What I’m hearing about J.J. McCarthy, Jerry Jones’ trade steal and more – The Athletic – The New York Times

NFL
NFL Week 13
J.J. McCarthy has had a rough second season in Minnesota, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones pulled off a winning trade. David Berding, Sam Hodde / Getty Images
There’s a colorful children’s book on my kitchen table right now called “Turkey Trouble.” It’s about a turkey trying to avoid becoming Thanksgiving dinner by throwing on disguises. A pig. A horse. At one point, I’m pretty sure he tries to pass as a pizza delivery guy. It’s cute.
I’ve read it to my toddlers roughly 10 times this week, and somewhere between screaming at Alexa to please stop playing “Baby Shark” (if anyone knows how to prevent that song from auto-starting at 7:15 a.m. every single day, please drop your hacks below) and negotiating a ceasefire over who gets the dark-blue “special” fork, my 4-year-old, Michael, pointed at the turkey and declared:
“He can’t hide forever.”
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Hmm. He’s right.
And honestly? That was the most accurate analysis I heard all week.
Because if a turkey ducking the carving knife isn’t the perfect metaphor for Week 13 in the NFL, I don’t know what is.
We’ve got coaches pretending they’re not panicking, quarterbacks dressing up as franchise saviors and a handful of teams winning under the disguise that they’re actually good.
But as Mikey expertly pointed out, the disguises only work for so long.
Welcome to Week 13, where no teams are on a bye, and we have four game days over a five-day stretch.
Let’s dig in. Here’s what I’m hearing about:
• Joe Burrow is officially back for the Cincinnati Bengals’ Thanksgiving night game against the Baltimore Ravens. Pain management had been a major concern the past few weeks from the turf toe injury Burrow suffered in Week 2, but I’m told he’s comfortable after a full load of work on the practice field. Those around him describe him right now as “a relentless competitor, itching to get back.” That checks out.
(However, Cincinnati’s best-case goal might be just avoiding a losing season. The Bengals are three games behind Baltimore and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North and would likely need to win out and finish 9-8 to have a chance of returning to the playoffs.)
• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield has a low-grade left shoulder strain and is trying to play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
• Aaron Rodgers’ left wrist fracture kept him out of the Steelers’ loss to the Chicago Bears, but I’m told he is trying to play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. The Steelers are hoping to have an answer on his game status earlier this week than they did last week, when they took the decision up to game day.
• New England Patriots rookie left tackle Will Campbell is expected to miss at least four weeks with a knee injury and will most likely land on injured reserve. But rookie left guard Jared Wilson (ankle) has received better news and could be back much sooner.
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• Quarterbacks coach Greg Olson has taken over as the offensive coordinator in Las Vegas after the team fired Chip Kelly on Sunday. I’m told minority owner Tom Brady was a big advocate of bringing in Kelly to run the offense, and he has shared with some people close to him his disappointment in the team’s overall performance. His frustrations go beyond the offense, too.
• The Houston Texans’ defense might be the best in football right now, and a lot of that is thanks to Will Anderson Jr. Expect Houston and the third-year edge rusher to get right to a contract extension once the season wraps.
Everyone around the league is asking: What happened to the Minnesota Vikings?
And they’re not alone.
Inside the state of Minnesota, inside the building, inside that locker room, there are some pondering how different this season might look just with better quarterback play.
The Vikings took a massive and costly swing this offseason, spending more than any NFC team. They walked away from 14-game winner Sam Darnold. They lost Daniel Jones to the Indianapolis Colts. They passed on four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers. From everything I’ve gathered, money wasn’t the hang-up in any of those situations; it was ultimately all about betting on J.J. McCarthy.
This organization has been competitive for a decade and believes deeply in its coaching staff, especially 2024 Coach of the Year Kevin O’Connell. Even with differences in opinion about the quarterbacks inside the building, most notably with some in the organization wanting to retain Darnold, they decided collectively to back the 22-year-old McCarthy, fresh off a major knee injury that cut short his rookie year before it could begin.
