Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy was smiling, eventually, after Sunday’s win over the Lions. During the game—and even during coach Kevin O’Connell’s post-game speech—he wasn’t smiling much. Instead, McCarthy flashed a hard edge. A mean mug, if you will.
He explained his intense facial expression to reporters on Wednesday.com, revealing that it’s his alter ego. He refers to it as “Nine,” after the number on his jersey.
“It really kind of started to show up this year, and it came about last year during IR,” McCarthy said. “Just never had a full season, where you want to be out there so freaking bad, but you can’t. It was just this built-up anger that was kind of ready to just explode, and I chose to harness it instead of letting it go into a self-destructive kind of way.”
The “Nine” persona marks a break from McCarthy’s past approach.
“I kind of love feeding that wolf, because my entire life at [the University of Michigan], there was a smiley face on my hand, and [if] you smile, and you have fun, you’re going to play better and all that — which is true,” McCarthy said. “But I also think there’s a lot of power that comes from that built-up anger that you can transmute into your performance.”
Whatever it is, wherever it comes from, it has worked.
The Vikings may be 4-4 and sitting at the bottom of one of the best divisions in football. But they’re 2-1 in the NFC North, with the arrow currently pointing up. And “Nine” will be ready on Sunday to load it into his bow and shoot again at an opponent who has won two games in a row and is feeling very confident as it ventures into Minnesota for the second home start of McCarthy’s career.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/j-j-mccarthy-has-developed-an-angry-alter-ego
