Minnesota Vikings News and Links: Who Is Your QB?

The debate about when the Vikings should bring back JJ McCarthy to start is already raging. SMDH. Wentz is going to start again this week and this should be a tougher test. If he does well again, then the debate should get fiercer. If he does not do well then the calls to put JJ back in will increase and with good reason.

KOC is in a tough spot. He wants to develop JJ because he believes he is the QBOTF. He also wants to win games and compete for a title. The way the roster was constructed this offseason led many to believe the team was going all in or at least going to do everything they can to get back to the playoffs and win a game or more.

If Wentz is doing OK and the team is winning and he goes back to JJ and he has some customary rookie QB struggles, how will the team respond? Will some go to KOC and say that Wentz is the better option because they want to win games?

I think that Wentz will do OK and that KOC will go back to JJ when he is fully healthy.

For Wentz’s role as a trusted backup quarterback, it was good. For a Vikings franchise that needed to settle down from the volatile highs and lows of first-time starter J.J. McCarthy, it was even better.

“[He] came in and played point guard for us,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said of the 32-year-old Wentz, who set an NFL record by starting a game for his sixth different team in six consecutive seasons. “Ran the show, was efficient, he made great decisions, he got through his progressions and did a lot of things to help the Minnesota Vikings win today.”
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“This is the feeling that we chase,” O’Connell said afterward. “Now we’ve got to go back to work and start checking the box of being a consistent football team showing up on game day. … It showed some growth and maturity. The ability to come back and put a performance like that together really in all three phases is very encouraging for the future.”
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“That’s obviously what I want to do when I go out there,” Wentz said. “I don’t want to be the one making the plays. I just want to get it to these playmakers That’s always been my philosophy. We’ve got some good ones here. It’s been fun just seeing them work and practice. It’s only been a couple weeks, obviously. But seeing it live in a game like today — even [Justin Jefferson], just catching a little deep slant and turning it into whatever he did, 30, 40 yards, it’s fun for me to see that. Because my job is just 1-2-3, throw it, and let them do the hard work. That’s really the goal every time. I don’t want to be running around trying to make plays.”
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“The most important thing is Carson — whether it was the Thursday practice, the Atlanta week [where] he stepped in [for McCarthy] or having all the reps all weeklong, I think he’s learning what the type of people are in that huddle with him,” O’Connelll said. “If he just takes the right footwork, does his job, runs the show, there’s going to be people to throw the ball to.

“We’re going to be able to be efficient,” O’Connell continued. “And once we rectify the penalties being something that gets in our way from success, we will have a chance to be a complete offense. I think he felt that, and he felt like he could go out there and execute. I thought he gained kind of confidence and settled down as the game went on. And I’m really proud of him. This is the vision you have [for him]. I thought that his poise, his calmness, and his do-your-job kind of effectiveness as the quarterback provided poise for everybody in that huddle.”

Did Kevin O’Connell really decline to commit to J.J. McCarthy as the Minnesota Vikings’ starting quarterback once he’s ready to return from a high ankle sprain?

Decided for yourself. Here’s what O’Connell said Monday when asked if he’s 100% committed to McCarthy starting once he’s healthy.

”Yeah, I think first and foremost, he’s got to get healthy. And then, throughout that process, I don’t think it’s one of those things where it’s, ‘Hey, the day he’s healthy.’ And if he’s healthy the night before a game, we’re going to just throw him out there and say, ‘Hey, go figure it out’ type of thing.

“I think we saw, as phenomenal as he was getting prepared for the Atlanta game, he did miss practice that week. And when you’re in the phase of building up the 10,000 reps and 10,000 hours of what it takes to play the position at a very high level, which we know J.J. McCarthy is going to do, you can’t cut corners on that.”

In other words, O’Connell had a roundabout way to explain McCarthy will probably need a full week of practice reps before returning to his starting role.
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During CBS’ broadcast of Sunday’s Vikings-Bengals game, sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson said Minnesota plans on getting McCarthy back after the bye. O’Connell didn’t confirm her report, but he did make it clear that McCarthy won’t be rushed back.

“I would not say that’s accurate,” O’Connell said. “I would just say that probably stems off the conversation of him making the trip with us. And I think what is accurate is the idea of no matter how much I believe J.J. would go out there and tough it out today, tomorrow if we asked him to, to me, at this point in a very young career, his mobility is one of his weapons that has clearly already shown to be something that’s a positive for him. We want to make sure he’s healthy and allow this to be
something that we can put in the rear-view mirror and continue on with where he’s at in his young
career here.”
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“We’re going to take it a day at a time,” O’Connell concluded about McCarthy. “He responded well to treatment early on. He’s out of the boot, and now it just becomes the phase of high ankle kind of rehab that we’re going to hopefully be able to get him back up to speed pretty quickly.”

