That's back-to-back solid performances for J.J. McCarthy
The Minnesota Vikings were officially eliminated from the NFC playoffs, but have won consecutive games after a Sunday Night Football win over the Dallas Cowboys. J.J. McCarthy has stacked two straight good games with three to go and has his arrow pointing up with the young quarterback playing with confidence. If you don't believe he's confident, the griddy into the end zone on the play action bootleg for a rushing touchdown is evidence enough.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday's win over Dallas:
McCarthy continues his solid play
Three more touchdowns on the night for McCarthy, including a rushing touchdown, and the offense has back-to-back 30-point games. Yes, McCarthy threw an interception on his first throw of the day from a deflection, but he had zero turnover-worthy plays and three big time throws (11.5%). With an 108 NFL rating, McCarthy was credited with a dropped pass by Justin Jefferson, also.
It wasn't perfect with McCarthy missing receivers, but there is no doubt this is the best football he's played in his young career. Under pressure, McCarthy performed very well, going 4/7, with 97 yards, 13.9 YPA, and a touchdown. Even when being blitzed, the quarterback handled it well. On 30.8% of his dropbacks, McCarthy was blitzed, and he finished 4/8 with 59 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
The Justin Jefferson/McCarthy connection is still off
Whether it was an overthrow, an outright miss, or a drop, the Jefferson and McCarthy pairing just hasn't clicked. On eight targets, Jefferson finished with two catches for 22 yards, and is in danger of not finishing with 1,000 yards for the first time in his career. The connection seems so close, yet so far. Jefferson is open, McCarthy misses him, but Jefferson dropped a touchdown pass, which he will tell you he has to catch.
You would think in consecutive 30-point games, Jefferson would be lighting up the box score. It just hasn't happened with McCarthy under center.
Jonathan Greenard was a menace
Seven pressures, two sacks, four hurries, a QB hit, and two defensive stops on the night for the EDGE rusher. With a 90.6 pass rushing grade, Greenard was disruptive all night. In true pass sets, Greenard shined with five pressures, two sacks, two hurries, and a 30% win rate. His true pass set pass rushing grade of 93.8, Greenard paced the Vikings pass rush.
In only 24 pass rushing snaps, Greenard was the most dominant player on defense.