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Kirk Cousins and J.J. McCarthy have drawn inevitable comparisons since the Minnesota Vikings decided to move on from the veteran quarterback and hitch the franchise’s hopes on the 2024 first-round pick. Following one of the Vikings’ most frustrating games offensively in recent memory, McCarthy showed a maturity that sparked a criticism of Cousins. Vikings’ JJ McCarthy Postgame Comments Draw Harsh Critique of Kirk Cousins In a 27-19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the Vikings offense had a historic case of miscues to the tune of eight false starts, which tied for the second-most by a home team since 2000. Those penalties proved to be drive-killers and halted any sort of momentum the Vikings could muster offensively. Speaking with reporters after the game, McCarthy took full blame for the matter, maintaining that whatever happens on the field is his responsibility. “As a quarterback, you’re the orchestrator of the orchestra. I take full responsibility for anything that happens on that field, and at the end of the day, it’s just the little things that we gotta keep focusing on. “It was there; we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. I take full responsibility for the pre-snap procedural penalties.” “The focus, the competitive stamina, it’s all gotta be there, but I take full responsibility every single time something goes wrong.” McCarthy’s maturity garnered significant praise in an article from The Viking Age’s Brad Berreman. But in the same breath, it was leveraged against Cousins. Berreman argued that Cousins would not dare to take responsibility for the times he fell short in Minnesota. “Hearing McCarthy pull no punches and take the blame for what went wrong on Sunday is a stark contrast to what Vikings fans grew accustomed to hearing from their quarterback from 2018-2023,” Berreman wrote. “Then again, albeit only now four starts into his career, McCarthy is clearly wired way differently than Kirk Cousins is.” Did Kirk Cousins Pass Blame With Vikings? Berreman’s critique embraces the notion that Cousins was ho-hum when the Vikings offense fell apart and often deflected blame. On the surface, that is not the case. Cousins led the NFL in interceptions through the first six games of the 2020 regular season. After throwing three interceptions in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons that dropped the Vikings to 1-5 on the season, Cousins was candid that he needed to play better or he would be benched. “I need to correct it. I need to finish the season with a different story regarding interceptions. That’s something I need to improve with the remaining games we have,” Cousins said. “I don’t know that limits the interceptions. I just think the entire offensive performance … I need to be better. We need to be better. “You just have to play well in this business. The reality is if the pace that I’m on — in terms of the interceptions — if that were to continue I won’t finish the season,” Cousins added. “Whether it’s them telling me ‘hey, you gotta improve’ or them pulling me, you gotta get better. That’ll be what the rest of the season will be about for me, trying to protect the football as best I can.” That sounds like taking responsibility. However, Cousins, who is known for his analytic approach to the game, would often pinpoint the systemic failures by the offense and often lay them out in his news conferences. What was an innocent explanation of why a play broke down, or explaining the error in his ways, came off, at times, like passing the blame or justifying his mistakes. McCarthy’s brevity and maturity are something to marvel at for Vikings fans, but it can stand alone outside of a comparison to Cousins, who is of a different mind.