Vikings offensive snap counts vs. Bengals (out of 60)
C Michael Jurgens: 60
LG Donovan Jackson: 56
WR Jalen Nailor: 50
WR Justin Jefferson: 48
RT Brian O’Neill: 48
RG Will Fries: 48
QB Carson Wentz: 48
WR Adam Thielen: 45
TE T.J. Hockenson: 41
LT Christian Darrisaw: 38
RB Jordan Mason: 36
OL Blake Brandel: 26
TE Josh Oliver: 21
RB Zavier Scott: 17
TE Ben Yurosek: 13
WR Tai Felton: 12
RG Joe Huber: 12
LT Walter Rouse: 12
QB Max Brosmer: 12
WR Myles Price: 10
RB Cam Akers: 7

Top 5 PFF grades on offense (min. 20 snaps)

Vikings defensive snap counts vs. Bengals (out of 56)
S Theo Jackson: 50
S Josh Metellus: 46
OLB Jonathan Greenard: 44
LB Ivan Pace Jr: 43
CB Byron Murphy Jr: 42
LB Eric Wilson: 41
CB Isaiah Rodgers: 41
DT Levi Drake Rodriguez: 38
OLB Dallas Turner: 34
DT Jalen Redmond: 34
DT Jonathan Allen: 33
DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins: 28
CB Jeff Okudah: 28
S Harrison Smith: 22
OLB Bo Richter: 15
CB Dwight McGlothern: 15
OLB Chaz Chambliss: 14
S Jay Ward: 13
DT Javon Hargrave: 11
LB Austin Keys: 8
OLB Andrew Van Ginkel: 8
S Tavierre Thomas: 6
LB Kobe King: 3

Top 5 PFF grades on defense (min. 20 snaps)

McCarthy was bad in seven of eight quarters, but it’s not like Wentz answered every question in his first start. He had an outstanding opening drive for a touchdown but was a bit shaky from there, completing 14-of-20 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns. But he attempted just 10 passes more than 10 yards down the field, and only two beyond 20 yards, both of which were incomplete.

We still don’t know how Wentz will perform under significant pressure. A closer game would bring that pressure, and so too could the Steelers, who had five sacks in a win over the Patriots on Sunday.

Adam Thielen has only two catches for 26 yards in three games this season. He went without a catch in Week 1 against the Bears and in Week 3 against the Bengals. With Jordan Addison’s three-game suspension over, what will Thielen’s role be going forward?
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Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell believes the return of Addison gives Minnesota an added dimension that will help open the offense for Justin Jefferson, Jalen Nailor and Thielen.

“He’s been able to be in the building and be in meetings and things to stay sharp mentally. And so now, it’ll just be getting him a full week of work,” O’Connell said of Addison.

“And you look at the way Speedy (Jalen Nailor) has been consistently on tape, one of the guys that pops off the tape. I think Adam Thielen, although the targets and the reception numbers might not be there, has been wildly impactful in my mind, with some of the jobs we’ve asked him to do, run game, helping a little bit out on the edges here and there, and then, his opportunities will come.”

O’Connell pointed out Monday that Thielen nearly made a touchdown catch when Carson Wentz lobbed a pass just out of his reach in the end zone against the Bengals.

“We almost had one early on in the game there, where Carson tried to find him, kind of off of a hard run action where he had to move up in the pocket — and we’re going to have some ops like that to Adam throughout the year,” O’Connell explained.

“And now, the way I look at it is, with Jordan back, we really have four starters at that receiver position, and we’ll use those guys accordingly and try to keep people fresh and make sure we’re maximizing the fact that we’ve got really good depth at that position.”

For Thielen, it’s been a whirlwind. He was traded from Carolina to Minnesota less than two weeks before the start of the regular season. It still hasn’t been a month since the trade, so the pressure of adjusting to O’Connell’s offense while being asked to be the No. 2 receiver has complicated the first month of the season, which he says is when teams are trying to iron out the wrinkles.

”“I think at the end of the day, regardless of who was at quarterback, we’re learning as an offense, as a team, as the play-callers — I think everyone’s learning what we’re going to be be. Even though you have your scheme, the first three, four, five weeks of the season you’re really just trying to figure out what you do well, what we can lean on, what we’re going to do when it’s those really ‘weighty’ downs,’ Thielen said in an interview with KFAN’s Dan Barreiro on Monday.

“Once you get four, five, six weeks into the season, I think that’s really when you really start to settle in as an offense and figure, ‘OK, this is our identity,’” Thielen continued. “You have an idea of what you want that identity to look like, but it kind of shows itself over those five, six weeks.”

J.J. McCarthy and Kevin O’Connell were texting Sunday night.

About the game, a 48-10 stomping of Cincinnati. About what McCarthy experienced, staying very engaged on the sideline via a device containing the details of Carson Wentz’s debut start for the Vikings, which involved Wentz neatly completing 14-of-20 passes for 173 yards, two touchdowns and no picks.

About what the 22-year-old McCarthy gleaned watching the 32-year-old Wentz do his thing.

“He was over there with the Surface tablet with Carson talking about some looks that maybe we hadn’t prepared for, ‘Hey did you see this? This is probably gonna be this call,’ ” O’Connell detailed at his day-after-game press conference. “[Quarterbacks coach] Josh [McCown] was pretty jacked up about that.”

