Will it be J.J. McCarthy or Carson Wentz? Projecting who will start for Vikings
Kevin O'Connell didn't say which quarterback he intends to start in the Vikings' first game back from their bye, so I took a shot at figuring it out from what he said at his press conference.
At some point this week, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell will either announce that J.J. McCarthy or Carson Wentz will be his starting quarterback on Sunday against Philadelphia, or one of the NFL’s many insiders will break the story on social media.
This isn’t anything new.
I’ve covered the Vikings for 26 seasons and have lost count of the number of times a coach attempted to keep everyone guessing about which quarterback would get the start on Sunday. Oftentimes it leaked out before the day of the game, although I remember spending a Saturday night in a Kansas City hotel in 2007 trying to find out if Tarvaris Jackson or Kelly Holcomb would get the nod (Holcomb started; it didn’t go well.)
Of course, someone will have to get the majority of the first-team reps in practice when preparations for the Eagles game begin on Wednesday, but a coach often wants to keep this quiet to see if it can give his team an edge. O’Connell even said Monday that the “public” decision on the starter can be different than “what we’re going to do for the game.”
Translation: Everyone in the Vikings’ building can know who will start, but O’Connell wants to keep the public, and the Eagles, guessing.
Just because O’Connell didn’t answer the question on Monday doesn’t close the door for speculation on whether McCarthy or Wentz will be the Vikings’ starter in Week 7. Without further ado, let’s start speculating.
The situation: McCarthy, who threw two touchdowns, committed four turnovers and was sacked nine times in the first two games, returns to practice this week after missing the past three games because of a high ankle sprain suffered in a Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Wentz injured his non-throwing shoulder in the Vikings’ victory over Cleveland in their game before the bye week, but he was able to continue. O’Connell said Wentz has gotten his shoulder “to a good place.”
O’Connell on McCarthy: “I don’t necessarily want to put a percentage on where I think he’s at health-wise.”
Why not be more specific? Because if O’Connell doesn’t like what he sees from McCarthy — even if he’s completely healthy — the high ankle sprain remains an easy reason to hold him out. If O’Connell says McCarthy’s ankle remains an issue, it becomes difficult to call his absence a benching. Especially since McCarthy needs to be able to run in order to be effective.
Could that backfire? The only way O’Connell could look bad would be if he expresses concern about McCarthy’s ankle and then has him active as Wentz’s backup on Sunday. That would mean O’Connell feels that McCarthy would be able to play and, thus, it would look like a benching.