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Vikings Teammate Takes Blame for J.J. McCarthy's Pick-Six

Stephen Douglas

J.J. McCarthy threw a pick-six in his NFL debut. His star wide receiver blamed himself.
J.J. McCarthy threw a pick-six in his NFL debut. His star wide receiver blamed himself. / Photo by Patrick McDermott / Getty Images
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J.J. McCarthy made a quick impression in his NFL debut, leading the Vikings to a historic fourth-quarter comeback against the Bears on Monday night. He was in position to lead that comeback because he did not play well early in the game, and even threw a very bad pick-six to Chicago's Nashon Wright.

Peyton Manning, like most people, was not impressed by McCarthy at that point in the game, but one of his teammates spoke up on Thursday and took the blame for the lowlight. Star wide receiver Justin Jefferson explained to the press how he was the one who made the mistake that led to the Bears taking a double-digit lead in Week 1.

“J.J. wasn't ready for me to be out that soon," Jefferson told the press. "That's why the ball was thrown inside of me, where it needed to be outside. So it’s mostly on me, on that play. I'm just happy that J.J. really didn't think about it too much. J.J. was on to the next play.”

Jefferson appears to be McCarthy's biggest supporter right now. He had advice for McCarthy before his start, told him he wouldn't give up on him when he was struggling early, caught his first career touchdown pass, and now has taken the blame for his biggest mistake.

Jefferson is going above and beyond to make things work with his young quarterback.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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