There has been some marked improvement from young quarterback J.J. McCarthy over the past couple of weeks. He has been in complete control while leading the Vikings to upset wins over the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys.

Though the mechanics are still an issue for the McCarthy in the grand scheme of his development — the leg whip when he releases the ball is as aggressive as ever — he has been much more accurate for the Vikings as of late.

The growth been noticed by pretty much everybody, including former NFL quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan, who hasn’t pulled punches on his popular YouTube channel The QB School when discussing where McCarthy has fallen short.

After dishing out some harsh criticism this season, however, O’Sullivan showered McCarthy with praise for leading the Vikings to a 34-26 win over the Cowboys in primetime.

The most recent film review from O’Sullivan is roughly 30 minutes in length and highlights some of McCarthy’s highlights from the best game of his career to this point.

The most notable comment from O’Sullivan came at the end. After shouting ou head coach Kevin O’Connell for his play calling, O’Sullivan turned the focus back to McCarthy, saying, “A pretty damn impressive performance.”

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the detailed breakdown:

The touchdown passes

After throwing an interception on his first pass, McCarthy bounced back in a big way, leading a drive and capping it off with a touchdown pass to receiver Jalen Nailor in the back of the end zone.

It’s a very good sequence from McCarthy as he rolled to his left after, spotted Nailor breaking open open down the field, then delivered a catchable ball on time. As he replayed the touchdown pass a few times, O’Sullivan credited McCarthy for not allowing an early mistake to snowball into something much worse.

“We’re showing that resiliency,” O’Sullivan said. “He does a nice job flipping his hips and driving the ball down the field.”

The other touchdown pass from McCarthy also went to Nailor and helped the Vikings pull away from the Cowboys for good. There wasn’t very much that McCarthy had to do because the play design was so good. He simply had to throw with conviction and he did.

“You can’t get this ball out fast enough,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s wide open.”

The naked bootleg

It’s no secret that O’Connell wasn’t a huge fan of McCarthy hitting The Griddy on his touchdown run. Neither was O’Sullivan as he watched the perfectly executed naked bootleg near the goal line.

That said, O’Sullivan acknowledged that McCarthy’s ball handling on the naked bootleg was exceptional, emphasizing how the sleight of hand is perhaps the biggest reason the play call works as well as it does.

“As he reverses out, he shows the ball, then he hides the ball on his hip, and shows that empty hand,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s a really nice job of making sure this side all collapses with the run fit and he’s able to walk in.”

The chunk plays

There are a few chunk plays from McCarthy that O’Sullivan spends a lot of time on, including the 58-yard completion to receiver Jordan Addison, the 29-yard completion to tight end T.J. Hockenson, and the 23-yard completion to Nailor.

The strike that McCarthy threw to Addison came as a result of some subtle pocket movement followed by some very good arm strength. Those are both areas that have plagued McCarthy at times so it was good to see the development in real time.

“A really nice job here moving to his left, getting that up and down, not running out of club,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s everything except finishing in the end zone. This is beautiful. I love the play design, the idea, the aggressiveness down the field.”

The seam ball McCarthy threw to Hockenson was arguably his best rep of the game. Not only did he showcase decisiveness after catching the snap out of the shotgun, he also threw with a good amount of anticipation.

“I love the read, the timing, the rhythm,” O’Sullivan said. “This is a big time throw and he’s making it look easy.”

The back shoulder fade McCarthy threw to Nailor showcased some feathery touch. A deeper look at the play shows it could’ve gone for another touchdown pass if McCarthy let it rip down the field.

“You don’t want to back shoulder that,” O’Sullivan said. “You want to throw that down the stem. This ends up being a really nice adjustment. They’re rewarded for the aggressiveness down the field.”

The interception

Notably, the video started with O’Sullivan basically giving McCarthy a pass for the interception, crediting him for making the correct read in the face of pressure. The play almost certainly would’ve resulted in a first down had the ball not been tipped at the line of scrimmage.

“I would classify this as bad luck,” O’Sullivan said. “This looks like it’s the right decision.”

