We Can Still Buy Into Sam Darnold’s Comeback Season
Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Through four weeks, Sam Darnold was the story of the NFL. His Minnesota Vikings were 4-0, and were winning not in spite of him, but because of him. You don’t throw 11 touchdowns in four games without earning a ton of props, and he got them.
Since then, it may look as if Darnold’s day in the sun is over. Week 5 saw Darnold play his worst game of the season by far against the New York Jets in London. Following that, the Vikes have dropped consecutive games to the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams. We can even go back to halftime of Week 4’s game against the Green Bay Packers, and Darnold’s TD-to-INT ratio has gone from a phenomenal 11-to-2, down to a very pedestrian 3-to-3.
And while T.J. Hockenson is expected to return next week, giving the QB another weapon, his job isn’t about to get easier. Christian Darrisaw’s absence is going to be felt, at times quite literally, by Darnold. It was cute for a while, but this could easily be a fondly-remembered footnote in Vikings history. Remember that time when Sam Darnold kicked ass for four weeks?
But even though Minnesota came away with losses in their past two games, there’s still plenty of reason to believe in Darnold continuing his magical comeback season. He played mostly-solid football against both the Lions and Rams, but was simply out-dueled by two very good quarterbacks balling out for their best games of the season in Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford.
Don’t believe it? Let’s look at Darnold’s numbers from Weeks 1 through 4, and how they stack up to Darnold in Weeks 7 and 8.
Completion Percentage
Weeks 1-4: 68.9%
Weeks 7-8: 76.9%
Yards Per Attempt
Weeks 1-4: 8.8
Weeks 7-8: 9.6
Passer Rating
Weeks 1-4: 118.9
Weeks 7-8: 117.4
Big-Time Throws (per PFF)
Weeks 1-4: 5 (1.25 per game)
Weeks 7-8: 5 (2.5 per game)
Touchdown Percentage
Weeks 1-4: 10.4%
Weeks 7-8: 5.8%
Interception Percentage
Weeks 1-4: 2.8%
Weeks 7-8: 1.9%
Other than the drop in touchdowns (which is significant), Darnold has been as good as he was to start the season. Throw out Week 5 against the Jets, and he’s been a consistent producer for the Vikings. On the whole, he’s been the player we saw in the first four weeks of the season — a big-armed signal-caller who’s more than capable of a great game with Kevin O’Connell scheming for him and when avoiding that extra mistake per game he made early in his career.
The unfortunate thing is, the QBs on the other side have been looking more Darnold-like lately… and we don’t mean the version the Jets got. Goff and Stafford combined to go 47-for-59 (79.7%) to the tune of 9.5 yards per attempt and six scores to one pick. Even so, Darnold kept them within two points against the Lions, and had an opportunity for a game-tying drive before he was sacked in the end zone on a controversial non-call.
But hey, that’s the defense’s job. The hope for Darnold coming into the season was to do enough to keep the Vikings in games without much of a drop-off from Kirk Cousins. He’s done that and more, and that includes these last two weeks. There’s little reason to think it won’t stay that way through the end of the season.
Up Next