Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - POSTGAME REACTION: JJ McCarthy BREAKS OUT vs. Cowboys (Part 2)

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about JJ McCarthy's big game in Big D. He played his best football of the year on Sunday night in a victory over the Dallas Cowboys. What does it mean? The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode of Purple Insider is presented by Fandul for in terms of the Fandul question of the day, pizza guy or pizza Gary says 65, 35, 35 that they win two more. I think that's a, I think that's a pretty good percentage. I think 60 to 70%. I mean, in part because, well, you know, Detroit's going to be tough, but they've already beaten Detroit this year and Green Bay without Parsons and potentially Green Bay, you know, playing for nothing is also a possibility as well in week 18. So it seems like, you know, potentially getting two, there's a really good chance. And I think if we, if you woke up the day after the season

and they had beaten Green Bay to go eight and nine, it just feels so much different than, I mean, where we were at four and eight, which is crazy in the, you know, the order of operations. I'll bring this up all the time. The order of operations, I mean, imagine if we reworked it. Think about if we reworked it. And his first couple of games were in the order of the ones that went, if it went like every other, put it that way, if it went like really good game to win against Chicago in the fourth quarter, then lost to Atlanta.

And then it was like this game against Dallas, week three and you played great and then week four was a bad one against the ravens but week five you were really good like if we reordered them we'd be like ah that's the roller coaster of a young quarterback and then if you missed the final five weeks of the season with an ankle injury and our final impression was this game like i think about that stuff all the time just how different things can be just by the way that they're you know ordered and how they happen and who they happen against and how your schedule factors in, that's the thing is that there's just so many things that go into a performance.

Northern Pride says I think McCarthy and JJ, Justin Jefferson will catch fire these last couple games. That is the thing that I have to see. Like, as good as tonight was, even missing, like him missing the catch in the back of the end zone, it looked like his hands got up late, maybe. And late hands is a thing with wide restrictions. receivers and maybe he misjudged how fast the ball was coming and he's trying to grab it with his typically late hands. I really don't know. I don't know what the explanation for how you have

that one bounce off your fingertips. We've seen that very specific drop though from enough guys that I think velocity does matter with that type of throw or like how many revolutions are on the football. Like if it's spinning like crazy, is it harder to catch? I don't know. I have never caught a football from an NFL quarterback because it's scary. They throw it way too hard and it would probably injure me. So I've never had that happen. So I'm not sure why. But even just some of the other looks, there's a play where he's covered and he kind of throws it down the sideline, just, you know, inaccurately. There's one where Jefferson definitely got interfered with early in the game and they just, you're not getting those reputation calls this year, I guess, when you're struggling.

But that looks like an obvious interference early in the game. So some of the stuff was circumstance. He did run a slant route and he got him the ball. I'm sure that that's maybe part of it too is some of these routes, you know, maybe difficult for him. It might be about the windows that they're in. I don't know. Like, there's just, it's not fully working until it's working with Jefferson. We just cannot, we can't say it's 100% all set good to go until it's working with him because he's not going anywhere. You're not trading just to Jefferson. Like, this has to work. But I think that's right.

I mean, I think that there's a good chance that, you know, over the next couple weeks, that it starts going. The big thing was, like, how many targets did he have? Even though it didn't work out, he still had eight targets. And how many times in Justin's career has he been targeted eight times? It came up with only two catches. Like, if you get eight targets his way, I think it will start working. So that's fair.

Batmasterson, that's a great name. says the refs allowed way too much contact by the dbs on Jefferson. Yeah, I thought on that one specific play, that's true. And since he hasn't been getting calls this year, I mean, if you give even a little bit more leeway to the defensive backs, that's going to matter. But they're always like that, though, right? I mean, that whole theory of they can't flag us on every single play, I don't think that that was the main reason why it wasn't working. But that, you know, might be part of it. first name, last name, says I said it earlier.

J.J. McCarthy looked a lot more comfortable the past couple weeks. If he keeps looking like this, even if the results aren't positive, I'll be happy. Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's right. I mean, the comfort level has just been completely different. I think a big part of that is two things, two major things that I would say schematically would go into that. Number one is that he hasn't been pressured. And if you're not pressured, you're going to be a lot more happy. I mean, that goes for every quarterback in the NFL, no matter how good you are,

every single quarterback is worse when they're pressured. And he was pressured a lot in the game against Green Bay. I don't think he was so much in Chicago or Baltimore, but those are two defenses that are really known for their deception. And these last two defenses are not known for that. You know, it's very kind of straightforward. Like there's not a lot of, I mean, you didn't see it tonight. Did you see it?

How many times did you see the Cowboys do what Flores does and line up everybody in a zero look? I mean, they didn't even do it. I mean, I don't know. Matt Eberfuss, that's a big fall for him from a guy who was once considered a really good defensive coordinator because I didn't see a whole lot of deception there. And I think that that's really helped. I also think that, you know, O'Connell focusing on with McCarthy, decisions, decisions, decisions. There were a few checkdowns that were really good plays.

There's a swing pass to Aaron Jones. That's a really good play. Aaron Jones ended up with three catches for 31. Like, that's great. That's a great play for him to drop back. It's not there. Check it to Jones, get some yards, move on to the next play. That was a very good decision there.

