J.J. McCarthy Reacts to Randy Moss Joining the Manningcast: "That Was the Spark We Needed!"
In a surprising twist, J.J. McCarthy has weighed in on the game-changing moment when Randy Moss joined the Manningcast, and he’s not shy about the impact it had on the Minnesota Vikings' performance.
After the Vikings were trailing, Moss made a highly-anticipated appearance on the Manningcast during the live broadcast, and suddenly, the Vikings’ offense came alive. In a stunning turnaround, the Vikings scored 21-straight points, flipping the script in what many are calling a momentum-shifting performance.
“I swear, once Randy Moss jumped into the Manningcast, it was like a switch flipped,” McCarthy said in his post-game interview. “It was almost as if the energy from that moment transferred straight to the field. We were all fired up, and it felt like we had a whole new level of confidence.”
The timing couldn’t have been better. With the game slipping away, the Vikings found their stride immediately after Moss joined the broadcast booth, and McCarthy isn’t the only one pointing to it as the key turning point in the game. Fans and analysts alike are buzzing about the apparent connection between Moss' presence and the Vikings' sudden surge. Could the former NFL legend’s infectious energy truly have had that much of an impact?
With McCarthy’s comments sparking even more debate, some are now wondering if the Manningcast has found its secret weapon. Does Randy Moss hold the power to revitalize any team, or was this just a fluke coincidence?
Packers’ Colby Wooden Fires Back at Critics After Dominant Run Defense Performance
Micah Parsons, a contrarian opinion had taken hold, too–the Packers defense would get chewed up in the running game.Three days before the Packers were to play the Detroit Lions in their 2025 opener, defensive lineman Colby Wooden got a phone call. It was his father. While much attention had been foisted on the Packers in recent days after the stunning trade for pass-rusher
The Packers had to trade away stalwart defensive lineman Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, and the feeling was, that would be costly in the team’s efforts to handle the run. Detroit, after all, rushed for 2,488 yards last season, sixth in the NFL. Without Clark, surely the Packers would be in trouble.
Wooden, who is helping replace Clark in the middle, took the call from his dad, who said, “Do me a favor, shut ‘em up.”
And he, along with the entire Packers defensive front, did just that, holding the Lions to 46 yards on 22 carries, their lowest rushing output since Week 6 in 2023. Wooden, Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks held the line admirably in the middle all day for the Packers.
Colby Wooden: ‘I Took That Personal’
Wooden, for one, was insulted by the questions about the team’s inability to hold against the run.
“I for sure took that personal …” Wooden said. “So I just, did my job, went out there, stopped the run. I took it personal. Honestly, I felt like it was kinda disrespectful, like, ‘Oh, they gonna run the ball.’ So I made it my mission—we, excuse me—we made it our mission to shut them down.”
That’s not easy to do against the combo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles.
“We know what they want to do,” Wooden said. “Last year, they wanted to run. They call them Sonic and Knuckles, or whatever. They want to run them 30 times. So we know they want to run that ball. We’ve got to do our job to stop the run so they can get back and let (Parsons) go get them.”
Packers Filling Roles With Micah Parsons on Board
Wooden said the effect of having Parsons on the field was obvious, and it works both ways. When offenses focus on corralling Parsons, the other Packers must step up.
“Everybody’s got a job to do, everybody got a role,” Wooden said. “Everybody’s got to buy into their role. We know what attention and what he comes with. And we know we got to stop that run, go help him out, if he is getting is getting chipped, doubled or whatever, now it’s somebody else’s turn to win their one-on-one.”
Packers Have Commanders Next
And despite the obviously encouraging results, Wooden is not getting ahead of himself. The Commanders will be next on the docket, with fearsome young quarterback Jayden Daniels on hand.
“It’s just one week,” Wooden said. “It’s Week 1. It’s great to start off with a win, dominate. But we’ve got to keep it going. We got a good team coming here on Thursday, we know we got to be ready to stop that run and contain that quarterback. So we just gotta keep going, keep getting better, keep jelling.”
