JJ McCarthy Breaks Silence on Intense Interaction With Kevin O’Connell
Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy has a self-diagnosed anger issue, though it isn’t a problem in his mind.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported on Wednesday, November 5, that McCarthy’s emotional nature developed out of multiple injuries that cost him the whole of his rookie campaign in 2024 and five of the team’s first seven games this season.
“It really kind of started to show up this year, and it came about last year during IR,” McCarthy said, per Seifert. “Just never had a full season, where you want to be out there so freaking bad, but you can’t. It was just this built-up anger that was kind of ready to just explode, and I chose to harness it instead of letting it go into a self-destructive kind of way.”
The result is a persona that McCarthy refers to as “Nine,” a sort of alternate personality that takes over during competitive moments, particularly on game days.
It shows up in fiery facial expressions, including one caught on video when head coach Kevin O’Connell was speaking to McCarthy and his teammates in the locker room last week following the Lions game. The NFL shared video of McCarthy and his now infamous glare, including a clip of the face he was making while O’Connell addressed him directly in the locker room.
“Pure dawg 🔥,” the league’s official X account captioned the reel on November 4.
O’Connell joked that he now will simply “get the hell out of the way for my own personal safety” when McCarthy takes on his angry, Incredible Hulk-style persona in the locker room and elsewhere.
JJ McCarthy Says Vikings Aren’t Close to Full Potential
McCarthy wasn’t overly dominant against the Detroit Lions in his return following a six-week absence due to a high-ankle sprain, though he did everything he needed to do for the Vikings to win, move back to .500 and potentially avoid losing grip on their season.
He threw for for 143 yards, two TDs and one INT and ran for another score. He also made a key third-and-nine completion to wide receiver Jalen Nailor to ice the game.
McCarthy promised that the team hasn’t even come close to reaching its potential in the aftermath of the key road victory, while O’Connell noted that McCarthy is 2-0 in road games against the Lions and Chicago Bears across only three starts in his career (2-1).
O’Connell added that McCarthy, who has accounted for three touchdowns in each of those victories, has made clutch plays down the stretch each time.
JJ McCarthy May Be Getting Too Much Credit for Vikings’ Success in His 2 Career Wins
But despite small sample size success on McCarthy’s part and O’Connell’s praise of his 22-year-old quarterback, ESPN analyst Ben Solak took issue with the notion that Minnesota stood on McCarthy’s shoulders in order to win the game against Detroit last Sunday.
“Whenever the numbers look bad for McCarthy, there’s a protesting refrain: ‘He’s clutch! He’s poised! He just wins!’ McCarthy looked calm and controlled on the first two drives, which were scripted plays — but once the offense got off script and the Lions hit him a few times, his composure started to wane,” Solak wrote.
“This is a game to cast aside our quarterback obsession and see the forest for the trees,” Solak added. “To make McCarthy the story of this game is to totally erase the spectacular efforts of many Vikings — coaches and players. I simply won’t have it.”
Injury bug strikes Bruins again with another forward lost against the Senators
Through the first month of the season, the Boston Bruins have dealt with injuries on defense and with their forwards. First, it was defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who left the home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks, and he missed a good amount of time, and the Black and Gold went on a losing streak.
Last Thursday night, center Elias Lindholm took a heavy hit at center ice from Jordan Greenway and left with his own lower-body injury. He has been ruled out week-to-week by head coach Marco Sturm, leaving the Bruins down one key player. The last thing they can afford is another injury, and that was the case against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night at the TD Garden.
Bruins lose forward to injury against Senators
Forward John Beecher left early in the game against Ottawa, and during the second period, it was announced that he was not returning to the game with a lower-body injury. That is a big blow, as he has been playing well as of late in the lineup and has been one of Sturm's better penalty killers. His loss leaves them short a forward for the rest of the game.
While Beecher was lost for the night, the Bruins appeared to have dodged a big injury later in the second period. Defenseman Andrew Peeke has been hit with a hard check at the Senators' blueline in front of the Boston bench. He was leaning over the boards to the Boston bench after the hit as the game went to a TV timeout. After the timeout, Peeke made his way down the runway to the locker room for an undisclosed injury.
Whether or not he was directed there by the spotter isn't known, to he was treated for a potential concussion. The good news was that he returned later in the period and finished it out.