So decision making to me has been the biggest thing. Throwing the ball to the right place on time. There were all those numbers about how long. it was taking him to get the football out earlier in the year. And those numbers were just atrocious, considering that he's not a running or like big time scrambling around like Caleb Williams type of quarterback. Those numbers were really concerning. These last two weeks, balls coming out.

And this is the crazy thing, right? Like, I don't think that they have a great pass rush. I certainly don't. And I don't think Washington does either. But everybody looks better if the ball comes out. And we saw that for Philip Rivers today. he was able to survive better than Max Brosmer did because he got rid of the football. Their offensive line wasn't dominating Seattle or anything.

He just got rid of it. And that's what veteran quarterbacks do. And that's what McCarthy has done the last two weeks, way better. Jay Pelley says the narrative that COC adjusted too late. How much of the newfound 12, 13, 21 personnel has to do with CJ and Oliver actually getting healthy? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's, I mean, a lot of people getting healthy.

Yes, they were playing a backup tackle today, but left guard, center, center. Can we talk about Ryan Kelly? I mean, how awesome. And he got beat one time by Kenny Clark. Everybody does. Kenny Clark's great. But how awesome is Ryan Kelly? Not only is Ryan Kelly a good blocker, good pass protector, so that interior rush isn't happening.

But also, he's the director out there. And McCarthy said last week that he gave an example of a play where Kelly just told them, check to this. Okay, check to that and it works. It's like, well, that guy's a genius. He's like one of the best players of the last decade in the NFL and missing him matters. And this is the hard part because when you lose games and you have Jurgens in there or Brandl in there, it's like no excuses. Next man up. Well, there's not a next man like that.

not this good, not this experienced. And that connection, I think, has been a big deal for them. The last two weeks, great point on C.J. Ham and Josh Oliver, clearly they've kept ham on the roster for a long time. Clearly, they've extended Josh Oliver several times. They want to be the big personnel team. There's a lot of praise. And I saw it this week for Sean McVeigh, who deserves it, of course, for going to multiple

tight ends and then doing that a lot. And Seattle does it all the time. the Vikings have that, but they were not able to use it all the time this year. Also, when you're losing, you're going a lot more 11 personnel. But those different looks, better pass protection, it's a big deal. It also is kind of similar to maybe what J.J. McCarthy had in college where it's, you know, tight end and running game and, you know, maybe some bigger personnel, that kind of thing. I think that matters.

I think that definitely matters. Health in general is a big deal, though. Brett says, I think the Vikings have a 50-50 chance of getting to 8-9, but I think the rest of the games are going to be competitive. I mean, the Giants are so bad. Yeah, I mean, I think that's right that it's probably, I would go a little better than a coin flip because I think there's a scenario where Green Bay is playing for nothing in week 18.

And if they're playing for nothing, I don't know that LaFleur is going to play Jordan Love. They're going to be without Micah Parsons. I think I'm going to I would go higher than 50 50 the giants I mean if you don't beat the giants just shame on you that that franchises as low as anybody they might be lower than Cleveland they might be lower than they're definitely lower than like Tennessee they well maybe probably equal to Tennessee because both teams had to fire coaches so that's one you should win Detroit just might outscore you because they're that good but their defense

is not very good I would expect a similar game to tonight just does Detroit finish drives that Dallas didn't finish, but you should look like this. And then when it comes to playing against Green Bay, even if they're playing starters, you've got a chance to hold up against that team. So two out of three, I don't think is too much of an ask,

but 50-50 is a good answer. Bat says KOC is not adjusted since the Lions and Rams season-ending games. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like, what are we calling adjusted? I mean, changing personnel, to go much bigger is something that, you know, I don't think they did a ton last year. You know, they use Oliver all the time just in general, but C.J. Ham wasn't out there as much last season, wasn't, you know, in for a lot of running plays last year.

They've used him in running plays more this year, the last two weeks since he's been back to 100%. But when it comes to, like, changing his mindset, I thought today was a big change in mindset. They ran the ball a lot, even when it wasn't working. working. And that's something that I think with a young quarterback you have to do, but you're also able to do it when the game is close for the entire time. So I don't know, but I do think that the mindset shifted weeks ago. It's just worked the last two weeks, but it really shifted when we go back to after the Baltimore game, where they ran a lot on early downs against Chicago and Green Bay. And when the game was close, they stuck with that. And it wasn't until the Green Bay game was

out of hand that they started passing a lot. So I don't know. I mean, I think that the whole thing is always kind of reshaping itself. But one thing that we saw a lot tonight was play actions and bootlegs, stuff like that, that worked on a few different instances, bootleg left to Naylor in the end zone, bootleg right that worked for throw to Josh Oliver that was a big gain. So I don't know that those plays were working that well early in the season. They've worked the last two weeks. I mean, I just don't know, like when it comes to that.

because that just seems like so generic to save. Well, it has he adjusted. Well, it certainly has changed stuff around McCarthy, but also you need a sample size to work with. And that's kind of a problem. And you're like, well, why doesn't he adjust? I mean, you get two games at the beginning of the season. One goes okay.

The other goes terribly. And then what? Then, you know, you're talking about being out for five weeks, comes back, plays pretty well, wins the game against Detroit. Then you've won two out of three of his starts. And you're like, well, what am I adjusting? Right?

