Episode Description
Minnesota Tim delves into the struggles of Sam Darnold as the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. He discusses the reasons behind Darnold's high sack rate, his playing style, and the impact of the offensive line on his performance. Tim also highlights Darnold's statistical achievements this season while noting a regression in his performance over the last few games. The conversation provides insights into the challenges faced by the Vikings' offense and the overall dynamics of the team.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
I have discovered why Sam Donald is struggling recently due
to some help from some Twitter friends. But you know,
I was thinking about it. I was looking at it,
what is going on with Sam Donald? Why is he
struggling in recent weeks for the Minnesota Vikings? And when
(00:29):
I read this statistic found by somebody else, it made
it clear and obvious as to why hit that subscribe
button right there. The podcast is fully monetized on YouTube.
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tim podcast. Okay, so the statistic that was discovered by
somebody else, I said, I discovered it, but I discovered
the tweet whatever. It was posted by the Purple Persuasion
(02:03):
on Twitter, which is a great great Twitter follow if
you're a Vikings fan post Vikings content all the time.
Highly suggest that and it was gave credit to Purple
Underscore Insider. And this statistic by Sam Donald has really
told the story of the Minnesota Vikings problems in recent weeks.
(02:25):
It says, among all NFL pocket quarterbacks, nobody has held
the ball longer than Vikings quarterbacks Sam Darnald a large
part of the problem on why his sack rate is
so high. Look at this Vikings QB Sam Donald has
been sacked on ten percent of his dropbacks this season,
and this leads the NFL. Now, there's a couple of
(02:49):
things going on here. Number One, ed Ingram stinks. Okay,
he gives up one of the most highest pressures in
the NFL among right guards, and now Christian Darrisa is out.
So you would think that this number would get even
worse unless the Minnesota Vikings completely change their offensive system
(03:11):
their format and screen pass slant, screen pass sland. But
that's not what O'Connell and Sam Donald like to do,
and that really doesn't go with Sam Donald's strengths. Sam
Donald's strength is throwing the football deep down the field.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's his number one strength.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
His number two strength is finding the routes down.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
The middle of the field.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
His biggest weakness is throwing a checkdown pass on second
and tent and giving you and your team a manageable
third and four opportunity. Sammy d does not like to
do that, and it's been very clear and obvious that
he doesn't like to do that. Now, there's a lot
(03:55):
of fun plays that happened because of Sam Donald's style.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Just be real about that.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
You know, the bombs to Addison and Joshin Jefferson and
finding Jalen Naylor down.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
The middle of the field deep all.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
It's fun and it is glamorous to the eye if
you're a Minnesota Vikings fan, and it hurts the eye
if you're a Minnesota Vikings opponent when Sam Donald looks
down the field and fight in Addison and it's a
big play, but it also has its problems to specifically
against the Rams. Sam Donald committed the cardinal sin as
(04:34):
an NFL quarterback in his own end zone, he holds
on to the ball forever. You've got to be aware.
You've got to understand the situation. Throw a check down
pass there, do something, move the chains. You have about
two minutes. It's a little less than two minutes, but
it's about two minutes to move the ball down the field,
(04:55):
Spike it, do whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Run some plays.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Get yourself in a position to give yourself some heaves
into the end zone at the thirty to forty yard line,
whatever the case may be. He takes a sack in
his own end zone. And was it a terrible miscall
by the officials.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Absolutely it was.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
He had his face mask, he grabbed it, he yanked it,
his neck got twisted. The Vikings got screwed by the
officials not calling a flag in a game where the
officials were throwing flags left and right and all over
the place. But the reason why the Minnesota Vikings were
in that position in the first place to rely on
(05:37):
an officials call to save their butts is because Sam Darnold.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Held out of the ball way too long.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
It's because he was dropping back and he was not
getting rid of the football.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
You've got to get rid of the football.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
If Justin Jefferson isn't there on that mid or deep route,
get rid of the football. If Addison's not there, get
rid of the football. You're in your own end zone.
The last thing that you can do is take a sack.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
In your own end zone. And that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So you don't blame the officials all you want, because
I certainly did two. But who was first responsible in
that situation to avoid any potential safety.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
It's Sam Donald. He held out on the ball way
too long.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
He allowed the officials to miss a call because he
held onto the ball way too long. And right now,
Donald having his best season as an NFL quarterback seven games,
seven starts, fourteen touchdowns to five picks. His higher total
was in twenty nineteen, his second season in the NFL,
(06:48):
or he had nineteen touchdowns and thirteen picks. So he's
going to break that and he's gonna have his best
season as an NFL quarterback. He's going to play fier
percentage of this season sixty seven point two percent compared
to his previous high in twenty nineteen sixty one point
nine percent. So through and through, Sam Donald is having
(07:12):
statistically his best season as an NFL quarterback, and nobody
would argue otherwise.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
However, and after the first four.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Weeks of the season, when the Vikers beat the Giants
and the Niners and the Texans and who is team
number four, the Packers, Donald had eleven touchdowns and three interceptions.
The next closest quarterback was Joe Burrow or Baker Mayfield
with eight touchdowns, and everyone's claim clamoring as Sam Donald MVPMVPMVP. Well,
(07:46):
since then, in three games against the Jets, against the Lions,
against the Rams, Sam Donald has had three touchdowns and
two picks, so almost in the exact same total of games.
So the first four games he had eleven touchdowns and
(08:07):
the next three games he had three touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
There's a regression there, There's.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Something going on there where things aren't clicking as easily
for Sam Donald. And maybe it's just the fact that
the Minnesota Vikings defense is not capitalizing on turnovers as
easily as they were the first four weeks of the season.
Against Stroud, they picked him off in their own territory,
did the same thing against Brock Purdy, did the same
(08:33):
thing against the Giants Van Ginkle touchdown. So maybe it's
just as simple as that, where you know, things just
aren't as easy.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
For Sam Donald.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Teams aren't turning the ball over as much to the
Minnesota Vikings in optimal position, which means the Vikings are
scoring less touchdowns offensively because of the field position that
they're being that they're being given. So things like that
are happening, and that is going to be part of
why Sam donald statistics don't look as similar. However, for
(09:06):
Sam Donald to have the same stat total after eight
games as he did after four games, I got four
games span four games span, he'd have to throw eight
touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night football. So
just as statistic to show you the slow.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Regression, not much of a regression.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It's not like he's fallen off the face of the
earth and throwing eight picks a game. But there has
been a regression. There is not quite as as pure
as he was the first four weeks of the season,
and that's to be expected. He was playing the he's
playing like the best quarterback in the NFL the first
four weeks.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
That's not gonna happen always. He's gonna fall back to earth.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
He always was, so anyway, those are just my thoughts
on Sam Donald and the Minnesota Vikings issues after eight
weeks of this NFL season. So hit the subscribe button
right there, and thank you for making this podcast a
part of your day.