort of continues the momentum in his direction. Yeah, if Max Brosmer continues to play like this, I think he has a chance to make the 53-man roster because I don't know if you would be able to get him to your practice squad. There's some things that he showed on tape today that were real, legit quarterback play processing. The touchdown throw is a good example.

I think it was his third read. Scanning the field, no, no, yes, there's Miles Price in the end zone, layering a ball perfectly over the middle, into the outstretched arms of price, away from a couple of defenders. I kind of thought it was a poetic way for him to pay, put together his best rep of the day because it came after he thought he scored a touchdown. He thought he threw his first touchdown in the NFL, but they go back, they celebrate

on the sideline, it gets overturned, and to your point, he comes right back the next play and has what I felt was his best rep, where he did exactly what I said. He progressed, he progressed, he found his guy, threw a touchdown, but it wasn't just the touchdown throw. He had a scramble today that I thought we talked about the conviction with which J.J. McCarthy ran. Max Brozomer saw Little Lane, tucked it, ran, got down, didn't fumble. He just continues to do enough to keep me interested. And it's not just because I graduated from the University of Minnesota and watched him play football last year and watched him upset USC and

stormed the field with the kids. I've known Max Brosmer and the baller that he can be on the football field since last year when I would watch him play for the gophers. But I am interested in because he continues to look the part. He continues to show growth from where he started to where he is now. You ask anybody about Max Rosemur, and they will lot about him, whether it's Kevin O'Connell, JJ McCarthy brought him up today, a little unprompted. This guy has built himself into a player that is respected by his peers, and I think someone who could legitimately make the team if he continues to put.

together, you know, the steps four that he has to this point. But I was curious if we were going to see him at all today because I thought maybe we'll see a lot of Sam Howell, maybe we'll see a lot of Brent Ripon. He got a large chunk of the fourth quarter. Again, a fourth quarter of a preseason game, I'm not saying he's Joe Montana. But I think it is something that we can't ignore. He just continues to show up and look good while doing it time and time and time again. Eventually, We have to just say maybe he's just figuring it out and he could be a quarterback in this league. I think there's a good chance for him down the road to be potentially QB2, but it might cause an interesting decision for this team when it comes to cut down day.

Will they cut Brett Rippin because they would be concerned about losing Max Brosmer? And that would maybe tell you a lot about what they think of him. Don't forget to answer in the comments the Fandul question of the day. Are you buying Lucky Jackson? Is that someone that you would draft in fantasy late in your draft? Or are you thinking the Vikings now with Rondale Moore's injury should go into free agency or the trade market or the waiver wire when they get to cut downs and look for another wide receiver? And yes, you are allowed to make your arguments for Adam Thielen if you want to. So thank you for answering that question.

And one last thing, J.J. McCarthy said that last night before the game, he felt very emotional, said that today before the national anthem, when things were just about to get ramped up, shed a little tear out there on the field. I think, number one, that just, it does demonstrate. This means a lot to that guy, and he's been through a lot to be here. So it was a great day for him. But I also want to say, this is a great day for us to be back here doing postgame shows with you guys. Back in a football stadium, it's been a really, really long time. And the last time that we left the football stadium day, and it was in Glendale, Arizona, after one of the longest and most stressful weeks of everybody's life that we flew all the way to Arizona,

just to see this team get smashed. So, ah, football back in our lives, and it is only up from here. So great to be back with you. Dane Mizatani, Pioneer Press. Make sure you read them over there. And can't wait to see you guys after every single football game again. And the live shows after practices, of course, will continue a lot of coverage of Vikings and Patriots joint practices this week.

So we will see you all later. Thanks, everybody. Bye bah. Popa.