And that was a good game plan in that game where they got ahead and ran the ball and threw some short passes, through some downfield. Like, I don't know. Also, McCarthy's good at throwing it downfield. Like, that was his thing in college. His yards per attempt were high. His intermediate throwing was very good. That was supposed to be his thing.

Like, I don't think that he is. Everyone always wants quick passes. I don't think that's like who he is. At least not right now. I think that had that ripped ball down the seam. that's who he is. Flinging it up in the air for a nailer to go get it. I think that's who he is.

So I don't know. Oak Dog, the Cowboys are who we thought they were. Still, this is the NFL. The Cowboys' defenses looked better against other teams. Vikings did something right tonight. Not too many other teams, though. Not too many other teams. A little better, like the Eagles have a terrible offense.

Vegas has, I looked this up going into the game. It's like, I don't know. Vegas they were good against. Vegas is a joke, and they were good against Philly in the second half, but Philly's offense is kind of a joke. So I'm not, they're bad. Like, it doesn't mean it didn't happen, though. Like, it just means how do we factor for it?

We can't ignore that going into this game, the Dallas Cowboys turned the average quarterback they faced into an actual MVP. Like a hundred and nine quarterback rating will win you the MVP. and that's the average that this team has been giving up. So you can't be like, ah, you know, it doesn't make a difference. They've been playing better. They're like, no, they really haven't. They gave up 44 last week to Detroit.

So they haven't been playing better. They're God awful. But some of the throws that he made were to covered receivers that are NFL open. And he got down in the game and had a huge drive. And he made the plays. and he made them, some of them were scrambles that were good and he got punched in the face with a guy trying to punch the ball out. And of course, they did not call it because, you know, they allow the peanut punch also means you can just drill someone in the head. I don't know.

That's a weird. It should be, it should be a flag, but it hasn't been in the NFL this year. But the point being that if you ignore how bad Dallas is on defense, I mean, that's where you could kind of overdo it with a game like this. If this was Denver, for example, or Philly or, you know, Green Bay, then, I mean, if he had done this against Green Bay, you'd be going, okay, the Vikings have their quarterback. And that's like, that's the true test right there, is how much to factor it. Well, there are some teams in this league that if he performed this way against them, you would be losing your mind.

you'd be saying oh my gosh it's happening but this is more of a all right that is a major step in the right direction so it's it's just degrees of which you're celebrating the success that had that happened tonight and degrees to which you're trying to factor it into your decisions that need to be made in the future that's kind of how i would think of that uh kfts says mccarthy had a couple throws that were perfect form where he took something off the throw. One of McCarthy's bad throw was caused by a hit that caused the ball to sail on him. Yeah, that's one of maybe two times he was touched all night long. I agree, though. I agree that he did have a couple of throws that had touch on it. The one to Naylor

specifically comes to mine for sure. Actually, both big throws to Naylor had touch on them. I don't think that it's ever, you know, like it can't, you know, it can't be done or something. You know what I mean? Like, that he can't ever throw with touch. It's really like a consistency thing and then an anticipation thing. But what Kevin O'Connell has done these last couple weeks is he's taken a lot of the anticipation out of it. Like a lot of the throws are a deep shot.

You're just laying it up there. Somebody coming across just firing it to him, down the seam, firing it to him. And I think that's what he needed. Harry says, we're not going to lose any of the three games remaining. And then it's 9 and 8 being told by Roger how great it is to not make the playoffs by a below 500 NFC South champion. Oh, man, talk about the NFC South. Wow, was it NFC selfing today?

Boy, if that had happened to the Vikings, can you imagine the post game? If we were doing a Carolina Panthers post game, holy cow, I can't imagine. If you guys didn't see what happened in that game, the Panthers needed to stop to force overtime. and Tyler Shuck ran forward but wasn't going to be in field goal position and their safety from Carolina just came up and drilled him for no reason he was already going down to the ground game of 15 yard penalty game winning field goal Carolina loses it's crazy that was insane and you're you're right about that though if that happens I wouldn't be shocked if the Vikings got to nine and eight I really wouldn't I mean it I still think that Green Bay is a better overall team than them and Jordan loves been playing extremely well, but Christian Watson getting hurt.

He is a different quarterback when Christian Watson is healthy. That is extremely clear that he has very good chemistry with Watson. He went to grab a pass today, landed hard on his shoulder. I didn't see what the diagnosis was, but I mean, that's, that's not good. Like that looks like an AC joint sprain or something or a collarbone, something in that range that could keep him out. That's what I mean. You're facing potentially a different Green Bay team.

Week 18. The hard one is probably going to be Detroit. If Grinard is still banged up after tonight, I mean, it looked like he aggravated that injury that he had earlier in the year. So that might not be great for them. Isaiah Rogers got banged up at the end of the game. Detroit's going to be a hard one to stop. Their offense is just completely cooking right now. But, you know, Flores did that at Detroit. So would it be shocking if they won the last three games?

no. Vikings fans anonymous, the fact that he had some throws that actually had touch and weren't all fastballs is encouraging. And that's, that's why when we talk about, because I saw some people saying like, oh, O'Connell tried to teach him too many fundamentals or something. It's like, what you, I mean, you got to have those throws. Like, you have to work on them. What is he supposed to do? Right. Like, he needs them. And it's, we see it today as those are coming together. And what that looks like when you can add touch and can throw a fastball and can throw, as they call like a two ball, which is the in between, when you're actually doing that, it's pretty darn good. So you should be coaching up the fundamentals. I think that whole thing was to just maybe

give people to stop talking about it since O'Connell had gone on it ad nauseum himself. It's obviously his fault for talking about it a lot. But I think what he meant was, hey, it's the last five games. Like you, you know, we've kind of taught you as much as we can at this point. And then you're going to have to work on it later. But I don't think that we could go back and be like, oh, what a mistake it was to teach him stuff. That's what he needs. He needs to develop in real time. Can we ask for a transfer to the AFC North or NFC South?

