Quarterback Carson Wentz will start again for the Vikings on Sunday in London against the Cleveland Browns, with J.J. McCarthy still sidelined by a high ankle sprain. The medical staff projected a four-to-six week recovery, and coach Kevin O\u2019Connell has been clear that McCarthy won\u2019t play until he\u2019s had a full week of practice. To this point, he hasn\u2019t returned in any capacity, not even on a limited basis.<\/p>\n
That reality has led to some raised eyebrows around the league. A few have wondered whether Minnesota might be hiding behind McCarthy\u2019s injury to buy more time after the first-year starter struggled in Week 2 against the Falcons. But O\u2019Connell\u2019s track record suggests otherwise. Since arriving in Minnesota, he\u2019s been transparent, steady and consistent when it comes to injury updates, never the type to play games for a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n
Which is why questions about McCarthy\u2019s status cut against the equity O\u2019Connell has built. He\u2019s taken the Vikings to the playoffs, developed quarterbacks and showed leadership that\u2019s earned him credibility.<\/p>\n
For now, his focus is on capping a two-week European trip with a win over the Browns. And O\u2019Connell has earned the benefit of the doubt that when McCarthy is ready, when he\u2019s had a full week of practice and when he\u2019s healthy, he\u2019ll be the starter. I\u2019ve been told by multiple sources that McCarthy isn\u2019t healthy, and while the target return has been Week 7 against the Eagles, it could still be longer.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m told, \u201cnothing to see here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quarterback Carson Wentz will start again for the Vikings on Sunday in London against the Cleveland Browns, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-191451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}