Not even a week after Minnesota Vikings fans started to think, "Hey, we might have a quarterback", they were forced to temper their expectations when it came to J.J. McCarthy and his future as an NFL quarterback. Through his first eight quarters of NFL play, McCarthy has played well for one quarter.
His Week 2 outing against the Atlanta Falcons was particularly rough, as the former first-rounder out of Michigan completed just 52.4 percent of his passes for 158 yards and two picks while getting sacked six times. It probably hasn't helped with the hype/overreactions that the first two games of McCarthy's career have come in primetime either.
Be that as it may, the sky is not falling here. McCarthy has had more downs than ups so far, but Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer urged everyone to be patient with the guy as he tries to acclimate to being an NFL starter.
"I think too often what happens in these situations is we judge everybody in a vacuum. We judge everybody based on what they're doing on a week-to-week basis, which we have to do. Everybody's got column inches to fill. Everybody's got airtime to occupy.
The reality is, too often these guys aren't given enough patience. And I think we saw the flashes from J.J. on that Monday night against Chicago in the fourth quarter. We have to give him time to develop.
He lost almost his entire rookie year last year because of the knee injury. He didn't have a chance to get very many physical reps as a rookie. So essentially, in some areas, he's still developmentally a rookie.
So, you know, it didn't look good on Sunday night against the Falcons for three quarters. It didn't look good against the Bears. But I think giving J.J. McCarthy some runway and some time is important. And I think maybe the injury gives him a chance to reset and take a look at himself again."
Breer is absolutely correct with this line of thinking. McCarthy missed his entire rookie season due to injury, so of course, there are going to be some struggles early on as he tries to figure out what he's doing. He'll have some time away from starting, as he deals with a high-ankle sprain, an injury that some Vikings fans are doubting is legit.
Albert Breer urges Minnesota Vikings fans to be patient with J.J. McCarthy
It's understandable why fans might find themselves being impatient here. We're in Year 4 of the Kevin O'Connell era, and McCarthy is the first quarterback the Vikings have drafted with the hopes of developing since O'Connell became the head coach.
He's done wonders for Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold, and now fans expect to see that same kind of production from McCarthy.
A quarterback doesn't become great overnight, though. McCarthy missed an entire year of development, and he's basically a rookie now. Breer did bring up how it'd be interesting to see what Carson Wentz can do for the Vikings offense while McCarthy is out.
"It'll be interesting to see what Carson Wentz looks like in the offense, especially since the Vikings made the decision during camp to trade away Sam Howell and bring in Carson Wentz. So keeping an eye on how all of that plays out, it's going to be really interesting as well."
We're two games into a 17-game regular season, and for McCarthy, we're two games into what's hopefully a long career. Fans just need to give it time and let O'Connell work his magic.