True but I love the stuff about JJ. Ice water in his veins, won’t leave the facility (won’t have to worry about him taking Tuesdays off), mental makeup, etc. Should be a fun season. Also, will be interesting to see if Ben Johnson can make Caleb Williams work.
Great read! Makes me even more optimistic about the future of the Vikings with JJ McCarthy taking command of the offense.
I get that JJ ran a pretty conservative, run-heavy offense at Michigan, but he made plays when he had to. The pass he threw as he was getting crushed by Dallas Turner in the Rose Bowl and the run on 3rd-and-long against Washington in the championship game come to mind.
I just rewatched the highlights from the 2022 Fiesta Bowl, the game I first came across JJ during our Skol Search era. He throws a couple of pick sixes, but I’m impressed with how he played in that game overall.
Of all QBs from the 2024 draft class, I wonder which QB Bruce Arians would select if he were to build a team?
100% agreed that JJMC is not essentially a rookie. He is so much farther along than actual rookies, in a number of ways, despite still being only 22.
The NFL is full of volunteers who know (or should) what they are signing up for, including thundering opinions based upon tiny data samples and randomness. Deserved or not, there will be copious pressure on JJMC; that's life.
But in terms of the time needed to reach the peak of his powers, that *coughs* revisits KAM's decision to spend so much money now--resulting in a shorter window. Barring some savant-like draft classes, the next two years are very likely to be the best rosters upon which JJMC ever plays. Hopefully it works, but it would have been nice to stretch that out to the next 3-5 years when JJMC will presumably reach that level of mastery.
We’ll see if it stays that way in the NFL, but McCarthy played with an anti Kirk/Ponder level of decisiveness in college that impressed me a lot. Kirk and Ponder were both plenty smart, and Kirk at least was clearly putting in the hours (outside of Tuesdays), but they both just didn’t play fast at times. I don’t think we’ll see that as much from McCarthy, but who knows.
That's not fair to Kirk. Ponder's calling was flag football; he could not look downfield against an actual rush. His eyes dropped, and that was that. They both played QB for Minnesota, but the commonalities end there. It's perfectly fair for Vikings fans to be disappointed with what Kirk did, but he was also good enough to win in Nola with two very clutch throws in OT.
It's also a much better league with Roethlisberger out of it, though he should be in a jail in Georgia.
Not trying to start a bash Kirk thread, or say he was an overall bad QB (I don’t think he was), but I don’t think it’s unfair to say he was the type of QB who was a bit of an over thinker and did not play fast and decisive football at times. Especially when learning a new offense, he just wasn’t always 100% comfortable out there in his decision making. McCarthy clearly spends a ton of time trying to get himself into a place mentally where he is playing fast and free, and I think that shows up in his college tape. Maybe that all comes crashing down with the increased pressure and complexity of offenses and defenses in the NFL, but I just think the best version of him is going to be stylistically a lot different from what we’ve seen around here as far as the mental part of the game goes.
There are clearly things to like and dislike about Cousins, and agreed that adapting after the snap was not exactly a strength. It's possible (likely?) that he had to play that way, because it was the only path to success given his physical gifts/limitations.
Part of playing QB is understanding what you can/cannot do, and then acting accordingly.
Excellent presentation.
All I remember is the article from the (behind the Athletic paywall)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5420456/2024/04/17/nfl-draft-quarterbacks-rankings-intangibles/
On QB intangibles. Of the 6 1st rounders, JJM was #1 (beat Daniels by a hair).. Completely owning the last spot was Caleb "Blue Fingernails" Williams.
Thanks for sharing. It’s a great read.
It is a really good article. Makes one worried about having to see Jayden Daniels over the years.
True but I love the stuff about JJ. Ice water in his veins, won’t leave the facility (won’t have to worry about him taking Tuesdays off), mental makeup, etc. Should be a fun season. Also, will be interesting to see if Ben Johnson can make Caleb Williams work.
JJ can certainly become a stud. Definite possibility
And yes… Very interested to see Caleb… Obviously the first season was hurt by mediocre coaching
Great read! Makes me even more optimistic about the future of the Vikings with JJ McCarthy taking command of the offense.
I get that JJ ran a pretty conservative, run-heavy offense at Michigan, but he made plays when he had to. The pass he threw as he was getting crushed by Dallas Turner in the Rose Bowl and the run on 3rd-and-long against Washington in the championship game come to mind.
I just rewatched the highlights from the 2022 Fiesta Bowl, the game I first came across JJ during our Skol Search era. He throws a couple of pick sixes, but I’m impressed with how he played in that game overall.
Of all QBs from the 2024 draft class, I wonder which QB Bruce Arians would select if he were to build a team?
100% agreed that JJMC is not essentially a rookie. He is so much farther along than actual rookies, in a number of ways, despite still being only 22.
The NFL is full of volunteers who know (or should) what they are signing up for, including thundering opinions based upon tiny data samples and randomness. Deserved or not, there will be copious pressure on JJMC; that's life.
But in terms of the time needed to reach the peak of his powers, that *coughs* revisits KAM's decision to spend so much money now--resulting in a shorter window. Barring some savant-like draft classes, the next two years are very likely to be the best rosters upon which JJMC ever plays. Hopefully it works, but it would have been nice to stretch that out to the next 3-5 years when JJMC will presumably reach that level of mastery.
We’ll see if it stays that way in the NFL, but McCarthy played with an anti Kirk/Ponder level of decisiveness in college that impressed me a lot. Kirk and Ponder were both plenty smart, and Kirk at least was clearly putting in the hours (outside of Tuesdays), but they both just didn’t play fast at times. I don’t think we’ll see that as much from McCarthy, but who knows.
That's not fair to Kirk. Ponder's calling was flag football; he could not look downfield against an actual rush. His eyes dropped, and that was that. They both played QB for Minnesota, but the commonalities end there. It's perfectly fair for Vikings fans to be disappointed with what Kirk did, but he was also good enough to win in Nola with two very clutch throws in OT.
It's also a much better league with Roethlisberger out of it, though he should be in a jail in Georgia.
Not trying to start a bash Kirk thread, or say he was an overall bad QB (I don’t think he was), but I don’t think it’s unfair to say he was the type of QB who was a bit of an over thinker and did not play fast and decisive football at times. Especially when learning a new offense, he just wasn’t always 100% comfortable out there in his decision making. McCarthy clearly spends a ton of time trying to get himself into a place mentally where he is playing fast and free, and I think that shows up in his college tape. Maybe that all comes crashing down with the increased pressure and complexity of offenses and defenses in the NFL, but I just think the best version of him is going to be stylistically a lot different from what we’ve seen around here as far as the mental part of the game goes.
There are clearly things to like and dislike about Cousins, and agreed that adapting after the snap was not exactly a strength. It's possible (likely?) that he had to play that way, because it was the only path to success given his physical gifts/limitations.
Part of playing QB is understanding what you can/cannot do, and then acting accordingly.