The Mona Lisa

[MaroonBells]

...of football highlights

[purplefaithful]

Now that is nice to see, so much to like about that one. 

REALLY looking forward to watching him in pre-season, even just a few sequences. I hope to see some of Brosmer too.

[NorseFeathers]

[StickierBuns]

This is McCarthy: always getting better incrementally. Working on weaknesses, solidifying strengths. He'll just get more accurate consistently, but he needs reps, reps, reps. KOC gives instruction, JJ implements process to improve, JJ improves. Wash, rinse and repeat. Issues in the redzone in a practice? KOC gives instruction, JJ implements process to improve, JJ improves. He's got the work ethic, the grinding professionalism and the shared vision with KOC that every single thing he does is meaningful and purposeful to improve, nothing wasted, nothing gratuitous. High aptitude, high ceiling.

He wants to be the best more than anything else....don't let the baby face and politeness fool you. That's a dawg.

[purplefaithful]

I find that surprising...

[StickierBuns]

More gushing....

https://twitter.com/i/status/1950576801383924160

[Montana Tom]

yeah, Aaron Jones has been one of his biggest cheerleaders since springtime. I am hoping he is correct, but seeds of doubt have been sown in my mind as I've read about his struggle against our #1 Defense. Now maybe that's not an indictment against JJM, or even our re-tooled OL, but is it possible that our new DL and Edge is that good? I am afraid to exhale until we see Chicago on MNF in early September.

[purplefaithful]

yeah, Aaron Jones has been one of his biggest cheerleaders since springtime.  I am hoping he is correct, but seeds of doubt have been sown in my mind as I've read about his struggle against our #1 Defense.  Now maybe that's not an indictment against JJM, or even our re-tooled OL, but is it possible that our new DL and Edge is that good?  I am afraid to exhale until we see Chicago on MNF in early September.

Not to entirely dispel concerns, but heck - Cousins struggled against it too - and that D wasn't as good back then. 

D's are just way ahead of offense this early in TC and JJM is still so green. 

I'm just hoping over time this season he can learn how to win with big time throws. Interesting perspective on that here:

Sam Darnold’s surprisingly very good season for the Vikings in 2024 generally boiled down to this: He was at a stage of his career and in a system that allowed him to generate more positive than negative plays with his considerable arm talent.

Darnold was tied for third in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, in the category of “big-time throws” with 33 of them. That’s a bit of a subjective category, but then again so is this one: he was tied for the NFL lead with 24 “turnover-worthy plays.”

There are more ideal ratios (Justin Herbert, for instance, had the same number of big-time throws with just 13 turnover-worthy plays), but it was notable at least for Darnold that the good outweighed the bad. That was not the case early in his career with the Jets; from 2018 to 2020, his first three years in the NFL, Darnold combined for 45 big-time throws and 61 turnover-worthy plays.

Darnold’s regression at the end of last season shows up in those numbers: one big-time throw and five turnover-worthy plays combined in crushing losses to the Lions and Rams.

A lot of us tend to think of big-time throws as deep balls, but there is more nuance than just long bombs. Sometimes it’s fitting an intermediate throw into a tight window, something Darnold was usually pretty good at last season.

It could be an area where McCarthy struggles, at least initially, particularly against faster and more varied NFL defenses.

“Where there’s a void and there’s a vacancy,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said this past weekend, talking about how McCarthy is working on improving his touch on certain throws, “but there might be a defender in front and a defender behind, and we’ve got to find a way to get that ball completed. That’s probably the biggest difference between college football and the NFL, at least with a lot of the passing attacks that I’m familiar with.”

In his final season at Michigan, McCarthy was credited with 20 big-time throws and 11 turnover-worthy plays in 15 games counting the postseason march to a national title. 

That’s an imperfect comparison considering Michigan relied more heavily on its running game than leaning on McCarthy to save the day, but it is notable that McCarthy produced big-time throws on 5.9% of his dropbacks during that season (slightly more than Darnold last year at 5.6%) while doing a better job of limiting turnover-worthy plays.

Can he replicate that in the NFL? That question will shape the 2025 Vikings and McCarthy’s career arc.

[StickierBuns]

I think some fans need to temper their expectations early: he's a rookie basically with zero regular season snaps going against a loaded BFlo D. He's learning. He's trying things. If they didn't believe in him, they'd have made Uncle Sammy a big offer or signed Aaron Rodgers. Patience, lol.

[NorseFeathers]

...If they didn't believe in him, they'd have made Uncle Sammy a big offer or signed Aaron Rodgers. Patience, lol.

Uncle Sammy came in at #72 in last year's NFL Top 100 list. Not bad for a bust. I think it speaks to KOC's belief in JJM that they let Sam walk. Here's to KOC's confidence in JJM and to 3rd round compensatory picks.