Bryson, was this your question with the super chat? I hope it was. Was Donovan Jackson worth a first round pick? People said he was a day two selection. has he played up to his pick? Oh, I would say so. You know what the people are going to bring up, including myself, and I have a little bit, is could they have gotten the same trade as the Los Angeles Rams got with Atlanta? And I would suspect that that was potentially on the table.

We don't know that for sure. But I suspect that was on the table for Atlanta to move up and take James Pierce. And now, holy cow, what a great situation that is for the Rams to just rob a first round draft pick from a very bad Atlanta team that's going to be really high. But let's just put that aside because we don't know what conversations happened in trades. Donovan Jackson, I think it's been great. And look at tonight. I mean, look who they're facing. Kenny Clark, Quinn and Williams, Osa, Odigizua, how many times did you see

those guys now they did in the run game? They dominated well in the run game. How many times did you see those guys getting after the quarterback? Almost never. One time, you know, Kelly gets completely. completely blasted, they blow up a run play. But aside from that, I mean, very, very few plays that actually were pressured from J.J. McCarthy. And I mean, if, you know, you're talking about Jackson, he's played well against some really good teams with interior rushers that are quality players, including he was good against Detroit a couple weeks ago. I mean, I think he's had a really, really good. And

he's been banged up, too, which in the NFL, you got to play through stuff like that. I, I, I, I would give that pick right now. And A, I mean, I just think that his future is really bright. It's hard to be a guard in the NFL as a rookie. And he's done a good job of it. So I like that pick, for sure. Let's see. Nebwerb.

Sorry if I got that wrong. Between McCarthy missing so much time from the injury and J.J. sitting out so much of camp, I assume you mean Jefferson. JJ and JJ have little time to work together. I think that's a good point. And maybe it's not shocking that the guy that he worked with the most in the summer, which was Jalen Naylor, is the guy that he keeps finding. And I mean, that's the thing is that if you're going to go forward with McCarthy,

that's a box that has to get checked still this year. They've got to find each other. They've got to put up numbers. But if he does, and he's hitting other receivers in Hawkinson and Oliver, then you're going to feel like, hey, he's really, he's really good. it like it's really clicking for him and if that happens because tonight i mean if he finds a couple those throws to jefferson he's got 300 yards i mean those where most of his misses were going to just the jefferson but i agree with you and if you're looking for reasons if we get to the end of

this season and you're saying he started to find jefferson at the end of the year and he's making good decisions and he's not turning the ball over and he's not taking sacks and he put a lot of that into his past then you go into 2026 feeling like you've got your quarterback and they can work together all offseason, unlike when they were not able to do so in the summer. And a lot of things look way different. A lot of things look way different at 8, 9, 9 and 8 and 8 and good performances. That's why tonight was important.

I mean, yeah, we can factor for the bad defense. For sure, we can and we should. But why it's important is now there's a chance to get there. There's an opportunity that is opened up by this game specifically. because Washington could have been a blip. And we all would have said, well, who cares? Threw for 160 against Washington, whatever, man. And I would have been first in line.

If he had thrown four picks tonight, I would have been first in line to be like, see, Washington stinks. But now that you're stringing a couple games together, now there is the opportunity to get to the end of this thing and have an 8, 9, or 9, 8 record and feel like, all right, that did not go how they expected. but also it gave a lot of optimism for what 2026 can be. That's still on the table.

I'm not there until we see it, but it would have gone off the table if they couldn't do anything tonight against Dallas's defense. And now it is still on the table. Orange Suds, saw my friend, says kudos to JJ and the offensive line for zero sacks. Going into the game, I would have taken the over. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Absolutely would have agreed with you. I thought Quinn and Williams is going to cause some problems for them. You know, backup offensive tackle. I definitely would have taken the over. That speaks to the decision making. And it also speaks to what they should have been as an offensive line had they been able to have at least four out of, and when they've had at least four out of five, there's only one game they've been bad when they've had at least four out of five. And that was against the Packers. And that only got bad when the game was out of hand. That was, they were actually doing fine as an offensive line, if not decent, early in that game.

But then, you know, Darrasaw went out and it fell apart. But I would love to, and maybe I'll try to work on this, like, what are their numbers in terms of pressures when they have at least four out of five? Because I imagine they're pretty good. Allem K.O says, have you seen the Barbershot Quartet video that the special teams guys made asking for Pro Bowl votes? Not only did I see it, I walked by it as they were filming it. And trust me, that was like a.

Like, is there a gas leak in the building moment when I walked by those guys on Friday? And I was like, what are you guys doing? Also, I made an appearance on Tellus with Mattelis. So if you didn't have a chance to see that, I'm in it this week. But that was great. That was a good bit. I like that. Bunyan rates.

