Giants quickly finding out Vikings were right to trade J.J. McCarthy

With his team trailing the Washington Commanders by three with less than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter on Thursday, former Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy had a golden opportunity to prove to the New York Giants that they made the right decision to trade for him back in September.

McCarthy's first throw of the drive was an impressive one, as he zipped a pass to his left and into the hands of Giants rookie receiver Malachi Fields for a 21-yard gain. New York was already able to move to the Washington 48-yard line after one play and didn't need to gain much more to get into field-goal range.

However, that would turn out to be McCarthy's only good throw of the drive.

On the next play, with a Commanders blitzer right in his face, the former Vikings quarterback rifled a pass to the left sideline where no Giants receiver was anywhere to be found.

It seemed like there was a possible miscommunication between McCarthy and Fields on the play, and that's to be expected for a quarterback in just his third start with the team.

But then came the next two plays, and if Minnesota fans were watching at home, they were likely doing a version of the Leonardo DiCaprio meme where he points at the TV screen.

On a 2nd-and-10 from the Commanders' 48-yard line, McCarthy got the ball and attempted to throw it deep down the right side of the field to New York receiver Darnell Mooney.

But on the play, Washington brought the blitz, and thanks to not being picked up by a single Giants blocker, Commanders safety Jeremy Reaves was able to hit McCarthy's arm right as he threw the ball. Because of this, the throw traveled through the air more like a punt, and it was almost picked off by Washington cornerback Rasul Douglas.

McCarthy got away with one there, so one would think that after the close call, he'd probably want to just complete a few simple passes and get New York into field goal range to force overtime, right?

Well, if you thought this, you were wrong.

On the very next play, the Commanders brought the blitz again, and instead of quickly throwing to his right to a wide-open Fields, McCarthy launched another moon ball in the direction of Giants receiver Malik Nabers.

Unlike the previous play, though, Douglas was able to intercept this pass, which ended up sealing the victory for Washington.

Pressure continues to be too large for J.J. McCarthy to overcome in Giants' loss to Commanders

First off, let's not excuse McCarthy's overall numbers from the matchup, because he definitely put together a solid performance.

In the loss to Washington, the former Vikings quarterback completed 23 of his 36 pass attempts (64 percent completion rate) for 293 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. McCarthy also added 34 yards on the ground with six rushing attempts.

But when New York needed him the most on Thursday, the former Minnesota signal-caller fell short. Instead of being okay with completing a couple of short passes to get the Giants in field-goal range, McCarthy tried to be the hero, and it went terribly.

McCarthy is at his best when he doesn't have to do a ton of thinking after the ball is snapped, which is why he's looked pretty comfortable in New York, as they're having him run a bunch of plays where he only has to quickly fire the ball to his first read.

But that can only work for so long.

Eventually, the defense is going to find a way to take that first read away and force McCarthy to find another receiver, which is when he tends to overthink and make poor decisions.

Bringing the blitz is one way to get him to make poor decisions, and that's exactly what the Commanders and defensive coordinator Daronte Jones (formerly of the Vikings) did.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Washington only blitzed McCarthy on 28.6 percent of his dropbacks in the first half of Thursday's game. But then the Commanders turned up the heat in the second half with a 50 percent blitz rate.

The final drive is really when Washington's blitzing had the biggest effect on McCarthy, and it ultimately resulted in him committing a game-ending turnover.

Giants' approach with J.J. McCarthy isn't going to work forever

For what the Giants need currently, McCarthy is a fine quarterback for them. New York can win more games with him starting under center this season. But don't expect them to go on any sort of playoff run since he's also still not playing at a level that should concern any of the top defenses from around the league.

Minnesota asks more of its quarterbacks in Kevin O'Connell's offense, as it requires the passer to quickly process through their progressions out on the field during each play.

McCarthy was never able to literally get up to speed when it came to his processing time when he was with the Vikings, and it didn't seem like something that would ever improve.

In McCarthy's three starts for the Giants this year, he's gone up against a trio of defenses (Washington, Philadelphia Eagles, and Houston Texans) that rank in the bottom third of the NFL in interception percentage.

Next week, New York is taking on a very good Jacksonville Jaguars defense that has already come up with 11 interceptions in its first eight games this season.

The Jaguars are not about to sit back and just let McCarthy throw to his first read all day. Jacksonville is going to do everything they can to force the former Minnesota quarterback to go through his progressions because they know it will eventually lead to him making mistakes.

Perhaps New York can come up with a good plan to not put McCarthy's weaknesses on display next week, but there's a good chance that the Giants are going to continue to understand why the Vikings were okay with just getting a fifth-round draft pick in return for him back in September.

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