J.J. McCarthy, coming out of Michigan, was expected to have some learning curves in the NFL. In his defense, there isn't a player in the league who comes into the NFL and figures things out instantly, more often than not.
Of course, there are some outliers, but McCarthy's struggles were expected.
On the other hand, for a Minnesota Vikings team that was one of the best in the NFL a year ago, it's only fair to question what they’ll do. The Vikings are expected to win at the highest level, and any game they lose will be looked at under a different light.
J.J. McCarthy talks poor performance
Factor that in with how poorly they played against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, and those talks will be loud.
There were a few reasons why the Vikings lost, but McCarthy's play was certainly at the top of that list. He needs to improve moving forward, and according to his own comments, he understands that.
“Obviously, very disappointing loss. There’s a lot of things that come to my mind of just what we can do to get better. And just wanna give kudos to the defense, I thought they played absolutely outstanding,” McCarthy said, per the team. “We’ve gotta do a better job as an offense.”
“We’ve just got to do a better job of adapting and taking advantage of opportunities when we’re down in red zone to get seven points and not just leave three on the board,” McCarthy continued. “It starts with me. I’ve gotta play better, and we gotta do a better job operating this offense.”
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McCarthy is now dealing with an ankle injury, which could keep him sidelined for the next few weeks, according to multiple reports.
Hopefully, when he returns, everything will be good to go, and he'll figure things out.