You guys have some funny names. Since Jefferson is having a down year, maybe next year, he won't be double and triple covered and go for 2000. I think you'll still be double and triple covered next year. But, I mean, yeah, this is not really going to change. But one thing it does help, though, is, well, not the down year. The down year doesn't do anything. The double and triple coverage allows Naylor to get these open opportunities. And after a game like today, I am thinking about how do you convince me?

I don't think you can. I don't think you can convince Jalen Naylor to come back. But one cautionary tale, maybe they could tell Mr. Naylor is that, you know, KJ Osborne went elsewhere, hoping to kind of find his big break. And he didn't have somebody like Justin Jefferson that was taking up the double and triple coverages and wasn't as good. So maybe they can convince it. But, I mean, I've become, I've become a Naylor guy like over this year because even though he hasn't had a ton of catches, he's made some great ones. and he's also, when you go on tape, like, he's winning his routes. He's blocking his tail off.

He's become a really good player. Now, maybe that's a, if they sign him, that's a draft pick from 2022 that actually worked. How about that? Turner's playing better. Jackson's looking good. Addison's a good pick. Naylor's been good.

They got some players on this team. Hey, you know what, a really good game tonight I thought was Jalen Redmond. Again, I know we say that like every week, but I thought he was good. Not a draft pick, though, so it doesn't count. But you know what I mean. Let's see. Vikings fans anonymous hoping JJ and Darrasaw both have healthy off seasons. That's huge.

That's huge. And health, you know, one of the best ways to stay healthy is to not get sacked and to make good decisions with the football. And that's what he did. Like, that's how Philip Rivers survived today. That's how Joe Flacko's still in the league. That's how Matthew Stafford's still in the league with 100 injuries. staffer got hit once today and he looked like he needed to go to retirement home like but these guys are getting rid of the football that's to me i think maybe the most impressive part of the last

two weeks if not the most impressive if he has inaccurate throws sometimes i'm like okay whatever it happens like you're going to overthrow somebody but if you're standing in the pocket and like double clutching and triple hopping and this is where we talk about those fundamentals how many times have we seen him like double triple clutch over the last couple weeks not much not much and that's something that they were really focused on like don't hop way up in the pocket i haven't seen him do that these last two weeks but that's the best way to stay healthy and for derisaw i just think probably better to shut it down uh all together uh will says uh the initial pff grade for mccarthy was a 92 totally agree it was a great game it was a great

game big time throws accurate uh in command second half second half was real big boy football that's that's how i would describe it for the first time i think in his career i would say the second half was like it was watching it was like watching deck prescott it was like watching a real quarterback not like a hey they're just trying to work around some stuff hey they're just trying to manage him it was like hey you got it you got to be the the reason we win the football game, and he was on multiple levels. Bats says we need to bring back Flores. Yeah, that is for sure.

That's for sure. This is also a night. You can't forget that. Like, that was a lot of scheming because this team has the receivers to roast this secondary, and they didn't do it. Lamb had a good game, but they didn't do it. It was really well done with the clutch moments. 10K beers who had the best night.

Why was it, C.J. Am? Look, there's a reason. I get this question every offseason. Hey, why do they keep bringing back C.J. Ham? This is why he was in there in Pass Pro a couple times. Great help. He's been awesome in Pass Pro. Really, since KOC made that one of his main jobs.

Scores a touchdown. Love that for CJ. Also, right after the Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination, very cool for him. Very cool for him. KFT defense wasn't great. They could have run the ball all day. but they did enough to win. Right.

I mean, then that's, that's what you have. They're number one in yards. Number one, they're really good offensively. So it has to be a game like this. That's the only way to beat a team with that good of a quarterback, that good of wide receivers. It was very clear that their offensive line missing their left tackle was a big deal for them. But they also had to drop back pass a lot.

But you, but you're, I mean, I mean, I think we can say, yeah, clearly it wasn't like a great night for the defense but man you just it's got to be that way sometimes how about this for the defense two for 12 on third down so they rack up 423 yards but two for 12 on third down uh let's see yaj invasion says all the mccarthy haters looking goofy well here's the thing is we can only ever work with the information that we have and that's why judging courte quarterbacks, especially young ones, is so freaking difficult because through the first six games of his career, he's one of the worst quarterbacks of the last decade. And over the last two games, he has been really good.

And where's the truth? And we have three games to find out, which of course, we won't. We'll get hints about it and we'll gather all that we can. And so will the Vikings organization and they're, I guess, you know, if they keep winning, there no one gets fired the front office the coaching staff they gather all this information and then they try to figure it out and that's all they can do but we can only work with the information we have if you have six games and one of them is 87 yards against the packers and you're getting dragged around the field by a green bay defense

i mean what are you supposed to say about that other than it looks real bad and you start looking at other quarterback options. Now, this week, I don't think we have to look at other quarterback options. 20-25 redraft. And we'll wait to see if we do. I mean, it's not, it's not hating its reality. The next year is an enormous year for them. And everything that happens over these last three games, and I look at as a five-game section, the post-Brosmer disaster section of the schedule of, this is, you. is what you're working with how much can you take out of it and then decisions have to be made based on it even though that's not great but it's all you have so you have you have to decide like

are you trading for mac jones or something if this is another blip on the radar and McCarthy goes oh in three with seven picks and two touchdowns the rest of the way well then you're calling san francisco and if he doesn't and he looks like he did tonight and his confidence continues to grow and going into 2026 feeling great, and there's a lot of things that could go better for this team. Injuries are a big part of it. Schedule is a big part of it. McCarthy's own injury setting back, like his first year has been really hard, but there's now a shot where he's feeling good about being the 2026 quarterback, and you're not trying to give away assets to get somebody else.

