It's an interesting situation with Darnold for sure. Is it that every single puzzle piece around him is so damn good (coaching, system, receivers, O-line, running game) that even a generic backup QB would thrive OR has he legit improved into a starting-caliber QB? Your thought on Mullens would suggest it's the former.
I’m not surprised Darnolds is doing well although I figured the team would have stumbled in one of these 3 games. I’m a Mullins fan but Darnold is significantly more physically talented especially moving in the pocket and getting yard downfield. Nick Mullens has rushed for 22 yard his entire career with zero TDs. Darnold has 35 yard this season. In his fist season with Carolina he had 5 rushing tds. He had a nice start to that season in general before McCaffrey got hurt and if I remember correctly some other players around him also missed time.
At this point the Vikings really benefited on D with this offseason. Quite frankly they are currently better at every level of that defense right now. The only thing that’s really the same is safeties. This was another game they looked like they kinda broke the opposing QB.
Yeah, it's funny how the defense gradually deteriorated under Zimmer, who was known as a defensive guy, and here we are now with a younger guru (Flores) doing great things. It seems like the game passed by Zimmer. Now he's struggling in Dallas.
The Vikings really whiffed on a bunch of defensive draft picks especially at CB for a few years and also spent some higher picks on offense instead of defense.
I read an article about Zimmer and the Cowboys defense and one point was made was the DT spot wasn't good but then there was at least one injury and the guys they signed including Linval Joseph weren't helping. There was some legit talent drain there too. It's not looking good and I saw there was a couple people that said the players there don't really fit what Zimmer wants to do. I don't know those players well enough to say. Assistant coaches matter too. Does he have really good people there? Looking at Dallas staff I saw that Shariff Floyd had been there and followed Dan Quinn to the Commanders.
I lost some respect for Zimmer recently in the way he went after people talking about his split with the Vikings. He basically showed some of the reports about him from back then that were negative...were true. Yey he was right about Kellan Mond. Congratulations. A big reason the Vikings didn't win with Cousins was a couple years the defense was pretty bad and unless he is gonna pin all those poor defensive draft picks on Spielman then he needs to shut up. A defensive guy like him should have been able to put together a better D than that even if Cousins was getting paid a lot. At this point he sounds like an angry old man that can't let go. I'm sure it was tough losing his son a couple years ago.
It's an interesting situation with Darnold for sure. Is it that every single puzzle piece around him is so damn good (coaching, system, receivers, O-line, running game) that even a generic backup QB would thrive OR has he legit improved into a starting-caliber QB? Your thought on Mullens would suggest it's the former.
Even Frerotte played well with Randy Moss. I think it is much more the team, JJ and coaching have been great thus far. Darnold is playing well no doubt, he gets some credit, but most of the passes are pretty open scheme wise. Once he does get pressured he's struggling and almost fumbling and throwing picks (sure he's not but it doesn't look good at times).
It kind of reminds me of Mac Jones at Alabama (I'm a Bama football fan) to a little extent. That offense at Bama was so loaded he had super elite oline protection, running game and elite pass catchers. It was so damn easy. Who could even tell how he would do once pressured like in the NFL? We kind of know now. He played decent as a Rook but once he started to really take hits and pressure over and over he kind of crumbled.
To sum it up, I think Darnold is a low end starter / good backup in the end. In the right system he can do well. I wouldn't put him in Vegas for instance and expect the same results. But let's ride this ride and see how it goes. You never know with a great Oline and great defense. The QB doesn't have to do too much! We could win a SB this year.
Low-end starter/good backup.....that's a fair assessment until we see more data that would suggest otherwise. It's a long season.
Darnold has turned into a pumpkin these last few games. Hard to for sure tell on TV, but man he had a lot of time holding the ball against the Lions and not enough good passes/plays. I had to think there were plays to be made. I can't foresee him being good enough to overcome top teams in the end like against the Lions. We just needed him to make a couple more plays. Couldn't do it. Actually KOC did sort of bark at him after he missed a wide open read, I remember that one.
I'm hopeful for JJ to come in next year and we may have a legit contender, maybe not right away, maybe in 26. We might even win 11-12 games this year. Seems likely at this point. I just doubt our playoff chances with subpar QB play. Detroits corners are not even that good either.
Even Frerotte played well with Randy Moss. I think it is much more the team, JJ and coaching have been great thus far. Darnold is playing well no doubt, he gets some credit, but most of the passes are pretty open scheme wise. Once he does get pressured he's struggling and almost fumbling and throwing picks (sure he's not but it doesn't look good at times).
It kind of reminds me of Mac Jones at Alabama (I'm a Bama football fan) to a little extent. That offense at Bama was so loaded he had super elite oline protection, running game and elite pass catchers. It was so damn easy. Who could even tell how he would do once pressured like in the NFL? We kind of know now. He played decent as a Rook but once he started to really take hits and pressure over and over he kind of crumbled.
To sum it up, I think Darnold is a low end starter / good backup in the end. In the right system he can do well. I wouldn't put him in Vegas for instance and expect the same results. But let's ride this ride and see how it goes. You never know with a great Oline and great defense. The QB doesn't have to do too much! We could win a SB this year.
Low-end starter/good backup.....that's a fair assessment until we see more data that would suggest otherwise. It's a long season.
Darnold has turned into a pumpkin these last few games. Hard to for sure tell on TV, but man he had a lot of time holding the ball against the Lions and not enough good passes/plays. I had to think there were plays to be made. I can't foresee him being good enough to overcome top teams in the end like against the Lions. We just needed him to make a couple more plays. Couldn't do it. Actually KOC did sort of bark at him after he missed a wide open read, I remember that one.
I'm hopeful for JJ to come in next year and we may have a legit contender, maybe not right away, maybe in 26. We might even win 11-12 games this year. Seems likely at this point. I just doubt our playoff chances with subpar QB play. Detroits corners are not even that good either.
I’m not gonna say Darnold was awesome in this game (that INT was bad) but what really killed the offense was all those penalties. Still if you have a QB that goes 22-27 for 259 yards that’s far from terrible plus he added 39 rushing yards.
Low-end starter/good backup.....that's a fair assessment until we see more data that would suggest otherwise. It's a long season.
Darnold has turned into a pumpkin these last few games. Hard to for sure tell on TV, but man he had a lot of time holding the ball against the Lions and not enough good passes/plays. I had to think there were plays to be made. I can't foresee him being good enough to overcome top teams in the end like against the Lions. We just needed him to make a couple more plays. Couldn't do it. Actually KOC did sort of bark at him after he missed a wide open read, I remember that one.
I'm hopeful for JJ to come in next year and we may have a legit contender, maybe not right away, maybe in 26. We might even win 11-12 games this year. Seems likely at this point. I just doubt our playoff chances with subpar QB play. Detroits corners are not even that good either.
I’m not gonna say Darnold was awesome in this game (that INT was bad) but what really killed the offense was all those penalties. Still if you have a QB that goes 22-27 for 259 yards that’s far from terrible plus he added 39 rushing yards.
Like I said, he was holding the ball too much, playing safe. I think more plays were out there to be made. I'm not saying he was terrible. He simply wasn't good enough. A mediocre performance won't win the Superbowl unless you got the 2000 Ravens defense.
