Former NFL safety and current CBS game analyst Adam Archuleta said something on Sunday’s broadcast from Tennessee that’s becoming more of a common take as the Vikings continue to shock the NFL with a quarterback few if anyone other than coach Kevin O’Connell believed in.
“You can tell that Sam Darnold has been coached in a way that he never really has been coached in his career,” Archuleta said as Darnold put together an excellent game under pressure in a 23-13 win over the Titans.
This idea was pitched to Darnold on Wednesday as he and the Vikings returned to the practice field ahead of Sunday’s game at Chicago. Darnold was limited because of a surprise foot injury, but said he said the foot “felt really good.”
Darnold fielded the question with caution and figurative happy feet, no doubt concerned how the answer would fly with those who coached him during his three-year, 13-25 stint as a failed No. 3 overall pick of the Jets, as well as those who coached him in Carolina during his two-year, 8-9 stint as a failed comeback candidate.
“I just feel like you know, um — not talking about past experiences at all — but I think just here it’s the detail that we’ve had ever since OTAs, ever since April,” Darnold said. “We’ve been able to lock in our progressions. Just our feet, our eyes, where they’re supposed to be. And just being on time within the concepts. If you play like that, it makes the quarterback position a little bit easier.”
Darnold’s numbers suggest the former flop is playing with a level of ease he hasn’t experienced until now, Year 7, 27 years old, on a one-year prove-it-to-the-entire-league contract.
Here are some of those numbers:
- A 67.9 completion percentage for a guy who’s never been higher than 61.9. Nineteen touchdowns, tying a career high. Eight 100-plus passer ratings in 10 games for someone who had 12 in his first 66 games.
- A Pro Football Focus rating of 78.9 for a guy who’s never topped 66.0. A career-low bad-throw percentage of 13.5 from Pro Football Reference. A career-high on-target percentage of 80.4 from PFR for someone who’s never been better than 77.1.
- Seventeen-game projections of 32 touchdowns, 4,058 yards (career high: 3,024) and 338 completions (career high: 273).
Yeah, yeah, there is another not-so-friendly stat: 10 interceptions, a pace that would give him 17, two more than his career-high 15 as a rookie.