Kevin O'Connell thinks J.J. McCarthy needs to start being himself again.Last month, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback revealed an alter ego called "Nine", which he said first manifested during his recovery from knee surgery. He added:"I love feeding that wolf, because my entire life, at Michigan, it was the smiley face on my hand and smile and you have fun, you're going to play better and all that, which is true, but I also think there's a lot of power that comes from that built-up anger that you can transmute into your performance."That "character" proceeded to win just two of his next six games, including a 31-0 shutout of the Washington Commanders last Sunday. And speaking with Vikings radio announcer Paul Allen on his WFAN 100.3 show "X's and O's" on Tuesday, O'Connell said it was time to retire "Nine" for this Sunday's game at the Dallas Cowboys:"All I've asked JJ to do is just be authentically himself. ... We don't need to exhaust any energy, our jobs are hard enough already, trying to be somebody else or play to some sort of persona, whatever it may be, let's just go back to work, man."Allen agreed with him:"I don't dig [the alter ego] because I don't think that's who that kid is. That's who he was in the moment, but it doesn't mean that's who he is."Kevin O'Connell gets candid on Philip Rivers' return to NFLSpeaking of quarterbacks, the Indianapolis Colts officially added Philip Rivers to their practice squad on Wednesday. And Kevin O'Connell knows him well, having briefly been his teammate in 2012 after growing up in the San Diego area and playing for the San Diego State Aztecs.During his press conference on Wednesday, he said that the development did not surprise him:"I know for a fact he’s got a full-scale practice field at his house, and he’s got enough folks in his family to form a team if he needs to. Philip Rivers is one of the best to ever do it, and I wouldn't put anything past him... to play at a really high level like he always did."Kickoff for the Vikings-Cowboys game is at 7:20 pm CT on NBC.