Vikings @ Lions

[CharVike]

Just focusing on McCarthy's stat line it wasn't noteworthy. He finished 14/25 (56%) for 143 yards passing at a 5.7 YPA. He took 5 sacks and had a QBR of 54.5 (compared to Goff with a 44.4) and an overall rating of 82.6 (compared to Goff with a 108.4). Two passing TDs against an arguable interception along with one rushing TD.

McCarthy's stats track almost exactly with those of his first game against the Bears. In that game he was 13/20 (65%) for 143 yards passing at a 7.2 YPA. He took 3 sacks in that game, had a QBR of 50.4 and an overall rating of 98.5. He also had two passing TDs, a single interception (no question about that one as it was returned for a defensive score) and one rushing TD.

One would think McCarthy's outlier game would be the game against the Falcons, but he wasn't all that different in that one either save the result was much different. In that game he finished 11/21 (52%) for 158 yards passing at 7.5 YPA. He took 6 sacks in that game with a QBR of 6.8 and an overall rating of 37.5. The ratings were worse because he threw no TDs, rushed for no scores, and threw 2 picks.

If I had to pick out a difference between the two games McCarthy came out the winner, I'd say the biggest is that while his overall performance against the Lions largely tracked his overall performance against the Bears, he was more consistent throughout the game against the Lions than he was the game against the Bears. Against the Bears he did very little until a burst in the 4th when he did all his scoring, while against the Lions he put in a much more consistent overall performance.

Things I will be looking for from him going forward:

- Continue to improve his accuracy. He made some very nice throws against the Lions and generally seemed pretty accurate, but he had some pretty bad misses as well (sailing one throw over a wide open Jefferson, the throw behind Nailor that was ruled an INT). McCarthy throws a nice ball with plenty of velocity, but he needs to work on making sure it gets to where it can be caught only by his guy and where his guy has a chance to maximize yards after the catch.

- Develop a deep ball threat. McCarthy seems like he has plenty of arm strength to get it down the field, but he's not generally throwing it there, or if he is he's been overthrowing it. Being able to create a credible deep threat is key to making sure defensive coordinators don't bring one or both safeties down into the box where they can help stuff the run and bring extra pressure.

- Develop more pocket presence. There were times when McCarthy escaped pressure and kept himself alive as a passer, and times when he escaped pressure and tucked the ball with the intent to run. This will come with time and experience. Most rookie QBs struggle with that aspect of the position so I expect this will improve. If it improves quickly it will help McCarthy's total passing yards start to increase as some of those plays where the protection breaks down can result in big gains if the coverage also breaks down (ala what Jalen Hurts did against the Vikings secondary). Hopefully McCarthy can take a page or two out of that book.

The Falcon game he also bobbled a snap on a 4th and inches which gave them the ball. He messed up the snap on a fake pitch down by the goal line which backed us up. He also lost a fumble on a strip sack. He had butter fingers for whatever reason. He never looked comfortable that game. Plus we couldn't run the ball which never helps a QB and shows the Falcons controlled the point. Even with all that he still had a chance but missed Nailor down the left sideline by a mile. Maybe missing practice caused all that.