Day 18 recap of J.J. McCarthy's performance at Vikings' training camp
The good, the bad and the in-between of McCarthy's day.
The Vikings wrapped up their training camp practices on Wednesday with a “mock game” at TCO Performance Center. Because the Vikings will play backups in their preseason finale on Friday in Tennessee, coach Kevin O’Connell gave all the quarterback reps to starter J.J. McCarthy and backup Sam Howell. Here’s a look at McCarthy’s day.
The unofficial and final stats for camp: McCarthy was 28-for-38 in 11-on-11 drills and was 129-for-180 (71.7 completion percentage) in camp. He was 1-for-3 in seven-on-seven and was 46-for-67 (68.9 percent) overall.
A busy day: McCarthy took 56 snaps in the practice. Why so much work? McCarthy and his teammates aren’t likely to reconvene for another practice until after cuts are made Tuesday. The next time they practice with any urgency will be to prepare for the Sept. 8 opener against the Bears in Chicago.
Closing time: The Vikings ended the practice with the first-team offense going against the first-team defense in a two-minute drill that started at the offense’s 25-yard line. The offense was down by four points. Wide receiver Jordan Addison had a rare training camp drop on McCarthy’s first pass, but the quarterback then completed four consecutive passes. McCarthy got the offense into the red zone and connected with T.J. Hockenson on a pass as the clock wound down but the tight end couldn’t get out of bounds as time expired.
Red zone work: McCarthy and the top offense got the better of the first-team defense on a third-and-5 from the defense’s 15. On what was a tough throw toward the sideline in the end zone, McCarthy hit Addison on a ball that the receiver managed to wrestle away from cornerback Isaiah Rodgers. That period ended with McCarthy throwing a pass out of bounds that was intended for Addison.