ESPN: Kevin O’Connell Working to Fix Slingin’ Sam Darnold

34 comments

1. The thing is, this is almost like Sam's second rookie season, this is a reset year for him where he's with someone who can give him the knowledge he needs to be the best version of himself. Think Favre going to Green Bay with Holmgren and Andy Reid on that staff.

   He's going to get better at recognizing these different ways that defenses attack him. I don't think what the Jags did will work as well from now on. We were always going to have to deal with this, because he never got this stuff coached out of him before. KOC is starting with raw talent, and regardless he's already had a career year, so it IS working.

2. Time to re-calibrate Sammy

3. Whoever his “Performance Coach” is that he mentioned earlier in the season needs to be fired.

4. Sam Darnold turned the ball over frequently while playing quarterback for the University of Southern California (USC):
   In 2016, Darnold was responsible for many of the turnovers that plagued USC.
   In 2017, Darnold said that turning the ball over so much made it difficult for USC to win games.
   In 2018, Darnold said he felt like he let down his teammates and himself by turning the ball over too much.
   He was a TO machine in college and he even acknowledged that. Supposedly we have a great WR crew. Why can't they beat the coverage? To me that's a major problem.
   Sure you can dink and dunk your way down the field but there's risk in that also. We need to figure out why our guys can't beat the coverage.

5. We are unstoppable on offense, we destroyed the jaguars with 4 field goals 👍

6. I feel like this week has been so reactionary. Sam had an off day with JJ and paid for it. In context, each INT had a clear, fixable problem, mostly to do with communication and understanding tendencies. Sam is not a fool and obviously very coachable. He will never be a low turnover player because his daring is also what elevates him. But he will learn to be a little more situationally smarter. I have no doubt he'll bounce back and his best football is ahead of him.

7. If he would let the game come to him instead of the other way he will be ok

8. Slingin Sam Darnit

9. If he throws the ball on time, Sam will be fine. (Except for that wild escape the pocket end zone int and when Nailor was dragging his feet on the other ugly red zone int.)

10. Slingin Sam gettin Darn old

11. They need to have a few dedicated runs and RPOs for him.

12. Maybe one of the problems is the red zone itself. Last week he was taking what the defense gave by having long sustained drives with lots of TE completions. But once in the red zone there isn't much left for the defense to give and the whole dynamic changes. Without the threat of taking the top off the defense anymore it forces the issue more. Being able to run down there more successfully would help too.

13. The Red Zone pick against the Colts was the only INT I saw that scared me where I was like how? Other than that this story about him regressing is overblown

14. I'll say this again. Stop throwing the long HERO ball into multiple coverages.
    He has short open receivers waving and he always goes long. The last game he had a back 10+ yards down field waving!!!! No can't throw to him.
    Or like in the last game take the pass out of the play AND run.

15. One of those picks was the absolute wrong read on a two route concept. Against Indy, if he throws to the open man, Jordan Addison would still be running, right now. Instead he forced it to JJ who was bracketed with help over the top. It was the exact wrong decision given the play vs coverage. The others were mostly bad/terrible throws. The problem with Sam is he makes those throws with a clean pocket, generally.

16. We’ll see.

17. Next opponent gives up 26.7 points per game. I'm hoping we get more than 12.

18. All we need from Sam is to take care of the ball and we are good he’s smart up until the takeaways take over

19. Play calling and force feeding Jefferson,,,

20. Our defense is back to lights out with Cashman back🔥

21. Addison has 0 drops and 78th in the league with targets. He needs to have plays built around him at this point. It’s been 10 weeks of me being confused on how koc isn’t making it happen

22. Our offensive line needs to change that ingram guard spot.

23. As always, Andy, good analysis of Darnold’s play.
    Just maybe, Darnold’s aggressive play stems from his persona. It’s seems to be in his nature, always has.
    Some QB’s are conservative, others aggressive.
    I recall the OC on the Jets during, Adam Gase’s tenure make an off handed remark about Darnold trying to hard, when said, “he shouldn’t wear the cape so often.”
    That’t’s this QB’s football demeanor, perhaps.
    And so, yes, you’re correct…high and lows will be there, but, I’ve seen him begin to put the team on his back so to speak more than previously.

24. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t that what coaches are supposed to do you? I’m not as concerned as some people are.

25. Andy you need a meme of Gandalf and a poorly photoshopped face of KOC saying "you shall not pass!"

26. Qb's that can't see the entire field at this point in their career are not going to get much better. I like Darnold but all these adjustments are making him worse.

27. Sam needs to be more decisive too. He's late on nearly every pass

28. The "Ginger Jameis" pic makes me blow a snot bubble every time. 😂

29. Seems like defenses have figured Darnold out after the first few games. Once there is tape on a guy, defenses will analyze it and attack the weaknesses. And Sam hasn’t shown in seven years that he is good enough to adapt.

    He panics under pressure and doesn’t see the field well. He has the slowest time to pass in the entire NFL as he just doesn’t process fast enough. Elite arm and backup brain. (This isn’t about his IQ, he might be brilliant like Dobbs, but the difference between taking 2.5 seconds vs 3 seconds to read the field and make a decision is huge in NFL terms.)

    Darnold is who he is. Vikings will make the best of it and try to keep him grounded this year. Next year, they move on to the better QB with a much higher ceiling in McCarthy.

    By the middle of next year, the Darnold stans won’t even think about him anymore. Just a one year rental. Good luck to him with his future team and hopeful that the Vikings can stay competitive this year. Playing with house money.

30. Vikings have some incredible weapon and coaching, if Vikings have a real QB, Vikings will be blowing out opponents.

31. Goff threw 5….I think Minnesota offense will be fine

32. All Quarterbacks have bad games. All Quarterbacks even have bad stretches of games. Part of the problem with evaluating QBs these days is the media and fans elevate certain players beyond reality. Even the great QBs have 3 pick games and stretches of poor play. People act like none of the great QBs throw bad passes. They all do. If the standard is something that doesn't actually exist, there's no reasonable evaluation of QB play.

33. He looked unbelievable to start the Rams game but idk what happened after the first few drives

34. Sam isnt an idiot. He knows what NEEDS to be fixed. They watch the tape, see the issues. Now its on Sam to get his ish together and keep this ship sailing straight into a deep playoff run. SKOL!!