And the inevitable begins....

[comet52]

https://twitter.com/TPPSkol/status/1848351809418534956

The Purple Persuasion
@TPPSkol

In the first 4 game the #Vikings offense had 13 TDs…
The last two games the offense has scored 3.
#Vikings QB Sam Darnold has thrown only 1 TD in 10 quarters now.
The defense scoring TDs every game isn’t sustainable all year long.

Talented Sam is reverting into Inconsistent Sam which finally rests at Bad Sam. Not all on him, but he's locking into JJ too much and coming up a little small at times. Would love to see Darnold ride high against the Rams and give him and the team a boost of confidence and a feeling of getting back on track after a very close home loss.

Sam is basically discount Kirk Cousins. The pushback from Sam supporters yesterday was "look at that great stat line." Kirk put up great stats in losses too, while we tore our hair out watching missed chances, checkdowns and failure to rise to the moment.

Sam's ceiling despite the physical gifts is journeyman backup in this league and I'll credit the team for getting some good play out of him. But I view it as a Case Keenum horseshoe situation. The shine will gradually wear off and we'll all be glad that JJM is the future, sooner or later.

[purplefaithful]

I don't agree Sam's ceiling is Journeyman or Keenum esque..

Assuming his trajectory continues, he is going to have his pick of some big contract offers with big guarantees...

Now if he craps the bed the rest of the year? All bets off, but I dont think that'll happen in MN. Not with this coaching and surround.

Would I take him over KC? Probably not and I am in agreement having JJM incubating in the wings is a good thing.

[MaroonBells]

I don't agree Sam's ceiling is Journeyman or Keenum esque..

Assuming his trajectory continues, he is going to have his pick of some big contract offers with big guarantees...

Now if he craps the bed the rest of the year? All bets off, but I dont think that'll happen in MN. Not with this coaching and surround.

Would I take him over KC? Probably not and I am in agreement having JJM incubating in the wings is a good thing.

Agree. He's played six games and has had only one game with a rating under 103. Is it due mostly to his surround? Of course, but his ceiling within this surround is obviously higher than Case Freaking Keenum. The tools are in a totally different category. He'll have more bad games though.

[purplefaithful]

Agree. He's played six games and has had only one game with a rating under 103. Is it due mostly to his surround? Of course, but his ceiling within this surround is obviously higher than Case Freaking Keenum. The tools are in a totally different category. He'll have more bad games though.

One prophecy that has come true is that his long game is better than his short/medium one...

Just have to hope the bad throws continue to be mostly limited. Lots and lots of football season left. 

I'm looking forward to it.

[comet52]

I don't agree Sam's ceiling is Journeyman or Keenum esque..

Assuming his trajectory continues, he is going to have his pick of some big contract offers with big guarantees...

Now if he craps the bed the rest of the year? All bets off, but I dont think that'll happen in MN. Not with this coaching and surround.

Would I take him over KC? Probably not and I am in agreement having JJM incubating in the wings is a good thing.

I would say Darnold getting big money offers is about as likely as Jameis Winston getting them. These are guys with loads of physical talent but they don't have it between the ears and NFL gms who aren't idiots can see that. During Sam's "hot" start this year I saw him getting away with a lot of little mistakes. The horseshoe was firmly in place. Last 2-1/2 games have been a different story. He can still put up a nice stat line but he doesn't rise to it in critical moments. Shots of KOC getting in his face on the sidelines last Sunday told us more. I think the hc has his hands full trying to keep Sam from going off the rails which has been his m.o. for the last 6 years.

[MaroonBells]

One prophecy that has come true is that his long game is better than his short/medium one...

Just have to hope the bad throws continue to be mostly limited. Lots and lots of football season left. 

I'm looking forward to it.

Yep, that does now seem to have been a good prediction. I just want to see how well he does given a league-average schedule. My God, 9ers, Texans, Packers, Jets, Lions. That is a ridiculous stretch of five games that probably isn't matched anywhere in the NFL. And Darnold won all but one of them. I'd like to see Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen face that schedule and see how they come out. I'll add the Rams in that stretch now that they're returning to health (not real confident about tonight). But I am curious to see if he plays down to opponents like the Colts, Jags and Titans. Or does he destroy them? That will probably play a big role in the size of his next contract.

[Bullazin]

I would say Darnold getting big money offers is about as likely as Jameis Winston getting them.  These are guys with loads of physical talent but they don't have it between the ears and NFL gms who aren't idiots can see that.  During Sam's "hot" start this year I saw him getting away with a lot of little mistakes.  The horseshoe was firmly in place.  Last 2-1/2 games have been a different story.  He can still put up a nice stat line but he doesn't rise to it in critical moments.  Shots of KOC getting in his face on the sidelines last Sunday told us more.  I think the hc has his hands full trying to keep Sam from going off the rails which has been his m.o. for the last 6 years.

At this point I can’t agree that Darnold has a horseshoe. He has had plenty of clean pockets but hasn’t thrown the ball up for grabs or forced it. He has made some physical accuracy errors and missed a defender a few times. Darnold been pretty dam good to date. 

I can see the Winston comp but it’s too early to label him on par with JW at this point.

[medaille]

At this point in time, I think Sam Darnold is more being lumped in the same tier as Baker Mayfield, Geno Smith, and Jared Goff. Guys who were redemption projects that turned that into consistent starting careers and less like guys who are higher quality backups. Obviously, we’re on a 6 game sample size, but I think if the season ended now, some team would give him a short term starting contract similar to what Baker got, maybe like 2 year $70M. That said, I don’t think is peak Darnold either. Cousins said it took him 7 games to get comfortable in this offense. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Darnold have some ups and downs as he masters more of the offense and defenses throw different things at him that he hasn’t seen in this context.

I do think that he has had some amount of horseshoe, mostly in terms of the defense providing the offense with an extra supply of very short fields.

[Canthony]

Darnold is who he is. He is good enough but not someone to bet your franchise on. He played two great defenses and that is something Darnold will never be able to beat. He doesnt have any more ceiling.

With that said, we will see McCarthy under center week one next year. That is all that has been proven so far. Like I said, it isnt that he is not good. Just not someone to run your team.

[purplefaithful]

Darnold is who he is. He is good enough but not someone to bet your franchise on. He played two great defenses and that is something Darnold will never be able to beat. He doesnt have any more ceiling.

With that said, we will see McCarthy under center week one next year. That is all that has been proven so far. Like I said, it isnt that he is not good. Just not someone to run your team.

Good to hear from you again bros...

SKOL