Film review: The good, the bad and the ugly from J.J. McCarthy’s fourth Vikings start

The reigning NFL Coach of the Year, the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell, can affirm his place as one of the game’s best with the remaining eight games that are promised to this year’s team.

If quarterback J.J. McCarthy makes all those starts as expected, it’ll double his current experience as the youngest starter in the NFL with four games under his belt.

His initial starts, including Sunday’s season-low 47.6% completion rate against a talented but vulnerable Ravens secondary, have offered many lessons and plays he wants back.

“There’s a lot of them,” McCarthy said after the game. “I just feel like there’s so much on the tape that it’s going to reveal, but the amount of tipped balls that happened [Sunday] at the line of scrimmage. Those are absolutely killer.”

As far as what McCarthy can control, which is a lot as the quarterback, his inconsistent pocket presence and improper arm angles led to some of those tipped passes. Inaccurate throws continued across the field.

He took the blame for eight false starts, one called directly on him, while offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said there will be a “clearer” plan moving forward.

With a mounting to-do list, O’Connell reiterated his confidence in McCarthy.

You’ll often hear O’Connell and the quarterbacks under him reference the position needing to play “point guard.”

Finding completions within plays designed to give the quarterback answers at multiple levels of the field, so he has a correct choice regardless of what the defense does.

That’s why McCarthy’s completion percentage — 47.6% — deserves mentioning again, and why he was praised by O’Connell for checkdowns that found yardage despite the potential for more downfield.

McCarthy vs. the Ravens

The Vikings wanted to attack the Ravens downfield and there were flashes of that production, particularly with receiver Jalen Nailor.

“We wanted to take some shots in the game,” O’Connell said. “J.J. throws the deep ball very well, and we didn’t really get the value received from it in the football game outside of that third-down throw to Jalen early.”

“He had some great checkdowns,” O’Connell said. “One to Jordan [Addison] out in the flat on a tempo play.”

Another “to Aaron Jones on a play-action play out of the [two-back] grouping,” O’Connell added, “where he just kind of gets to the top of his drop, feels the defense lifting a little bit and we end up with 12 yards on a very simple play. And it’s just production moving the ball forward where it should not be a worldly lift to heaven, moving heaven and earth.”

Below is the 12-yard checkdown to Jones, in which Jefferson is left open on the same side of the field. They’ll take the completion and first down.

McCarthy had a couple of passes deflected at the line by blitzing Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton, but he got Hamilton in the first quarter with a pinpoint sideline throw to Jefferson with an unblocked Hamilton in his face to convert third down.

He completed just seven of 23 targets (30.4%) to Jefferson and Addison for 72 yards and two interceptions. The Vikings have work to do in helping McCarthy connect downfield.

The Ravens secondary has some top-tier talent in Hamilton and cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who intercepted one of those throws. That means Jefferson and Addison weren’t frequently wide open, although there were a handful of chances that McCarthy did not attempt.

His footwork also broke down as the game progressed, according to O’Connell.

“Like what happens to many quarterbacks as games go on, there were some inconsistencies there,” O’Connell said.

Beyond dropback steps and throwing positions, McCarthy’s pocket presence was also spotty and contributed to four batted passes at the line of scrimmage.

“With a lot of young quarterbacks in this phase of where he’s at right now,” O’Connell said, “it’s not just that subtle climb back to that safe spot, because I did think we had some good pockets for him. It’s the subtle climb, and then come into balance instead of two or three climbs, and then all of a sudden, that push or the block shot comes into play.”

McCarthy said postgame he wants to “work on all the different arm angles” that could help his passes find a lane.

In the two-play cutup below, you’ll see one instance where Addison is left with good leverage at the goal line because McCarthy takes “two or three climbs,” as O’Connell said, in the pocket toward a defensive lineman who bats down the throw. In another red-zone play, McCarthy’s throw is batted down after slightly floating to his left as rookie guard Donovan Jackson is worked backward.

Some of McCarthy’s passes did not find their targets.

One potential 25-yard touchdown catch was dropped by Jefferson. But McCarthy overthrew Jefferson on a third-and-10 in the fourth quarter. He overthrew Jones on a screen earlier in the game. He and Addison couldn’t connect on an intermediate out-breaking route before halftime.

In this play below, you’ll see McCarthy scramble for three yards, leaving Hockenson open after the veteran found a void in Baltimore’s zone coverage. You’ll see Jefferson motion into the backfield and get knocked down by a savvy Ravens edge rusher, taking away Jefferson’s route that could’ve drawn coverage up for Addison’s in-breaking route downfield. McCarthy appears to progress too quickly and bolts instead of finding Hockenson on the other side of the field.

McCarthy’s turnovers will often be the most load-bearing mistakes given how critical possessions are in the NFL.

He could have had three picks had Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith not touched the U.S. Bank Stadium turf with the football during the fourth-quarter play.

In the play below, you’ll see McCarthy’s first interception by Ravens safety Malaki Starks. McCarthy’s ball placement appears off as Jefferson begins to float his deep route toward the sideline only to bend back inside the numbers to make an attempt at the throw. McCarthy likely needs to place this one outside the numbers to not give Starks a chance from center field.

On Monday, O’Connell said he “would not change” the third-and-1 play in the third quarter that ended in an interception by Humphrey.

But O’Connell defended the decision, saying he had a run play he felt good about for fourth-and-1 if the pass fell incomplete. Jefferson fell down after McCarthy released the pass, allowing Humphrey ample time to intercept the deep ball.

McCarthy was nearly picked off again in the fourth quarter when he tried to throw an anticipatory pass to Addison as he ran behind Smith, the Ravens linebacker. But Smith is in good position, reads McCarthy’s eyes and nearly picks off a ball that should not have been put in harm’s way.