Vikings' Jonathan Greenard defends J.J. McCarthy, hints at QB’s return

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does Jonathan Greenard miss Sam Darnold?

That question garnered a healthy chuckle from Greenard after more than 90 minutes on the Flag On The Play podcast, but Greenard did back McCarthy and suggest that he could make his return from injury on Sunday against the Eagles.

"I think J.J., he'll probably be back this week or something like that. I think he will. But, for the most part, everybody else is just coming back into it," Greenard said of the injuries the Vikings have dealt with early this season. "We just gelling that thing together."

Greenard isn't casting a final judgment on McCarthy after two games, including a terrible performance against Atlanta in which he believes the offensive execution made McCarthy look awful.

"He got a small sample size to really judge off of," Greenard said. "I think J.J., honestly, with the staff that we got with Kevin O'Connell, Josh McCown being there, Wes Phillips, them dialing it up, it's nearly impossible (to fail). You mentioned Sam as well. Sam did a helluva job in this same system; it's just a matter of J.J. just gotta get more comfortable and get these reps. Sam could come into it way differently being my age and multiple years in the league and hurt, different systems and knowing how to put two and two together. J.J. was still figuring it out.

"Obviously, y'all seen what he can do in the Chicago game, and then he comes back and that Atlanta game was terrible," Greenard continued. "But if you look at that, it's a matter of a mix-up of miscommunication. You see sometimes he's getting sacked when nobody's even touching the guys. I know the offense. I know literally what we're supposed to be doing, and it's just literally a lack of communication. It can't happen. Makes it look terrible."