Episode Description
Minnesota Tim provides a detailed analysis of Sam Darnold's recent performance as the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. He discusses the fluctuations in Darnold's play, highlighting both the criticisms and the encouraging signs from his game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tim emphasizes the importance of context in evaluating Darnold's performance, suggesting that while there were mistakes, there were also significant positive aspects that indicate potential for improvement. He argues that the Vikings' offensive strategy showed promise, despite the disappointing outcome of the game.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know what's so funny is that for the last
few weeks, when Sam Donald has played solid against the Rams,
against the Lions, I came out onto this podcast and
I said, there's clear regression from Sam Donald. He's got
tunnel vision towards Justin Jefferson. He's not seeing his wide
(00:20):
receivers as clearly as he was earlier in the season.
He's missing Jordan Addison when he's wide open down the
field because he's so locked in I'm throwing to Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
And now that Sam Donald.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Played his arguably worst game of the season, I'm over
here saying, you know what, it's not as bad as
you think. I'm a guy that likes to find the center.
You know, when Sam Donald was thrown for eleven touchdowns
three interceptions in the first five weeks of the season,
it was awesome, MVP stuffed. It was playing unbelievable, and
(00:58):
that's exactly what it was.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
He was never going to be able to continue that
consistency throughout the regular season because what he was doing
was not going to be repeatable for him, because he's
never ever done that in his NFL career before. But
then he slowly started to regress. I said he regressed.
I received hate mail for that. And now that he
(01:23):
played and just threw three picks against the Jacksonville Jaguars,
and now everyone's so down on Sam Donald. Everyone's asking
questions to players on the Vikings team that do interviews,
like where's your faith that in Sam Donald? And Aaron
Jones went on the k Adams Show sponsored by fan
Due or whatever it is, and He's said, you know,
(01:44):
I got one hundred and ten percent of faith in
Sam Donald.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I believe in Sam Donald.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So now that it's flipped, now I'm gonna come on
this podcast and say, you know what, Donald's performance was
not as bad as everyone's making it out to be,
because there were a lot of good takeaways, encouraging signs
from Sam Donald in this football game. Stats twenty four
for thirty eight, two hundred and forty one yards, zero touchdowns,
(02:12):
three picks, a QBR rating of thirty three point five,
and a passer rating of forty eight point two. And
I'm on ex Elon Musk's website. I'm on that website
more than any other website. I got the app, but
my phone. It's an awesome website. I would highly encourage
(02:34):
everyone to get that because of the Minnesota Vikings statistics
and statistics around the NFL that the Minnesota Vikings compared to.
You can find all of these good information and nuggets
on there if you follow the right people. And one
of the best people to follow is a Twitter handle
(02:55):
known by the Purple Persuasion. The Purple Persuasion finds information
from really everywhere about the Minnesota Vikings and posts it
to their channel, to their account. And here's one of
the things graded by PFF. It says that was only
the Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold's third worst game of the season.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
He grated lower in the Packers game a.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Forty five point five and Jets game a forty seven
point nine. For the Jaguars game, he hit an overall
rating of sixty one point seven. This is per PFF
and a passer rating of fifty six point five.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Now you get the overall sixty.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
One point seven because of the way he scrambled and
eluded the pocket seven carries for twenty eight yards a
long run of eleven. He did that you know what
seven times in that game and did a pretty good
job of escaping when he needed to, not leaving too early,
but leaving when he needed to and getting some valuable yards.
