The Minnesota Vikings QB competition remains ongoing with Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy. Moreover, the preseason is right around the corner, with the Vikings playing the New York Giants on Aug. 15.
Murray and McCarthy have only had training camp practice in this competition. As a result, facing opposing defenses in a live game will go a long way in determining who can translate what they do in practice to an actual contest.
While players on the team will go with the best player for the job, that doesn’t mean they won’t give their teammates advice in this competitive environment. In an interview with KFAN’s Dan Barreiro, Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill shared his advice for McCarthy in this QB competition.
“I’ve never been in a competition like I’ve never been in that role,” O’Neill told Barreiro in an Aug. 7 interview. “I was a backup until somebody got hurt and then I wasn’t. So, it’s different to it’s different to sit here and be like, ‘Well, this is how I handled it or this is how I would handle it.‘ Like, I don’t know how I would handle it. I think the only thing I could say is any position and any player is one rep at a time, one practice at a time.
“As soon as anybody starts looking, as soon as I look at the big picture of who’s my matchup week one, and who’s my matchup week two, and when we have a three-game road stretch, and why we got to go to Mexico and go out of the country again, like all that stuff doesn’t help me play better.”
Brian O’Neill Gives Simple, Effective Advice to J.J. McCarthy
Furthermore, O’Neill stressed that it’s important that McCarthy take each practice and game ahead of the preseason, one day at a time.
“I would just be, ‘Hey, one play, one rep at a time,‘” O’Neill added. “If you have your best rep every single play, you’re going to be in a pretty good spot. That’s one of the things Wes Phillips says: When you’re in the fire and things are going 100 miles an hour, just revert back to your fundamentals.
“That’s what’s going to allow you to have the best play, by doing the best technique, right? It’s like good play, bad play, next play. Nobody cares.“
Aaron Jones Sr. on Vikings QB Competition
Meanwhile, another Vikings teammate, Aaron Jones Sr., is enjoying the competition, seeing both quarterbacks go toe-to-toe in practice to determine which of the two gets the starting job.
“It’s been a lot of fun watching those guys get after it. Both of them bring a lot of energy,“ Jones said on the July 31 edition of “Good Morning Football.“ “As players, we feel like we have to put our best foot forward. We can’t let either one of those guys down, especially in a battle.
“You don’t want to give one of them a reason to say, ‘Oh, I dropped this pass for this guy and caught it for the other.‘ It raises everybody’s level of play. You want to be at your best for both quarterbacks so it’s an even shake for both of them.”
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