Like, it makes a big difference. So it's not necessarily about hating. It's really about using what you have to try to. make a judgment, and it's all a small sample size, so you've got to do the best you can. If you didn't answer that fan dual question of the day, by the way, the Vikings are plus 190 to get to eight wins. Your confidence level, give me a percentage that will get there. Most people were around 50%.

Will says 2025 redraft. Where does Donovan Jackson go? I mean, I'd have to look at every single pick and see how they're all playing. but, you know, I think when you see a guard in a league that is attacking the heck out of these guards playing as well as he has through some injuries that are just, you know, bad breaks, somebody steps on his ankle, something happens to his wrist. But that's a, that's the offensive line. Life is you got to battle through those things. I think he'd go pretty high. I think he's been exactly what they would have dreamed to get. He is an intelligent guy, hard worker. He's tough his nails. I think he can grow in the run game. He's been very good. and past protection. I think he's been really good.

Bats says the turning point was KOC watching what happened to Brosmer to confirm his offense won't work with a young quarterback. I don't know about that. I don't know about that. I don't know the turning, I don't know if there is a turning point that we can go back to and say, well, KOC did this or KOC did that. You know, he's, you have to learn more about your quarterback as you go along, what's comfortable with them. But I think that maybe the right message finally got through to McCarthy, which was like, here's your main focus. It's about decisions.

You know, that's your main focus is just protect the football. Don't give it away or you won't be the quarterback anymore. I don't know if it was, I mean, I don't know. You could say he put too much. Seattle defense is sick. That Seattle defense is great. And, you know, I mean, yeah, he, although they ran on third and one and it didn't work today.

And it was like, should have. passed on third and one. But, yeah, I don't know if that, I don't know if that's it. I mean, I think that having everybody healthy, the blocking has been huge. But sometimes there's no perfect answer to, oh, they did this. And that's why X happened. Like sometimes there isn't a perfect connection. Joanne says is Jefferson injured less than 100 yards of the last four games,

had issues with hamstring. Nah, hasn't looked like it. He's looked totally fine to me. he's open he's running routes make a plays i i mean i don't know like i i truly think they're just not on the same page that that chemistry has not happened yet and and with jefferson and that you have to have chemistry with him because teams cover him so different than every other wide receiver so it's a lot easier to get the ball to jalen naylor because he's always one-on-one it's a lot easier to get it to addison because he's always one-on-one but the whole offense is designed to

have Jefferson breaking open at certain times, the ball's just got to be there. And a couple times it was. And one time, it's negated by a illegal motion or formation or whatever. And the other time, it goes off his hands. So there's a couple that actually worked. And another time he's open and he misses him, but at least he's targeting him open. So I think it's got a good chance to connect soon. But it's got to get there before we can really say it's working.

KFT says Jackson Dart will be out another week with a concussion. No way he plays. I don't know. With the NFL's concussion protocol hasn't really been all that effective this year, considering he's still playing. Like a dog in the street says number nine is your 2026 starter. Folks, I think that's still to be determined. But took a big step in the right direction there for sure.

let's see Jefferson needs to stop dropping passes sure yeah I mean that's that's true but I think we would notice a drop or two much less and this one in the end zone you're going to notice but I mean you'd notice them less if he was catching eight passes and one of them was a drop you'd be like oh well he caught eight passes

but it feels like it feels like an infielder if you play a major league baseball today and they never hit the ball in play. It's either a home runner or strikeout. If you're an infielder and you miss a ball, you're like, I don't even know when the next one is coming. And that's how it has felt a little bit for Jefferson. And then maybe it's hard to get into a groove that way.

Or if you're a shooter, there's a lot of guys who could shoot a basketball in rhythm, but there's very few who could come off the bench and play 10 minutes and hit a bunch of threes, right? You know, I think Jefferson does need to get in a rhythm. Class G says love Chris Collinsworth commentary on his. mechanics. He was not wrong either, but I was happy they put JJ into a neutral light. Well, I mean, look, that is a big conversation still. I mean, tonight's game doesn't change that, that, you know, mechanically, things have to improve. And that's why I would not criticize, you know,

KOC for trying to fix them. And again, I can point to significant things that you can see the difference. The major one for me is the crow hopping up into. the pressure, which I felt he did a number of times against Chicago, Baltimore, where he would take two hitches and like a big stride right into the rush and then just whip it. You're like, dude, you can throw the ball hard enough. It's almost like McCarthy is having to discover that he has a really strong arm. He doesn't have to put his whole body into it as he gets older. But yeah, no, it was.

It was very interesting, very interesting when it came to the discussion about the mechanics. and with young quarterbacks, a lot of them have changed it. But the thing about McCarthy is, what's very unique in his situation, I was watching a little of Cam Ward today. And there was some good stuff Cam Ward did today. In Tennessee, I'm sure that their media is, you know, breaking down every game, super hardcore. But I think they all recognize, like, hey, this kid's going to get time.

