The Vikings’ quarterback conundrum, if we can call it that (and if the team is thinking of it that way), is a complicated and interlocking puzzle.
Some of it boils down to simple questions of the health and age of 22-year-old J.J. McCarthy and 32-year-old Carson Wentz, but even those factors get complicated by other issues.
On Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast, featuring Star Tribune writer Andrew Krammer as a guest for our weekly Vikings film review, we ended up going pretty deep on quarterbacks.
I told him that my gut says McCarthy starts Oct. 19 when the Vikings return from their bye week, but Krammer was making no such guesses. It’s probably smart given where we stand now, which I will try to outline at the start of today’s 10 things to know.
- McCarthy has missed the last three games and didn’t participate in any team practices while healing from an ankle injury suffered in the Vikings’ Week 2 loss to the Falcons. Head coach Kevin O’Connell said McCarthy would get a lot of individual work this week during the bye and is expected to ramp up in team practices next week. But his health is still a question mark.
- But it is for Wentz, too. He left Sunday’s 21-17 win with a left shoulder injury before returning after halftime and eventually leading the game-winning touchdown. O’Connell gave a Wentz update Monday and said he was “pretty sore.” That’s his non-throwing shoulder, but the injury could bear watching.
- Wentz succeeded Sunday largely by executing a quick release passing game. That approach was necessitated by the Vikings’ injuries on the offensive line, which left them with just one healthy starter by the end of the game, but it also matched Wentz’s strengths as a veteran who can quickly diagnose a defense. Krammer described multiple plays on the final drive where Wentz made the sorts of quick decisions that McCarthy hasn’t shown he can make yet.
- The Vikings should have a healthier set of offensive linemen when they return from the bye, but just how healthy remains to be seen. The question then becomes: If the Vikings want to turn things back over to McCarthy against the Eagles, is he able to execute the type of game plan they were giving Wentz?
- And even if McCarthy can execute a read-and-react quick throw offense to a reasonable degree out of necessity behind a weakened offensive line, is that really the best thing for his long-term development? Of his multiple assets as a QB, making accurate throws on intermediate routes — patterns that require the offensive line to block longer than they would on quicker plays — is at or near the top. O’Connell will have to shake out all these puzzle pieces and figure out how they fit together in time to play the defending Super Bowl champions.
- Did Bill Belichick get a dreaded vote of confidence or a reassuring one on Wednesday? Either way, reports and rumors of dysfunction at North Carolina are swirling. Could Belichick be making a hasty exit in the middle of his first year?
- Ex-Twin Louie Varland had a huge bounce-back outing Thursday, getting four outs at the beginning of the Blue Jays’ bullpen game as they beat the Yankees 5-2 and eliminated New York from postseason play.
- Vlad Guerrero Jr. and David Ortiz celebrating the Yankees’ loss in front of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez was fantastic TV.
- A’ja Wilson didn’t clinch the WNBA title for Las Vegas, but her tough tiebreaking jumper in the final second of the Aces’ 90-88 win did give them a commanding 3-0 lead over Phoenix in the best-of-seven series.
- Star Tribune columnist La Velle E. Neal III is expected to join me on Friday’s podcast for our Daily Delivery debate segment.
