EAGAN, Minn. — J.J. McCarthy and Kevin O'Connell were texting Sunday night.

About the game, a 48-10 stomping of Cincinnati. About what McCarthy experienced, staying very engaged on the sideline via a device containing the details of Carson Wentz's debut start for the Vikings, which involved Wentz neatly completing 14-of-20 passes for 173 yards, two touchdowns and no picks.

About what the 22-year-old McCarthy gleaned watching the 32-year-old Wentz do his thing.

"He was over there with the Surface tablet with Carson talking about some looks that maybe we hadn't prepared for, 'Hey did you see this? This is probably gonna be this call,' " O'Connell detailed at his day-after-game press conference. "[Quarterbacks coach] Josh [McCown] was pretty jacked up about that."

There's two-fold reason to be excited. Wentz "did a really nice job of playing point guard, throwing completions, allowing guys to win," O'Connell noted. And McCarthy is finding positives in a negative.

"That's one thing you love about him," the coach said.

McCarthy is dealing with a high-ankle sprain suffered in Week 2 that will sideline him for an unknown period. This injury happened after he missed his entire rookie season due to a torn meniscus. Now, McCarthy is growing, mentally, behind a veteran player again, like he did last year behind Sam Darnold.

Wentz's dream-fulfilling start for Minnesota in Week 3 against the Bengals marked his 95th in the NFL, bringing full circle the journey of a largely written-off quarterback (this sounds like 2024) who cheered for the Purple in his youth and signed with the team 29 days ago. It was a back-to-basics type of game.

"I thought he was very sharp fundamentally," O'Connell said. "There were quite a few reps where the ground is the quarterback's friend, from a standpoint of keeping your foundation or your base, balance and body position, in the ground so you can make quick decisions. I thought he progressed multiple times. I thought he threw with anticipation. I thought he really got into [a groove] once we got into the meat of the game, which can be hard sometimes, which we'll take, when the defense is scoring points."

O'Connell described Wentz's first drive, featuring a 12-yard touchdown pass to Josh Oliver, as "fantastic."

A false start and two sacks pushed the offense back on its second and third series, but Wentz "progressed and found open players" as the game went on, O'Connell said. "I was really happy with the way Carson kind of maintained and continued, and even grew his efficiency. And how he has looked on the practice field, that showed up in the game. That's why I was not surprised in any way shape or form."

O'Connell was asked about a potential timeline for McCarthy.

The first priority, he said, is getting the 2024 No. 10 overall draft pick healthy.

"No matter how much I believe J.J. would go out there and tough it out today, tomorrow, if we asked him to. To me, at this point in a very young career, his mobility is one of his weapons that has clearly already shown to be something that's a positive for him, so we want to make sure he's healthy and allow this to be something that we can put in the rearview mirror and continue on with where he's at," he expressed.

"He responded well to treatment early on," O'Connell continued, adding that McCarthy is out of the boot he wore last week to provide stability and limit mobility. "Now it just becomes the phase of high-ankle kind of rehab that we're gonna hopefully be able to get him back up to speed pretty quickly."

After the health hurdle is cleared, O'Connell said the Vikings would not "just throw him out there and say, 'Hey, go figure it out.' "

"I think we saw, as phenomenal as he was getting prepared for the Atlanta game, he did miss practice that week (for the birth of his first child a few days after the win at Chicago), and when you're in the phasing of building up the 10,000 reps and 10,000 hours of what it takes to play the position at a very high level, which we know J.J. McCarthy is going to do, you can't cut corners on that," O'Connell said.

The experience possessed by Wentz was critical to his efficiency in a pinch and particularly his ability to progress through reads quick enough to beat pressure. Wentz's time to throw averaged 2.55 seconds per dropback, according to Pro Football Focus. McCarthy averaged 2.80 seconds and 3.31 in Weeks 1 and 2.

O'Connell tied the progression time to the bedrock of playing quarterback.

"It's what allows players to play with poise and conviction," O'Connell said of deciphering things a mile a minute. "And when you couple that with firm and repeatable fundamentals, normally within the lower half of the quarterback's mechanics, you tie those things together, and then you have a system. Then you have rhythm. Then you have the ability for – it's very difficult for a defense to take away all five eligible [receivers]."

It's why "playing point guard," with a punishing run game, worked for Wentz and Minnesota before embarking on an historic overseas adventure that begins Sunday in Dublin and wraps Oct. 5 in London.

"Because of the way we were able to have some body blows by running the ball, I thought our protection was solid for the most part," O'Connell said. "We got loose on a couple of internal games here and there, but many of the times we stayed efficient with the chains, and we stayed efficient in some cases not having many third downs in the course of some of our scoring drives. That equals rhythm, too."

O'Connell "started to lose count" of the forward-finishing runs by Jordan Mason. He praised the offensive line's control along the line of scrimmage Sunday, and blocking contributions from receivers Justin Jefferson, Jalen Nailor and Adam Thielen. Now, akin to the o-line regaining stud left tackle Christian Darrisaw in Week 3, third-year wideout Jordan Addison, returning this week after serving his three-game suspension, and center Ryan Kelly healing from a concussion, could administer Minnesota a "shot of life."

The late-night texts between coach and quarterback are symbolic of McCarthy's fire to become the best version of himself. If Week 3 was any kind of sign, studying an accomplished veteran like Wentz may help McCarthy spin an injury situation into a silver lining – a chance to grow and advance his game.

Syncing up, from bottom to top, O'Connell implied, is essential to playing quarterback at a high level.

"Sometimes it's the reactionary ability to still consistently play with the rhythm and the poise and the decision-making, and all that becomes much easier when you're taking the right footwork and you're balanced throughout the drop and reading with your feet," he stated. "Whether they've played 20 years or they've played two games – that is an incredible weapon. And I think there's value in J.J. seeing that."

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