Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy is off to a historically bad start to his NFL career, and possibly to the surprise of some, his performance hasn't created a mutiny inside the team's locker room.
In fact, some even still praised McCarthy for his play so far this season, including Vikings safety and team captain Josh Metellus, who shared his evaluation of the young quarterback's performance this year following the team's disappointing loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
"I ain’t going to lie, I think [No.] 9 is playing great. When you don’t play as a full team and we don’t give each other a chance to win, quarterbacks get the blame. Just like DBs get the blame when some run pops off, we miss a tackle, and it goes for [a long gain].
It's never [just] one guy."
Josh Metellus says Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy is "going to keep getting better"
After likely surprising a bunch of people with his claim that McCarthy is "playing great," Metellus continued on about his thoughts about the second-year quarterback.
"In terms of his ability to grow and develop, we're talking about a guy who's had six starts? I think he's playing really well. I know he's going to keep getting better. I know the kind of guy he is. Shout out to J.J. for being able to step in and just keep going and ignore the noise.
I don't know too much [about] what's going on, but I know it's not just a QB problem. It's an all-11 problem. Whenever we're all on the field, we all have to play as one."
Metellus is not only a Vikings team captain, but like McCarthy, he also played his college ball at Michigan. So, it's possible that the veteran safety feels a bit of an obligation to help keep the confidence of Minnesota's 22-year-old quarterback above water, whether he truly believes what he's saying in public or not.
We don't get to see what McCarthy looks like in practice each week, but based on just how he's performed in his first six NFL starts, most probably wouldn't agree with Metellus's claim that he's "playing great."
McCarthy's name is now being mentioned along with some of the worst quarterbacks in league history because of how poorly he's performed in the first six games of his pro career.
Sure, it's up to everyone on the roster to do their jobs, like Metellus said, but McCarthy's play is literally having a big impact on how well some players are able to perform out on the field each week.
Metellus might think that he's helping McCarthy out by telling reporters that he thinks the young quarterback is playing great, but he's really not. The truth is, though, very few members of Minnesota's roster are playing great this season, and it's why the team is sitting with a 4-7 record after their first 11 games.