J.J. McCarthy is once again set to miss time with an injury. The second-year Minnesota Vikings quarterback missed all of last season with a meniscus issue and, now, after two regular-season starts, he’ll be sidelined for at least a few weeks. Let’s take a deeper look at what’s wrong.
J.J. McCarthy Dealing With High Ankle Sprain
McCarthy’s injury wasn’t evident and was somewhat surprised when reported. Late in the third quarter of a Sunday night primetime loss to the Atlanta Falcons, he scrambled for a 16-yard gain before being dragged down from behind by Kaden Elliss.
McCarthy didn’t enter the blue medical tent on the sideline because it was already being used, so athletic trainers checked on him and added athletic tape over his cleat.
While he finished the rest of the contest, McCarthy told the team it was bothering him on Monday morning.
For the next 2-4 weeks, understudy Carson Wentz will be stepping in for McCarthy, the national championship-winning former Michigan signal-caller. Through his first two NFL starts, McCarthy has thrown for 301 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions. Minnesota hopes that McCarthy takes a step forward this season after allowing Sam Darnold to depart to join the Seattle Seahawks in free agency during the offseason.
“It is crushing,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said, “because you just want it to be a daily process of activating every aspect of the development and learning.”
As of now, O’Connell doesn’t feel that McCarthy needs to be placed on the short-term injured reserve. O’Connell also denied that McCarthy’s time out will be because of his struggles.
“Not at all,” O’Connell said. “In fact, it was pretty crushing this morning to hear (about the injury). Look, for J.J., he’s in a long process, a long journey right now where there’s going to be some ups and downs.
And as a team, I think our ability to play a little bit more consistent around him on the offensive side, these one-off kind of critical errors that end up being totally out of J.J.’s control, we’ve got to find a way to eliminate those and limit them in any way possible. … But no, this is a purely medical-based thing that we’re dealing with right now.”
The Vikings face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. The Bengals are also without their starting quarterback, Joe Burrow, who will be out for a few months with a foot ailment.