So far? The returns have been messy for 4-7 Minnesota. McCarthy’s 54.1 completion percentage ranks last among qualified starters. He owns the league’s longest active streak of games with an interception (six). The offense is averaging a paltry 247.5 yards per game in McCarthy’s starts, the smallest fraction ahead of the league-worst Tennessee Titans. McCarthy has also missed five games with a high ankle sprain and entered concussion protocol earlier this week. He is not expected to play against Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
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I couldn’t help but recall a story my colleague Zak Keefer wrote in September after speaking with O’Connell:
“In what world do you go from wearing a life vest and learning how to swim to being thrown into the deep end in the middle of a 200-meter freestyle against Michael Phelps? We decide in this league very quickly whether a guy can or can’t play quarterback,” O’Connell said.
The 40-year-old coach’s point: NFL teams cycle through young quarterbacks and often have only themselves to blame. And now O’Connell, staring at that potential scenario in real time, is doing everything to keep this ship from sinking on his watch, even as the waves get taller by the week.
So now what? Delay McCarthy again? I’ve been told there were some concerns about how another year sitting on the bench would affect him. And would it even help? Every question has a cousin, and suddenly they’re multiplying. Can a raw but talented quarterback grow fast enough to match a team built to win yesterday?
That’s a lot of pressure on a young player, not to mention on QBs coach Josh McCown, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips and O’Connell himself.
With McCarthy out again Sunday, it’s Max Brosmer time. The undrafted rookie, making his first NFL start, has evaluators using words like calm, organized and efficient. I’m told by a scout who liked him in college at New Hampshire and Minnesota, “He’s not flashy, but neither was Brock Purdy when he first got tossed into the fire for the 49ers and won the job.”
At this point, the Vikings just need some type of spark at quarterback.
Brosmer might not be the long-term answer. But O’Connell has another shot to stabilize this offense, squeeze something out of a season veering sideways, and, if nothing else, give maybe the best receiver in football, Justin Jefferson, a reason to smile again. The star wideout has stayed patient all season despite the quiet stat lines.
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This could be the reset the Vikings desperately need. Right now, the question ringing through the building and across the league is impossible to ignore: “Why did you ever let Sam Darnold go?”
Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer, along with wide receivers coach Junior Adams, is getting plenty of credit for helping George Pickens find his footing in Dallas, both on the field and in the locker room. The results have been immediate and impressive, especially in Sunday’s triumphant win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Cowboys are set to give Pickens — who is expected to play against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday after being limited in practice this week — a contract this offseason. And because nothing in the NFL is ever simple — or boring — guess who his representative is?
NFL superagent David Mulugheta.
Yep. The same agent who represents Micah Parsons. The same agent Jerry Jones said he didn’t know and didn’t want to talk to during Parsons’ extension discussions over the summer. From what I’m told, there’s no drama brewing here; everyone is expected to handle it professionally.
After striking out on landing a top-tier receiver in this year’s draft, Jones made a move that, at the time, raised eyebrows. By early May, Dallas finalized a deal with Pittsburgh, with the Steelers sending a 2027 sixth-round pick along with Pickens to the Cowboys in exchange for a 2026 third and a 2027 fifth. Rival executives are still shaking their heads at the return Jones squeezed out of the Steelers — and how this might be looked at as the Cowboys trade of the year.
For years, people said Kyle Shanahan could win with anyone under center. This year, he’s proving he can win with anyone at all — out of necessity.
Being a scheme genius, a premier play caller, is one thing. Being adaptable, flexible, emotionally even-keeled and creatively relentless when your roster keeps falling apart — that’s where a coach becomes great.
The San Francisco 49ers are somehow 8-4. Fred Warner and Nick Bosa are out for the season. Brandon Aiyuk hasn’t played, and George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall and Brock Purdy have missed significant time. Oh, and they’ve used three kickers to boot.
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This is Shanahan’s finest season. Coincidentally, it’s coming at the exact moment he has the least to work with.
When the Bears take their four-game winning streak to Philadelphia this week, “Good, better, best” won’t just describe the Black Friday deals at the King of Prussia mall. Those three words have become the rallying cry of first-year Bears coach Ben Johnson, something he borrowed from his own high school football coach, as The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain explained in a terrific story last week.
