Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy had an injection in his right knee earlier this week to alleviate swelling that arose during his rehabilitation program, coach Kevin O’Connell said Wednesday.
McCarthy, the 10th overall pick in the NFL draft, tore his meniscus during the first exhibition game on Aug. 10 and had season-ending surgery.
"He's really knocked it out of the park every step of the way,” O’Connell said. “And as his kind of rehab has picked up, you know, we noticed a little swelling in there and just with the time that we do have, he's been doing everything we asked of him and improving, getting stronger, all those things. But we just wanted to make sure that there was no cause for concern and all reports were very positive. We just wanted to make sure there was no cause for concern. All reports were very positive, and he’s on the original timetable and in good shape.”
The rookie out of Michigan has progressed to the point where he can regularly attend meetings and practices, and the coaching staff has appreciated his attentiveness and soak-it-up attitude behind starter Sam Darnold and veteran backups Nick Mullens and Brett Rypien.
“Been some real growth for him,” O’Connell said. "I've just enjoyed, as his rehabs progressed, he can be in meetings and spend a little bit of time, more time, with us. And it's been some real growth for him. Continues to ask great questions every day and that's the hardest part, when you get the ability to do a little bit more and start pushing through those final stages over these next few weeks."
Strong Viking defense takes on a struggling Titan offense
The Tennessee Titans are Sunday's opponent, on the road again for the Vikings, and it appears on paper like a game Minnesota should win. You can thank the Titans' struggling second half offense for that.
They're an offense that struggles to find the end zone at any point after the opening kickoff but especially after halftime. The Titans rank 27th in the NFL in averaging a mere 17.4 points a game.
In the final 15 minutes best known as closing time, Tennessee is last in averaging just 2.9 points in the fourth quarter this season. The Titans got 12 of their 26 fourth-quarter points in their biggest win Sept. 30 in Miami, and they also got a garbage-time touchdown in last week’s loss to the Chargers.
First-year coach Brian Callahan has been growing in his first season as a play-caller. But he said the Titans have to be better at scoring in the second half of games than they were in the first part of this season.
Even another touchdown a game would be a huge step forward. Minnesota rank 10th in the NFL in averaging 24.6 points a game.
“We’ve been in position to score those and we haven’t and thus have not won as many games as I think we are capable of winning,” Callahan said. “But that’s going to be big.”
The Titans can help themselves if they quit hurting themselves with too many penalties, sacks allowed or turnovers. Only Las Vegas has a worse turnover margin in the league, Will Levis has been sacked an average of 3.6 times per start and the Titans were flagged nine times last week alone.
It won’t be any easier Sunday against the Vikings, who are the NFL’s third-stingiest scoring defense allowing — you guessed it — exactly 17.4 points a game.
Levis said the Vikings give a lot of looks on defense and a quarterback easily could spend a lot of time trying to anticipate what they might show him.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be more so our jobs, our responsibilities and everyone getting to the right space at the right time,” Levis said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.