Our Quarterbacks
These are my thoughts after a very limited sample of exhibition game action. All thoughts to be served with a grain of salt!
Kyler - he looked about like I expected. Didn't set the world on fire, but he can deliver the ball when he needs to. I think KOC went run heavy to avoid contact for his #1, no need to put him in harm's way for a nothing game. He needs all those #1 camp reps to get better timing down with his targets and keep learning this offense. He should look better as the season goes on and that stuff settles in.
JJM - well surprisingly I thought he looked better in one area, which was delivering the ball on time from a clean pocket. Last year he struggled even with that. His accuracy is still suspect but again, maybe a little better from a clean pocket.
The problem is when he's under pressure. He honestly to me looks like he might have regressed and he was already really bad. His go-to move when it turns chaotic is a sidearm sling from his upper body, with no base or discernable footwork at all. This is going to be an off-target ball or an interception 90% of the time in the NFL.
I don't know how you fix that, even if he were playing all the games and he's likely to just be practicing. I maintain that the best thing for him would be to go play in the CFL or USFL where he could get constant live reps for some team and learn to play under pressure. If that learning is possible, I don't know if it is.
Carson - was exactly what I expected. This guy can look like an all-pro on one play and a total dud on the next. He is a roller coaster and it's not game to game or even half to half or series to series, it's like every other play. He's good enough to backup but he's not leading anyone to a title if he has to take over a season for an injured guy. Right now I'd put him slightly above JJ for #2 but honestly that is only because he can in fact deliver under pressure more often than JJ and has a ton of experience in the NFL.
Max Gopher - ya gotta love our little Golden Gopher but he seems somewhat snakebitten. He gets in a game and throws the underhanded pick six in Seattle, or has 3 net yards passing against Detroit, or plays one series today and goes out with an injury. I think he eventually will do a KOC path and become a QB coach somewhere. I like him but I don't think he's destined to even be a backup in the NFL.
Well said @IceRatz16 .
McCarthy was so-so in the first preseason game, definitely wanted to see more from him but he didn’t throw a ton. Hopefully more next ps game if he’s still on the team by then 😔
Could say the exact same thing for Kyler too about his performance on Saturday.
IceRatz16 wrote:
Exactly what I've been saying as well. Fans seem to think that throwing fastballs your entire life and then suddenly being asked to take velocity off the ball is some simple adjustment you can make overnight.
Did anyone ask Brett Favre to take something off his throws? 😂 The guy fired the ball all over the field for his entire career. He also threw a ton of touchdowns...and a ton of interceptions. That was who he was as a quarterback.
What I saw in this game was McCarthy trying to do almost the exact opposite of what he's done his entire life. He's trying to take velocity off the ball, add touch and throw more changeups instead of fastballs. Some of those balls are going to look like floaters while he's figuring it out.
And here's the part that seems to get lost: that adjustment doesn't just affect the throw. It affects timing, anticipation and your entire internal clock. If you've spent your entire life knowing exactly how long it takes your fastball to get from Point A to Point B, and suddenly you're changing the speed of that pitch, you're going to have to recalibrate everything around it.
You're literally asking a 23-year-old QB to alter something that has been ingrained in him his entire life. That's not going to magically become second nature after a handful of practices and preseason snaps.
And I'm not saying the adjustment will work. Maybe it won't. Maybe his accuracy will continue to be a problem. Maybe the coaches ultimately decide he isn't the guy. But I don't understand how anyone can watch him trying to make a fundamental adjustment to his throwing mechanics and conclude that we've now seen the finished product.
I'm probably one of the most impatient people here, but for some reason I still see something in McCarthy that makes me want to see more. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll get much of that now with Murray at the helm and a fanbase ready to dissect every McCarthy throw while simultaneously celebrating Wentz for looking "poised" after throwing lame ducks into the end zone and having two balls knocked down at the line. 😂
If Wentz makes a couple nice throws, it's "veteran poise." If JJ makes a bad throw while trying to change something he's literally never had to change before, it's "he's broken."
That's the part I just don't buy.
Well said. That is why I said let him go. Trade him. He will be a really good QB, and things will slow down for him by about 25. If you watch his press conferences, you can tell he is just too young yet. We don't have that time. Something will click; he just has too much of what it takes to be an NFL QB for him not to have a good career. It just won't be for the Vikings.
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