And he's going to get time to work through mechanical issues or whatever else. Whereas McCarthy, it feels much more pressure. into a small window of next year. Now, the franchise doesn't collapse and his rookie contract isn't over in 2026, but if you have major disappointment this year and major disappointment next year, then you're we've already had the discussion about, hey, what if they went four and 13? What if they went five and 12? And we all know that, like, things can happen if you get to that point, right?

but showing progress certainly is convincing, I'm sure, to the owners a little more convincing of like keep going in this direction if they continue to show progress. But they're still going into next year after a big disappointment. If you go eight, nine or seven and ten, you lose those last two games at home. Like the owners are going to be ticked. They're not going to be sitting there going, oh, you know what, guys? Like, how about five more years of this, right? So it has to happen, like, sooner than is fair.

Kurt says, curious if you think JJ has been overcoached. If so, what about Turner? They let him play his college position when J.G. was out and he played really well. I personally do not think that. I do not think that. When Sam Darnold was coached by KOC and performed extremely well, then we all said, wow, this guy's got all. the answers to quarterbacks.

And then when McCarthy's struggling as he's coaching him, like really hands on, then it's, you're coaching him too much. Just let him play. But again, when you can really point to these coaching points from KOC that have come to life in the last couple games that he was banging the drum for over and over again all year long, it's hard for me to be like, you screwed up, you done screwed up, even though everything he's told us about is what was happening these last two games. decision making the mechanics were better i mean sometimes it's a little crazy but definitely

we're better uh being accurate making good decisions i mean all those things not not trying too hard to make a crazy play and just doing what the play calls for that's something he's been banging the drum for that's what he did tonight it was really good the second half was really good and it was all the stuff the kos he's been talking about so how can i be like why how dare you how dare you have him do all those things that you told them to do uh with turner it's a tough spot for turner it's pretty clear it's pretty clear that he's a jonathan grenard that's very clear and tonight he's kind of playing all over the place and you notice him on some plays uh you don't notice him as much i think as a rusher when he's not just putting his hand in

the ground and rushing but you got these two great players like what he's supposed to do um but he's I think he's had a good year overall, but, and I think he's taking big steps for it. I think he's developed a lot, but I think he is what you're talking about. I think he is just a rusher. And that's something they're going to have to find a way to get him into just doing. Let's see. KFT, if McCarthy could have started the year looking like this, we'd be talking about championships.

Let's not go crazy. But, yeah, I do agree that, you know, if he started the year like this, I think you're responding to order of operations. If he, if this was his first game, but he had to go through those other games to get to this point. So that's why you can't really do what I was doing. Dean, Will Reichert's the best kicker in the NFL. Hey, that's a draft pick.

That's a draft pick. You know, I get so exhausted of that conversation that I feel the need to point out, Naylor was a draft pick. this guy's a draft pick jay j was a draft pick turner's playing better he was a draft pick just so not that i don't know that they've missed on a lot i saw mackay blackman playing today i did have a thought though about like rouse not playing and blackman and uh reddy steward and nashon wright and guys like that

that i think this entire coaching staff just never even thought about since the minute they got here never thought about development with anybody else except for like McCarthy and Turner, like the valuable merchandise. And, you know, a guy like Naylor has been developed pretty well. But if these guys did, and Naylor showed right away, but if these guys didn't show right away, they just kind of moved on. Like they, they just have had no patience for guys that didn't immediately kind of show who they were.

And I think that's cost them as much as like not making good picks because some of these guys are elsewhere playing for other teams. And maybe that's a lesson to be a little more patient. Eric, do you re-sign Naylor and trade Addison? I mean, here's the thing about Jordan Addison. He's really good. And not only that, he's really young. Let me look up Jordan Addison's age.

He's not, he is not even 24 guys. I mean, I know that the off-season stuff is certainly concerning. and he hasn't had a great year, made a great catch tonight and a great route tonight. He hasn't had a great year, but he's been good. And I just would not want to give away a talent like that unless you're getting something really good in return. They would have to really think that Ty Felton was something. And we haven't even seen Ty Felton really on the field much at all. And in training camp, he was mostly a second and third teamer.

So I'm not sure that that would be the case. what I would want to do is try to try to slide some money around to make an offer to him to potentially be competitive. You might lose him just because or you might say, hey, this role is pretty good for you. I don't know. If I'm him, I'm looking to free agency. It would have to be a really good offer to peel away a 24-year-old with this much talent, even if he's going to be expensive.

But if your idea still remains to have J.J. McCarthy continue to develop the best case scenario And then 2026, 2027, those are rookie contract years. That's when you're still spending on guys. You're signing Addison to a contract, but the first couple of years probably aren't that expensive. If you can find a way to keep Naylor and keep this trio together, that opens up the door for next year to walk into training camp with the same guys and not have any turnover. I think they would love to do that. But I just, I don't, I don't know. I don't know.

And as far as what about Ty Felton? I mean, these three guys have been healthy. I don't know when you would play him over someone like Naler. I just, I just couldn't do it. A 24 year old who's this good, I couldn't, I couldn't move on from him unless it was a really great return. Oh, my tellus with Mattelis appearance, I talked about, the question was like, what was, how much money did you make on your first job?