There’s two-fold reason to be excited. Wentz “did a really nice job of playing point guard, throwing completions, allowing guys to win,” O’Connell noted. And McCarthy is finding positives in a negative.

“That’s one thing you love about him,” the coach said.
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The experience possessed by Wentz was critical to his efficiency in a pinch and particularly his ability to progress through reads quick enough to beat pressure. Wentz’s time to throw averaged 2.55 seconds per dropback, according to Pro Football Focus. McCarthy averaged 2.80 seconds and 3.31 in Weeks 1 and 2.

O’Connell tied the progression time to the bedrock of playing quarterback.

“It’s what allows players to play with poise and conviction,” O’Connell said of deciphering things a mile a minute. “And when you couple that with firm and repeatable fundamentals, normally within the lower half of the quarterback’s mechanics, you tie those things together, and then you have a system. Then you have rhythm. Then you have the ability for – it’s very difficult for a defense to take away all five eligible [receivers].”

It’s why “playing point guard,” with a punishing run game, worked for Wentz and Minnesota before embarking on an historic overseas adventure that begins Sunday in Dublin and wraps Oct. 5 in London.

“Because of the way we were able to have some body blows by running the ball, I thought our protection was solid for the most part,” O’Connell said. “We got loose on a couple of internal games here and there, but many of the times we stayed efficient with the chains, and we stayed efficient in some cases not having many third downs in the course of some of our scoring drives. That equals rhythm, too.”
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The late-night texts between coach and quarterback are symbolic of McCarthy’s fire to become the best version of himself. If Week 3 was any kind of sign, studying an accomplished veteran like Wentz may help McCarthy spin an injury situation into a silver lining – a chance to grow and advance his game.

Syncing up, from bottom to top, O’Connell implied, is essential to playing quarterback at a high level.

“Sometimes it’s the reactionary ability to still consistently play with the rhythm and the poise and the decision-making, and all that becomes much easier when you’re taking the right footwork and you’re balanced throughout the drop and reading with your feet,” he stated. “Whether they’ve played 20 years or they’ve played two games – that is an incredible weapon. And I think there’s value in J.J. seeing that.”

Purple faithful will be seeing green this weekend as thousands of fans descend on Dublin, Ireland.

After a successful weekend hosting college football, it’s now time for the pros to invade the Emerald Isle for the first-ever NFL regular-season game.

“With the Dublin games, this is brand new territory. Going to bring the energy. It’s going to be fun times,” Richard Dawson, co-president of the Vikings UK and Ireland Fan Club.

Fan leaders say they’re excited to welcome Minnesotans to Ireland and want to help ensure fans have a great time while being respectful to a culture that may be new to American football customs.

“Don’t do an Irish accent, because that won’t ingratiate you with anyone,” Tom Parry-Jones, the fan club’s content lead, said. “But, you know, be respectful. Enjoy the surroundings. Don’t be too loud.”

Feel free to pack the horns and war paint; Dublin won’t mind.

“If you’ve got a costume, please wear it,” Parry-Jones said.

Expect a compact, walkable city with a big-event atmosphere.

“Dublin is a small, compact, European city. You’re going to see tailgates. They want to make this a big party. You’ll be part of something big,” said Conor Brophy of the Irish NFL Show.

One of the big concerns for the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of their game in Dublin against the Minnesota Vikings this week is when the team will depart overseas.

The idea is that it’s better to leave earlier in the week so that players can adjust to the time change and jet lag that comes with the travel.

Apparently, head coach Mike Tomlin has learned his lesson after the team looked very sluggish in the 2013 London game against the Minnesota Vikings, as the Steelers wanted to leave earlier in the week this time around.

However, as Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported, the NFL did not allow them to do that.

“FYI, the Steelers wanted to go over early in the week, but the NFL said no and (is) making each (team) arrive at the same time,” Dulac wrote. “I don’t know the exact reason for the change… Maybe it has to do with something about competitive advantage. But it wasn’t the Steelers’ decision.”

As Dulac points out, teams have always been free to leave when they want, whether that be early or late in the week. One can only assume competitive advantage is playing a role in the NFL’s decision-making here.

Defensive lineman Cam Heyward is the only remaining Steelers player from that 2013 game and has previously stated how bad things were because of how late Pittsburgh left for London.

“We left Thursday night and arrived Friday morning,” Heyward said earlier this year on the Not Just Football with Cam Heyward podcast. “Everybody was asleep during practice. Everybody was falling asleep during the stretch.

”Then we had meetings after, everybody fell asleep there. Then, during the game, everybody was asleep in the first half. It’s rough because you’re going, what? It’ll be five hours ahead? So you’re trying to get sleep on a plane going over there. It’s not ideal.”

The Minnesota Vikings, like other NFL teams, continually tweak their roster throughout the season, and 2025 is no exception. The club added running back Corey Kiner to the practice squad this week.

Again, we all know the rules, but in case someone is new:

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