J.J. McCarthy's Cowboys highlights look even better from end zone angle

Last week against the Commanders was the best performance of J.J. McCarthy's career up to that point. This week, he one-upped himself. McCarthy was even better in a 250-yard, 3-total-touchdown road outing against the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

It's not so much that Dallas has a substantially better defense than Washington does — both rank towards the bottom of the league. It's more about the context of this game and the degree of difficulty on some of the throws McCarthy made.

This was a primetime game in front of a massive national audience. Seven minutes in, McCarthy had thrown a batted interception on his first pass attempt, and the Vikings trailed 7-0. It was a back-and-forth affair for more than three quarters against an explosive Cowboys offense. And McCarthy just continued to deliver, play after play, in leading his team to an impressive 34-26 victory.

The film tells the story. We've cut up 90 seconds of McCarthy highlights from the end zone angle, and it's some legitimately excellent quarterback play from the 22-year-old. Take a look:

J.J. McCarthy is figuring it out. He looked like a franchise quarterback on Sunday night against the Cowboys.

Highlights from his 250-yard, 3-TD game: pic.twitter.com/lJZEnNRq5K
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) December 15, 2025

The first throw in that cut-up was McCarthy's favorite throw of the night. Kevin O'Connell called it "a spectacular throw." That's a perfectly-placed seam ball into a tight window to T.J. Hockenson for a 29-yard gain.

"It was a tight Cover 2 coverage, kind of pseudo Quarters, but just playing on time, in rhythm, trusting what I see, being decisive, and seeing the ball come out exactly the way I wanted to, that was pretty cool," McCarthy said.

The next play in the video is his 58-yard deep ball to Jordan Addison. It's the second-longest completion of McCarthy's career, and pretty easily the longest of his career by completed air yardage. That ball traveled over 50 yards. If you want to nitpick, you could say it was underthrown by a couple yards and could've been a touchdown, but it's tough to complain too much about a 58-yard gain. Plus, it meant we got to see McCarthy Griddy into the end zone — and defy orders in doing so — on his one-yard keeper.

McCarthy's first touchdown pass to Jalen Nailor was impressive in the way he flipped his hips while rolling right and put a ton of zip on the ball into a small window. Another great throw was the next one in the video, a back shoulder ball to Nailor that McCarthy placed with excellent touch. That's reminiscent of their game-winning connection in Detroit six weeks earlier.

"Me personally, it was something that was difficult because I was a big fastball guy," McCarthy said. "But working constantly and obsessively on being a thrower of the football, a passer of the football, that was just another one of those opportunities where you put it up — just like in Detroit — just give him a chance to catch the ball and he's going to do it. Back shoulder, Speedy, that's who he is, so just put it up for him."

McCarthy also used touch on the throw to Hockenson at the 48-second mark. He's shown many times that he can rifle a fastball to a spot, so it was encouraging to see him hit several throws that required taking something off of it, speed-wise.

His lower-body mechanics remain wonky and will likely need to be addressed in the offseason. But the arm talent that made him a top-ten draft pick is clearly there, and McCarthy seems to be growing more and more comfortable and confident in the pocket.

"With his ability to throw the football, from an arm strength standpoint, he's gonna have a chance to touch every blade of grass and allow us to be explosive," O'Connell said. "He made some big-time throws in big moments."

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