(04:01):
So that's where you get the overall but then the
passer rating of fifty six point five. And here's why
it's so encouraging, and here's why there can be something
to look forward to against the Titans, against the Bears,
when we play the Packers and Lions again. The Minnesota
(04:22):
Vikings only punted twice in this football game. It wasn't
one of those situations where it was three and out,
three and out, three and out, punts three and out,
punt three and out. The Vikings moved the ball almost
every single time down the field when they had an
opportunity to do so. And just for context sake, the
(04:47):
Kansas City Chiefs that put up sixteen points in the
Denver Broncos undefeated. Everyone's picked to win the Super Bowl
right now and rightly so they're undefeated. Their punter, Matt Riza,
punted four times in that football game, twice as much
as the Minnesota Vikings punter Ryan Wright.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And that shows you.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
That the Minnesota Vikings drove the football down the field
on almost every single possession. You know, if the Minnesota
Vikings got down to the red zone and just kneeled
the ball on every single possession, they would have put
up twenty one points in this game, and no, just
(05:32):
kick field.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Goals on fourth down.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Which is a little bit of a criticism towards Sam
Darnold's throws in the red zone.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Obviously that needs to be corrected.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
But I would rather have a situation where okay, at
least he's driving us down the field and then he's
throwing the ball away versus okay, three and out, three
and out three in round punt, have no momentum, have
no structure, have no you know, consistency or rhythm or
anything happening on the offensive side of the ball. So
(06:06):
Sam Donald his performance is more encouraging than the statistics,
or then your memory might think it was, because you know,
you see the interceptions. All three attempted passes to Justin Jefferson,
all three terrible throws either behind him, tip to another,
(06:28):
to another defender.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But I like to find the medium. You know, he's
not as.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Great as he was the first five weeks of the season,
and he's not as bad as he was.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
I'm not gonna go on a rant and just say
that this is the end of the Sam Donald era
in the Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
He's done.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
He's over, He's never gonna play an NFL down again. Like,
why did we ever sign him?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
He sucked.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
This is garbage, this is terrible. That's not the way
I'm gonna come with it. I always like to find
the center. I never buy the most expensive item in
the store, and I never buy the least expensive item
in the store.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I find the middle.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I never buy the most expensive pair of shoes, I
never buy the crappiest pair of shoes. I always find
the middle. My takes are the same. I'm not gonna
come out with a spicy take and say Sam Donald's
done for There was a lot of encouraging signs offensively
for the Minnesota Vikings in the Jacksonville Jaguars game. They
should have crushed them by thirty and that's a good thing.
(07:28):
The fact that they could have crushed them by thirty
is a good thing. And there was another thing that
I found on x that was shared by somebody who
I don't follow, but someone shared it. Okay, this looks
good as far as the Minnesota Vikings offense, and this
backs up what I've kind of been saying. Here's a
tweet that I don't fully understand, but it says, did.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
We get did we really get? Beat that bad? In it?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
For my more for my YouTube audience and my podcast audience.
For my podcast audience, go over my YouTube and you
can see it. This is about eight minutes into the podcast.
It says it's a graphic that shows the level of
play between the offenses of each team, and it says
(08:15):
net success rate.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Offensive plays only a winning team logo.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
At the bottom top of a bar relative to losing
team logo align on the X axis. So it shows
the Eagles as the first team because they dismantled the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Thirty four to six.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
But then at the other end of the spectrum, it
shows the Falcons actually higher than the Saints, even though
the Saints won that game twenty to seventeen. It's basically
shows how each offensive team performed in this football game
based on success rate, and the Minnesota Vikings are second
(08:54):
on this list and the Jaguars are on the way bottom.
Jaggers have like a zero percent success rate and the
Vikings are like fourteen to fifteen percent. The Saints are
like minus fifteen percent.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I don't know how they won that.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Football game, but this shows you that the Minnesota Vikings
actually played well offensively in this game up until the
red zone.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So his mistakes are correctable. Just don't throw an interception
to the other team when you get down close to
the end zone.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It's something that needs to be fixed, especially if the
Minnesota Vikings are going to play well in the playoffs
and actually want to do some damage.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
But I just want to take a pause, take.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
A deep breath, and tell you that, you know what,
he don't have to be this bummed out by Sam
Darnold and the Vikings twelve to seven win against the
Jacksonville Jaguars because he actually played pretty good.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And you know, everything is kind of defending that take.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
You know, the offensive rate percentage, the PFF grade, everything
is telling us that Sam Donald's performance was not nearly
as bad as it meets the eye, because he drove
the football down sealed on almost every single offense of possession.
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