The only critique O’Sullivan had of McCarthy was the fact that he didn’t bat the ball down while it was fluttering in the air. The ball landed in the arms of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams after McCarthy opted for more of a volleyball set than a volleyball spike.

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By ERIC TUCKER and LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door interview on Wednesday that his team of investigators “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump had criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to portions of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.

He also said investigators had accrued “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by hoarding classified documents from his first term as president at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records.

“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”

He said that if asked whether he would “prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat.”

The private deposition before the House Judiciary Committee gives Smith his first chance to face questions, albeit behind closed doors, about a pair of investigations into Trump that resulted in since-abandoned criminal charges between the Republican president’s first and second terms in office. Smith was subpoenaed earlier this month to provide both testimony and documents as part of a Republican investigation into the Trump probes during the Biden administration.

The former special counsel cooperated with the congressional demand despite having volunteered more than a month earlier to answer questions publicly before the committee, an overture his lawyers say was rebuffed by Republicans.

“Testifying before this committee, Jack is showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House,” one of Smith’s lawyers, Lanny Breuer, told reporters Wednesday. “Let’s be clear: Jack Smith is a career prosecutor, who conducted this investigation based on the facts and based on the law and nothing more.”

Trump told reporters at the White House that he supported the idea of an open hearing, saying: “I’d rather see him testify publicly. There’s no way he can answer the questions.”

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Smith is expected to discuss both of his investigations of Trump but will not answer questions that call for grand jury materials, which are restricted by law, according to a person familiar with the investigation who insisted on anonymity to discuss the interview. He is also expected to correct what he regards as mischaracterizations from Republicans about his work, including about his team’s use of cellphone records belonging to certain GOP lawmakers, the person said.

Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee the Justice Department investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden and his hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Smith’s team filed charges in both investigations.

Smith abandoned the cases after Trump was elected to the White House again last year, citing Justice Department legal opinions that say a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Republicans who control Congress have sought interviews with at least some individual members of Smith’s team.

In recent weeks they have seized on revelations that the team, as part of its investigation, had analyzed the phone records of select GOP lawmakers from on and around Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to halt the certification of Trump’s election loss to Biden. The phone records reviewed by prosecutors included details only about the incoming and outgoing phone numbers and the length of the call but not the contents of the conversation.

Follow the AP’s coverage of former special counsel Jack Smith at https://apnews.com/hub/jack-smith.

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. is telling shareholders to reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance, saying that a rival bid from Netflix will be better for customers and creators.

“Today the Warner Bros. Discovery Board sent a clear message to you, their stockholders,” the company said in a letter to shareholders. “The WBD Board urges you to reject Paramount Skydance’s unsolicited, inferior and illusory tender offer.”

Paramount went hostile with its bid last week, asking shareholders to reject the deal with Netflix favored by the board of Warner Bros.

Paramount is offering $30 per Warner share to Netflix’s $27.75. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery slipped 1% in early trading Wednesday, to $28.60. Paramount Skydance fell 4.3% while Netflix shares rose 2.4%.

A Warner Bros. merger with either company would alter the landscape in Hollywood and will face intense scrutiny from U.S. regulators as it would impact movie making, consumer streaming platforms and, in Paramount’s case, the news landscape.

Paramount’s bid isn’t off the table altogether. While Wednesday’s letter to shareholders means Paramount’s is not the offer favored by the board at Warner Bros., shareholders can still decide to tender their shares in favor of Paramount’s offer for the entire company — including cable stalwarts CNN and Discovery.

Unlike Paramount’s bid, the offer from Netflix does not include buying the cable operations of Warner Bros. An acquisition by Netflix, if approved by regulators and shareholders, will close only after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations.

Paramount on Wednesday affirmed its offer from last week and urged Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to tell the company that they prefer Paramount’s “superior offer.”

“I have been encouraged by the feedback we have received from WBD shareholders who clearly understand the benefits of our offer,” Paramount CEO and Chairman David Ellison said. “We will continue to move forward to deliver this transaction, which is in the best interest of WBD shareholders, consumers, and the creative industries.”