And I think I had the lowest number because I maybe was the oldest in the video of 515 an hour working at McDonald's in 2002. Yep. Be nice to your McDonald's workers. That was my message. Class G. JJ and Jets are playing phone tag. Can't believe he's missing some of those. That one in the end zone left me speechless. Not down on him. I just don't get it. Brett, thank you so much for the super chat. Great content again. Thank you. Vikings beating the Cowboys almost as satisfying as beating the Packers.

Almost. Yeah, I mean, you like it when all of America watches them. that, you know, they were the reason, the Cowboys were the reason this wasn't flexed, right? And to have that happen and then them lose, yeah, that's satisfying. Let's see. Twiggy says, speaking of Jefferson, not getting much production, reminds me of our game against Iber Fluse last year when they decided to only cover Jefferson and it cost them. That's right. That's right.

Now, he did have opportunities today and they didn't come through. But I, yeah, I mean, I'll go back and look at it, but you're right about that. They did sell out last year, and it did not work last year either. Eric, how likely is it that we draft defensive talent that's not on the line that can play immediately with four Flores? If Flores is here, I assume he will be, but we'll see. With his exotic blitz's coverage learning curve would be steep. I think you have to get a corner or a safety. I think you really have to get a corner of safety.

I mean, Caleb Downs is probably going to be gone from Ohio State. there's a couple of corners that are listed as top 10 draft picks right now. I've got my eye on the secondary. It's got to be better. Like they are, they're just like 2023. They're papering over it with all these crazy blitzes, but you just don't want to have to do that. First name, last name, Jefferson, the ideal teammate.

His game should age well, but age eventually catches up. Yeah, I mean, he's nowhere close to that. Nowhere close to the age conversation with Jefferson. But the conversation to me is entirely, can you two just get on the same page and trust each other? Because imagine if they did tonight, I mean, eight targets. If they hit half of those, then it's an even bigger night for J.J. McCarthy. Still on the way there.

But anyway, bottom line is that this is a big win for the Vikings. There is a cynical part of me that wants to go, thanks for showing up for your sixth win out of 14. now, like, too little, too late. And I think that that snarkiness is deserved based on the rest of this season. I think if you're the person who is looking at this win and going, it's not a great team. It's a pretty bad defense.

And I don't know, you know, just why are we crowning everybody? I think that you're well within your rights of that. It's been a really hard season. There's been a lot of mistakes that were made, including tossing JJ right into the fire with the expectations. that he had, not having anybody else here to give him more time to develop and things that he clearly needed to develop in. At the same time, they needed this one pretty darn bad because if last week happened and

then they went to Dallas and just fell apart, well, then it really wouldn't have meant anything. Now it's a chance to build on something. And you talk about confidence. Sunday night football, America's team, playing that well against them, gritting into the end zone, making clutch throws, and really being the reason they won, the quarterback for the first time ever in the J.J. McCarthy era was the reason they won.

It wasn't cross-dog blitzes. It wasn't running the football. It wasn't a shutout. He was the reason from tape to tape, not just in the fourth quarter, come back. Oh, well, you know, he got down 21 and then made some plays. No, this was a complete game for the first time. And the reason your quarterback played better than their quarterback,

that's why you won. That's what they've been looking for from J.J. McCarthy. That's the challenge that was presented to him here in the final couple weeks. And I think that's part of that whole discussion of like, hey, I'm not going to talk about mechanics anymore. Like, you've got the tools. Go make it work. Go win some games.

Go prove it. And it was a prove it game tonight for J.J. McCarthy. That is significant. And that's something you can't really. just roll your eyes at and say it doesn't matter. Second half was real, legit, solid, if not excellent quarterback play from J.J. McCarthy. And now you go on to the next one and the next one and the next one and we see what we think

at the end of that. But it matters. It's another data point, but it's a larger one. Like last week, if we were making a plot, how much does this matter? Is the data points? The Green Bay one. Sorry, that's a big data point. This one, it's a big data point.

Last week, me, probably not. This week, I think so. So McCarthy has his best career game, and the Vikings are six and eight. They've got a chance to make this a respectable 2025 NFL season, despite all the things that have happened along the way. They've got a chance to create some serious optimism for 2026, which, oh, man, a couple weeks ago, I thought it might be impossible. And here we are. So well done by J.J. McCarthy. That's one.

And now on to the next. So we'll have a really fun time breaking this one down all week long, as always. Over at Purple Insider. Football have, you know, I've already got my instant recap over there. And then I'll have another column that is up by tomorrow morning. So I'm going to get working on that. Make sure you go check that out. And looking forward to the conversations to come. We got the round table.

Brian Murphy was in Dallas. we've uh so that's tomorrow night Tuesday uh jeremiah surils it's going to break this one down we'll see if he's starting to buy into j j mccarthy a little bit more and we will go from there so thanks everybody for watching the post game show i really enjoyed the conversation thank you for the the super chats that you guys threw in there if i missed one i'm really sorry um i got to be better about you know kind of keeping an eye out for that um but i really appreciate those of you who contributed and off we go, you know, every week, a new twister turn. That's why we love football. And what a week it was. I can't wait to talk a little more about the rest of this week

because it's just a crazy league. So thanks, everybody, and we'll talk to y'all very soon. Football.