NFL coaches almost all have a dash of summer camp counselor in their makeup, and Johnson’s suddenly popular motto — “when it’s not going well, it’s cheesy and stupid,” Bears tight end Cole Kmet told Kevin, “but when you’re winning, it’s awesome” — fits right in.
Sean McVay and his 9-2 Los Angeles Rams have “We then me.” Mike Macdonald and his 8-3 Seahawks have “12 as one.” Mike Tomlin and his 6-5 Steelers have “The standard is the standard.” Dan Quinn’s Washington Commanders went to the NFC Championship Game last year behind “Hard s— with good people,” a motto that appears on Quinn’s office wall.
Such slogans are actually common sights inside NFL facilities, and acronyms are the current fad. The Bengals have P.H.A.T. (“Physical, hungry, accountable teammate.”) The Los Angeles Chargers have T.E.D. (“There every day.”) The 49ers have W.I.T. (“What it takes.”) The Ravens have W.I.N. (“What’s important now.”) Texans coach DeMeco Ryans wants his players to S.W.A.R.M. (“Special work ethic and relentless mindset.”) Mike Vrabel and the Patriots are wearing blue “working man” shirts to the facility as New England promotes DTF (“Details, technique and fundamentals”) — and don’t ask your teens for any alternate meanings.
Of course, the acronym game doesn’t always work out. The Giants in recent years have made a habit of preaching “Smart, tough, dependable,” and before you try to make an acronym out of that, I’d remind you that this is a family-friendly column.
I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that talking isn’t exactly my issue. My younger sister, though? Total opposite. She doesn’t say much ever, especially about football, but she loves having a few go-to topics so she can survive painful small talk without defaulting to the classic, “So … how’s work?”
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And she’s not alone. Plenty of people want to sound like they know what they’re talking about around the holidays.
So, in the spirit of helping the quiet ones at the table this week, here are some easy NFL talkers you can casually drop into conversation and instantly sound like the smartest person in the room:
• Myles Garrett has more sacks by himself (18) than three teams through 12 weeks (Carolina Panthers, Bengals, 49ers).
• Every Steelers wide receiver has combined for just a bit more receiving yardage (1,082) than Pittsburgh cast-off Pickens (1,054), by himself.
• Every team has at least six takeaways this season … well, except for the New York Jets. New York has only forced one turnover — a Broncos fumble in London. That means the Jets haven’t forced a turnover on American soil since Week 18 of the 2024 season.
• The only team never to play on Thanksgiving? That would be the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• The last time the Chiefs didn’t win the AFC West, Ben Affleck was still married to Jennifer … Garner.
• The Rams own arguably the NFL’s most complete roster … and a potential top-10 pick in next April’s draft thanks to a trade with the Atlanta Falcons.
• Since 2003, the 49ers have made the playoffs just seven times — and have advanced to at least the NFC title game every time.
• The duck is the best part of the turducken, John Madden’s prized bird concoction.
• The Detroit Lions have lost seven of their last eight Turkey Day games. The one win came last season, when Detroit watched Matt Eberflus run out the clock in his final game as Bears coach.
As I pack up and head to Philadelphia — where I will, without question, be yelled at, talked over, and lovingly harassed by my in-laws about all of our reporting on the Eagles’ offensive issues this season — I just want to say thank you.
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Thank you for stopping by here every week, for reading, for caring, for challenging me and for letting me share what I’m hearing around the league. And a big thank you to all my colleagues working as beat reporters on the ground every day, helping to collect information; to my caring editor, Dan Steinberg; and to our Swiss Army knife researcher/content creator/therapist, Jeremy Guerin, for all the late nights, painfully early mornings and newsy texts at all hours.
I hope this column gives you the football fix you’re looking for every Saturday morning. I hope it helps this Wednesday feel like a weekend, even if your boss scheduled a can’t-skip meeting in the afternoon.
Enjoy the food, the family, the football. And have a wonderful holiday.
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Dianna Russini is The Athletic’s senior NFL insider. Prior to The Athletic she spent eight years with ESPN, providing NFL breaking news and analysis across the network’s platforms. Follow Dianna on Twitter @DMRussini

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