Minnesota Vikings Q&A: The Kevin O’Connell and Sam Darnold Mailbag

14 comments

1. Everybody jumping off the Sammie train…. Hahah it’s crazy

2. Good.. as in the 3 interception yesterday?
   He has been playing terribly since the Packers game..

3. That’s the point of paying a QB less money, if they suck you still have a defense to make up for it… JJ is the future and I’m not going to get mad at Sam for “underperforming” while being paid a bottom tier QB salary

4. The darnold train is coming to an end I think everyone knows the plays are scripted now

5. I’m sticking with Sam. Aside from the turnovers he was good. He can get better. The last turnover was bad. I wonder if his hand is ok?

6. How many 400+ games does sd have in 7 yrs? Um zero. Mullens has had at least 2 in a handful of starts… his checkdown game is non-existent, so he throws bad picks.

7. Too risky to make changes now , Game plan needs to change to protect Sam from himself. Forcing it to JJ is acceptable a couple times but has to be at a certain point in the game

8. Koc doesn't like that old school playcalling when the run is working to keep going til they stop it

9. Sam's 2nd quarter int in the endzone, he had Jones open to the right – probably for a TD. Anyway, Sam needs to make better decisions in the red zone for sure. Also when Sam can't step up in the pocket, he needs to break that bad habit of "blind" rotating out of the pocket to the left, where he turns his back on the rush and the downfield activity for a few moments. He's been doing it all season. Apparently it can't be coached out of him.

10. Darnold thinks he's Brett Farve, except on Sunday he didnt throw the touchdowns

11. I am not saying Mullens is the answer or even that we should bench Darnold but I think you undersold what Nick Mullens is, yes he throws a lot of picks but I don't think in any of his starts last year was the offense as pathetic as it was Sunday, yes he threw picks that lead to the all of his starts being loses but still, he threw a bunch of yards and tds.

    Darnold's issue seems to be processing, its so weird seeing a gunslinger QB be this ineffective, Darnold loves chucking it deep and so does Mullens but while Mullens had 2 300 yard games and 1 400 yard games in just 3 starts, Darnold has yet to throw for 300 all of this year. I suppose I just don't understand how a QB like Darnold who is very similar and aggressive like Mullens is looking so much worse.

12. If sam has another game like this next week I think you give Mullens a try! Hey maybe he does good or maybe it helps Sam pull the stick out his ass!😂

13. KOC is 1 for 4 in Trick Plays and worse he is calling them between other teams 10 yard and 30 yard line. Remember the First Year KOC was Vikings Coach he called a Shuttle pass up the middle on Dallas 4 yard line to Dalvin Cook resulting in lossed fumble

14. I want to know y we didnt run the ball more in the red zone