JJ McCarthy, Who Missed His Fifth Straight Game Tonight With An Ankle Injury That Is DEFINITELY Real, Looked Great Here Jumping Out Of Justin Jefferson's Way Before Celebrating The Vikings' First Down
Before we get into anything about football, it's absolutely ridiculous that our very own Marty Mush has been watching this game with giant captions going on in the middle of his TV. That's a form of self harm I wouldn't wish on any of you. TV shows or movies with captions are totally fine, but live sports is nuts.
Anyways, as I was watching TNF on my caption-less television, I couldn't help but laugh out loud as Justin Jefferson hauled in a sideline pass on 3rd down. As he hurled himself out of bounds, which teammate was there in his direct path of destruction? Who else, but JJ McCarthy of course. The Vikings QB quickly leaped out of the way before celebrating the first down for the Vikings. A non-story of a play until you remember JJ is sidelined once again with ankle injury. He's been off the field since the conclusion of Week 2 with a "high ankle sprain." An ankle sprain that no one saw him suffer in the Vikings loss to the Falcons on SNF. The Pro Football Doc told us JJ was good to go for Week 7 (in reality he's been ready since Week 2).
Tonight is Week 8 and he's the emergency 3rd QB on the depth chart behind Wentz and someone named Max Brosmer. Here was O'Connell's take on JJ's status leading up to tonight.
If you truly believe JJ is hurt then I've got a bridge to sell you and that was before anything happened tonight. Based off that leap out of Jefferson's way he might be the healthiest guy in the building. We're talking six weeks now for an ankle injury no one saw happen. You've got Adam Schefter lying for O'Connell on TV, trying to forget that the actual timeline was 2-4 weeks.
All of it so bizarre, especially when you remember O'Connell went so out of his way to declare McCarthy the future of the team. They went 14-3 with Sam Darnold and didn't think for a second to run it back with him. He's 5-2 in Seattle and playing good ball once again by the way, but that's neither here nor there. Please also ignore MVP candidate Daniel Jones being Darnold's 2024 backup. Two games into JJ's first actual season playing football and you quietly bench him? Sure, seven of the eight quarters he played were some of the worst QB play you'll see, but that's insane to just give up just like that. They're just willingly playing Carson Wentz in 2025. An injured Carson Wentz I may add. This dude is legit dying on the field giving Minnesota zero shot to win.
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Wentz has to be wondering why he's still out there at this point. If you're watching this game he flat out is refusing to throw the ball. Overall it's one of the more confusing situations going on in the NFL. If the plan was to sit JJ until he was ready that's fine, the Packers are the masters of that, but then why start the season with him for two games before pulling the plug? McCarthy showing he's as healthy as can be was the icing on the cake. Minnesota will be 3-4 after the loss to the Chargers tonight. I'm sure Justin Jefferson is ecstatic and definitely won't be requesting a trade in the offseason.