Paramount has claimed it made six different bids that Warner leadership rejected before announcing its deal with Netflix on Dec. 5. Only after that did it take its offer directly to Warner’s shareholders.

Critics of Netflix’s deal say that combining the massive streaming company with Warner’s HBO Max would give it overwhelming market dominance, whereas the Paramount+ streaming service is far smaller.

“This is something that we’ve heard for a long time—including when we started the streaming business,” Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos said in a filing through Warner Bros. “Our stance then and now is the same—we see this as a win for the entertainment industry, not the end of it.”

Bids from both Netflix and Paramount have raised alarm for what they could mean for film and TV production. While Netflix has agreed to uphold Paramount’s contractual obligations for theatrical releases, critics have pointed to its past business model and reliance on online releases. Yet Paramount and Warner Bros. are two of the “big five” legacy studios left in Hollywood today.

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Paramount’s attempt to buy Warner’s cable networks and news business would also bring CBS and CNN under the same roof. In addition to further accelerating media consolidation, that could raise questions about shifts in editorial control — as seen at CBS News both leading up to and following Skydance’s $8 billion purchase of Paramount, which it completed in August.

Paramount Skydance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press early Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has already been vocal about his future involvement in the deal, indicating that politics will play a role in regulatory approval.

Trump previously said that Netflix’s deal “could be a problem” because of the potential for an outsized control of the market. The Republican president also has a close relationship with Oracle’s billionaire founder Larry Ellison — the father of Paramount’s CEO, whose family trust is also heavily backing the company’s bid to buy Warner.

Affinity Partners, an investment firm run by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, previously said it would invest in the Paramount deal, too. But on Tuesday, the firm announced that it would be dropping out of the bid.

Foreign sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar are also backing Paramount’s bid with billions in funding, which some analysts say should be drawing more scrutiny.

“The same U.S. officials and regulators who’ve sounded alarms about China’s influence on TikTok should be crying foul here,” said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester, a market research company. “The stakes on WBD’s fate are higher and wider-reaching than a single short-form video app.”

Warner Bros. continues to insist that the offer from Netflix is more solid.

“There are no contingencies, no foreign sovereign wealth funds, and no stock collateral or personal loans,” it said in its letter to investors. “We are a scaled company with a +$400 billion market cap and a strong investment grade balance sheet. As (Warner Bros.) said, the (Paramount Skydance) offer has “numerous risks and uncertainties” associated with it, among which are (Paramount’s) financial condition and creditworthiness.”

AP Business Writer Matt Ott contributed to this story from Washington.

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four centrist Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vote on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans.

The stunning move comes after House Republican leaders pushed ahead with a health care bill that does not address the soaring monthly premiums that millions of people will soon endure as the tax credits for those who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act expire at year’s end.

Democrats led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York needed 218 signatures to force a floor vote on their bill, which would extend the subsides for three years.

Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all from Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York signed on Wednesday morning, pushing it to the magic number of 218. A vote on the subsidy bill could come as soon as January under House rules.

“Unfortunately, it is House leadership themselves that have forced this outcome.” Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

Origins of a Republican revolt

The revolt against GOP leadership came after days of talks centered on the health care subsidies.

Johnson, R-La., had discussed allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on bills that would temporarily extend the subsidies while also adding changes such as income caps for beneficiaries. But after days of discussions, the leadership sided with the more conservative wing of the party’s conference, which has assailed the subsidies as propping up a failed ACA marketplace.

House Republicans pushed ahead Wednesday a 100-plus-page health care package without the subsidies, instead focusing on long-sought GOP proposals designed to expand insurance coverage options for small businesses and the self-employed.

Fitzpatrick and Lawler tried to add a temporary extension of the subsidies to the bill, but were denied.

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“Our only request was a floor vote on this compromise, so that the American People’s voice could be heard on this issue. That request was rejected. Then, at the request of House leadership I, along with my colleagues, filed multiple amendments, and testified at length to those amendments,” Fitzpatrick said. “House leadership then decided to reject every single one of these amendments.

“As I’ve stated many times before, the only policy that is worse than a clean three-year extension without any reforms, is a policy of complete expiration without any bridge,” Fitzpatrick said.