The franchise QB reached new heights under the lights as the Vikings strided to victory in a game Dallas needed in order to strengthen its playoff survival, and one Minnesota played purely for pride, to inspire its own future. Overall, McCarthy went 15-for-24 with a career-high 250 passing yards and a 108.0 rating.
“We’re building up to a little bit more experience, a little bit more time on task, a little bit more understanding of what playing the quarterback position at the NFL level is. It’s a decision-maker position,” Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell said in the aftermath. “With his ability to throw the football, from an arm-strength standpoint, he’s going to have a chance to touch every blade of grass and allow us to be explosive. And then I think he’s made some big-time throws in some big moments.
“It’s not a surprise to me, just because of who he is,” O’Connell added. “There’s been some tough Monday mornings early on for any young quarterback in the league. And he’s always shown up as the same guy, always shown up ready to go back to work, ready to be coached, ready to continue to pour into this ‘lead’ with all the traits on and off the field he has to do that. And the guys respond to him even sometimes when it’s not going well, there’s still growth happening. We’ve just got to try to find a way during that growth period, which we’ve been in, to stack positive plays, stack completions and see if we can get some more ops to possibly develop some of those explosives that help our offense go.”
“When the offensive line plays as well as they did tonight … It makes it very easy for me,” McCarthy shared at his press conference after not being sacked and facing a season-low six pressures (without starting LT Christian Darrisaw and Justin Skule filling in for him). “And the (skill) guys are always going to get open, so it’s just a matter of me putting it in the right spot and having the time allowed to put it in the right spot. So, everything goes hand-in-hand. And I feel like we were very in sync as a whole tonight.”
