Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy struggles in home opener against Atlanta Falcons
Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) throws under pressure from Chicago Bears defensive lineman Gervon Dexter Sr. during the second half of an NFL football game Sept. 8 in Chicago.
Nam Y. Huh | AP
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: All right. We talked about the Lynx. But for Minnesota sports fans focused more on football and baseball, this weekend wasn't the greatest. The Vikings lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 6 to 22, in their home opener. The Gophers lost to the California Golden Bears in Berkeley, and the Twins lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Target Field. Joining me now to put these losses into perspective, our sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Hey, guys.
ERIC NELSON: Happy Monday, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Hey.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Nina, how are you today?
NINA MOINI: We saved all the losses for you guys.
ERIC NELSON: Oh, the trifecta.
NINA MOINI: You're welcome. [LAUGHS] So, Wally, what went down with the Vikings?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, boy, where shall I start?
[LAUGHTER]
OK. Let's start with this, the number four and the number six.
NINA MOINI: OK.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: OK? The number six, the number of times that quarterback JJ McCarthy was sacked last night. In other words, trying to pass the football and tackled before he was able to do so--
NINA MOINI: Yeah.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: --for those of you who are novices. And I'm not criticizing. I'm just saying, that's what it was.
NINA MOINI: Oh, no. That's me. You can define all the terms.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: OK. Fair enough. And then the number four, turnovers, the number of times that the Vikings either fumbled or got intercepted last night. Actually, one of them was a muffed punt, but we'll call that a fumble for the sake of argument.
NINA MOINI: All right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. Just really not a good game. Mistake-filled game for the Vikings. Injury-filled game for the Vikings, which I think is really going to be critical going forward. They lose, as you mentioned, 22 to 6. That was their worst home opener loss--
NINA MOINI: Wow!
WALLY LANGFELLOW: --since 2014, when they got clobbered by the New England Patriots, 30 to 7. That game was played over at Huntington Bank Stadium. That's when the Vikings were playing on the University of Minnesota campus while US Bank Stadium was still being built.
NINA MOINI: Right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: So Vikings don't score a touchdown last night. The Falcons dominated, running back Dijon Robinson 143 yards carrying the football. So he had a big game, controlling the line of scrimmage, controlling time of possession. So in other words, the Falcons had the ball a lot more than the Vikings. They had the ball for over 36 minutes. That would leave the Vikings with about 24 minutes.
You're not going to win many football games that way. That's for sure. And then as for the injury, left tackle Justin Skule, who is replacing injured left tackle Christian Darrisaw, went out with a potential concussion. So that put in third-string left tackle Walter Rouse, and then starting center Ryan Kelly goes out. Center Michael Jurgens comes in.
So I think that they have a lot to be concerned about with regard to injuries going forward and the fact that they just didn't look very good. JJ McCarthy was 11 of 21, 158 yards. That's passing the football. Not very good numbers. Just all in all, a bad effort, and Kevin O'Connell, head coach, did not sugarcoat it afterwards. He said he was very disappointed in the way they played.
NINA MOINI: Eric, do you think that's a big deal when the team starts off on such a bad note? Or what do you think that means for what's ahead?
ERIC NELSON: Well, one thing, Nina, about the NFL, it's a week-to-week league.
NINA MOINI: Sure.
ERIC NELSON: So you don't want to have knee-jerk reactions with a win or a loss, but it's the way the Vikings lost last night. As Wally said, they were dominated physically. If you don't have an offensive line that can run block-- road grade, as I call it-- or pass block, and they did neither last night against Atlanta.
I would call the Falcons a good team, not necessarily a Super Bowl-bound team. Those are red flags, and they got to get that fixed quickly. And in comes Cincinnati on Sunday. Now, the Vikings are 1 and 1. The Bengals are 2 and 0. They squeaked past Jacksonville yesterday, 31 to 27, in Ohio.
Bengals quarterback Jake Browning scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard sneak with 18 seconds remaining, and Cincinnati is off to a 2 and 0 start for the first time since 2018. Now, that's the good news for Bengals nation. The bad news-- actually, devastating news is that Bengals starting quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a turf toe injury--
NINA MOINI: Oh!
ERIC NELSON: --another reason why I wish they played on grass instead of this plastic stuff. That happened in the second quarter. He's going to need surgery. He's going to be out for three months, and this will be the third major operation for Joe Burrow in his six seasons with the Bengals. And he's one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, Nina. He's played in two Pro Bowls, one Super Bowl. He won the 2019 Heisman Trophy at LSU, and his teammate with the Bayou Bengals was Justin Jefferson.
NINA MOINI: Oh!
ERIC NELSON: Yeah. So they know each other very well. But now Cincinnati is going to come in with their own injury woes, so Browning is QB1 for the moment. He used to play for the Vikings. He was an undrafted player, who signed in 2019 with Minnesota. He played at Washington. He was here for two years then went to Cincinnati. And one other Bengals note. Their top wideout is Ja'Marr Chase, and yesterday, he blew up. He had 14 receptions for 165 yards and a touchdown in that win over the Jaguars.
NINA MOINI: Oh!
ERIC NELSON: Chase also played with Burrow and J [? Jets ?] down at LSU, and I know that Chase and Jefferson are close. They're both from Louisiana. They keep tabs on each other, and I think there's a little rivalry as to who's the better receiver. Well, right now, it's Chase statistically because Jets was on a milk carton last night. He only had three catches. He disappeared.
NINA MOINI: [LAUGHS] All right. All right, you guys. We'll have to leave it there. But we appreciate you rounding up those losses and setting the scene for us. Thank you, both.
ERIC NELSON: All right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: All right.
ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Thank you. Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score sports magazine and cohost of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. Eric Nelson is the other host of that show and the Minnesota Vikings reporter for Odyssey's Gridiron GameDay and SiriusXM. That's it for Minnesota Now. We hope you'll join us right back here tomorrow at noon, and have a great rest of your Monday.
[THEME MUSIC]
ERIC NELSON: Happy Monday, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Hey.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Nina, how are you today?
NINA MOINI: We saved all the losses for you guys.
ERIC NELSON: Oh, the trifecta.
NINA MOINI: You're welcome. [LAUGHS] So, Wally, what went down with the Vikings?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, boy, where shall I start?
[LAUGHTER]
OK. Let's start with this, the number four and the number six.
NINA MOINI: OK.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: OK? The number six, the number of times that quarterback JJ McCarthy was sacked last night. In other words, trying to pass the football and tackled before he was able to do so--
NINA MOINI: Yeah.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: --for those of you who are novices. And I'm not criticizing. I'm just saying, that's what it was.
NINA MOINI: Oh, no. That's me. You can define all the terms.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: OK. Fair enough. And then the number four, turnovers, the number of times that the Vikings either fumbled or got intercepted last night. Actually, one of them was a muffed punt, but we'll call that a fumble for the sake of argument.
NINA MOINI: All right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. Just really not a good game. Mistake-filled game for the Vikings. Injury-filled game for the Vikings, which I think is really going to be critical going forward. They lose, as you mentioned, 22 to 6. That was their worst home opener loss--
NINA MOINI: Wow!
WALLY LANGFELLOW: --since 2014, when they got clobbered by the New England Patriots, 30 to 7. That game was played over at Huntington Bank Stadium. That's when the Vikings were playing on the University of Minnesota campus while US Bank Stadium was still being built.
NINA MOINI: Right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: So Vikings don't score a touchdown last night. The Falcons dominated, running back Dijon Robinson 143 yards carrying the football. So he had a big game, controlling the line of scrimmage, controlling time of possession. So in other words, the Falcons had the ball a lot more than the Vikings. They had the ball for over 36 minutes. That would leave the Vikings with about 24 minutes.
You're not going to win many football games that way. That's for sure. And then as for the injury, left tackle Justin Skule, who is replacing injured left tackle Christian Darrisaw, went out with a potential concussion. So that put in third-string left tackle Walter Rouse, and then starting center Ryan Kelly goes out. Center Michael Jurgens comes in.
So I think that they have a lot to be concerned about with regard to injuries going forward and the fact that they just didn't look very good. JJ McCarthy was 11 of 21, 158 yards. That's passing the football. Not very good numbers. Just all in all, a bad effort, and Kevin O'Connell, head coach, did not sugarcoat it afterwards. He said he was very disappointed in the way they played.
NINA MOINI: Eric, do you think that's a big deal when the team starts off on such a bad note? Or what do you think that means for what's ahead?
ERIC NELSON: Well, one thing, Nina, about the NFL, it's a week-to-week league.
NINA MOINI: Sure.
ERIC NELSON: So you don't want to have knee-jerk reactions with a win or a loss, but it's the way the Vikings lost last night. As Wally said, they were dominated physically. If you don't have an offensive line that can run block-- road grade, as I call it-- or pass block, and they did neither last night against Atlanta.
I would call the Falcons a good team, not necessarily a Super Bowl-bound team. Those are red flags, and they got to get that fixed quickly. And in comes Cincinnati on Sunday. Now, the Vikings are 1 and 1. The Bengals are 2 and 0. They squeaked past Jacksonville yesterday, 31 to 27, in Ohio.
Bengals quarterback Jake Browning scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard sneak with 18 seconds remaining, and Cincinnati is off to a 2 and 0 start for the first time since 2018. Now, that's the good news for Bengals nation. The bad news-- actually, devastating news is that Bengals starting quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a turf toe injury--
NINA MOINI: Oh!
ERIC NELSON: --another reason why I wish they played on grass instead of this plastic stuff. That happened in the second quarter. He's going to need surgery. He's going to be out for three months, and this will be the third major operation for Joe Burrow in his six seasons with the Bengals. And he's one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, Nina. He's played in two Pro Bowls, one Super Bowl. He won the 2019 Heisman Trophy at LSU, and his teammate with the Bayou Bengals was Justin Jefferson.
NINA MOINI: Oh!
ERIC NELSON: Yeah. So they know each other very well. But now Cincinnati is going to come in with their own injury woes, so Browning is QB1 for the moment. He used to play for the Vikings. He was an undrafted player, who signed in 2019 with Minnesota. He played at Washington. He was here for two years then went to Cincinnati. And one other Bengals note. Their top wideout is Ja'Marr Chase, and yesterday, he blew up. He had 14 receptions for 165 yards and a touchdown in that win over the Jaguars.
NINA MOINI: Oh!
ERIC NELSON: Chase also played with Burrow and J [? Jets ?] down at LSU, and I know that Chase and Jefferson are close. They're both from Louisiana. They keep tabs on each other, and I think there's a little rivalry as to who's the better receiver. Well, right now, it's Chase statistically because Jets was on a milk carton last night. He only had three catches. He disappeared.
NINA MOINI: [LAUGHS] All right. All right, you guys. We'll have to leave it there. But we appreciate you rounding up those losses and setting the scene for us. Thank you, both.
ERIC NELSON: All right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: All right.
ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Thank you. Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score sports magazine and cohost of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. Eric Nelson is the other host of that show and the Minnesota Vikings reporter for Odyssey's Gridiron GameDay and SiriusXM. That's it for Minnesota Now. We hope you'll join us right back here tomorrow at noon, and have a great rest of your Monday.
[THEME MUSIC]
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