nitrogenNot long ago, it seemed like Sam Darnold’s days in the NFL were numbered. The New York Jets’ No. 3 overall pick in 2018 has been bounced around from team to team over the past few years and will serve as the backup to Minnesota Vikings first-round pick JJ McCarthy this fall. However, McCarthy suffered a knee injury in the preseason, forcing Darnold to take action, and the veteran made the most of the opportunity. In Sunday’s 34-7 win over the Houston Texans, Darnold completed 17 of 28 passes for just 181 yards through the air but avoided an interception and threw to four different receivers scored 4 touchdowns. Darnold has been one of the league’s most efficient quarterbacks through three weeks this season, and the Vikings are 3-0.
Darnold was a college star in Southern California, but his NFL career was mostly disappointing. If Darnold never takes the field this year, the defining image of his career might be this ESPN image of him coming down with mononucleosis in 2019, or it might be another moment that season when a hot mic turned Darnold into So confused was the New England Patriot’s defense that he “saw ghosts.” For an early draft pick, Darnold has become something of a sideshow. so far.
Darnold is far from a top-tier quarterback, but after three starts this season, we have enough sample size to believe his transformation could be real. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, he is one of the best players in the league in pass completion percentage, exceeding expectations. Vikings head coach and play-caller Kevin O’Connell lets him loosen up and let Darnold grab the ball while the receiver runs a route before firing the ball downfield . (With an average pass time of 3.03 seconds, Darnold has been one of the most patient passers in football this year, though his offensive line is good enough to give him that time.) The Vikings have world-class receivers Ball player Justin Jefferson directs.
His improvement gives the Vikings a fighting chance in the NFC, but it could also provide a glimmer of inspiration at a time when many teams’ quarterback situations have ranged from dire to hopelessly mediocre. The Carolina Panthers just benched last year’s No. 1 pick, Bryce Young, due to a lack of physical tools (especially height) and the Panthers’ poor supporting cast (although his backup, Andy Andy Dalton (Andy Dalton) proved his career has turned into a mess (Carolina may not be as bad as we thought on Sunday). The New York Giants are stuck with expensive Daniel Jones, who has a few decent outings each season but is often a liability. The Las Vegas Raiders are adding a career backup, Gardner Minshew. A handful of teams are banking on recent high draft picks to achieve better results than they have thus far. (In this category you might find Anthony Richardson, Bo Nix, and even the newly resurgent Justin Fields.)
Quarterback performance across the league is a touchy subject right now. The position’s statistics have been at an all-time high through the first few weeks of the season, and everyone has a theory as to why. Is it a rush to develop green college prospects to maximize their rookie contracts? Is it the lack of refined offensive schemes in college? Is it the defense being strategically savvy and adding more safeties in the defensive backfield to make the quarterback’s throwing routes tighter? This all may play a role in the fact that many quarterbacks who look like busts end up becoming busts.
But in his seventh year in the NFL, Darnold is finally producing something close to a first-round quarterback. It wouldn’t be right to say he’s given exactly zero so far — the Vikings did give him $10 million this year — but there’s a risk he’ll step further out of the spotlight. Now that Darnold is playing well, the Vikings look like a playoff team even without McCarthy, and fans of quarterback-starved teams in the league could use Darnold’s rebound. Comfort yourself. perhaps their A bad QB will flip the switch one day too. It’s not that simple though: They also need an elite ball-handler like O’Connell, an elite receiver like Jefferson, and a little elbow grease.
Most valuable player of the week
Malik Willis, quarterback, Green Bay Packers. The third-year quarterback began his career with the Tennessee Titans, who flipped him to the Packers this offseason. Willis was a promising prospect in 2022 when the Titans drafted him in the third round. He was on the field 11 times over two years and struggled, so the Titans traded him to Green Bay for a seventh-round draft pick. Willis will be Jordan Love’s backup. Love, who suffered a MCL sprain in Week 1 that has forced Willis to play the past two weeks, improved his record to 2-0 with a 30-14 victory over his former team in Nashville on Sunday. Williams completed 13 of 19 passes for 202 yards and one score, and also added 73 yards and six touchdowns. Willis put a good spin on his experience in Tennessee this week, expressed gratitude for his time there and didn’t sound overly eager to exact revenge on the team that passed on him. But Willis got some anyway, and this could be his last start before Love returns.
Video of the week
NFL offenses are an intricate tapestry, filled with complexities that even savvy fans and media struggle to understand. So it’s refreshing when a team manages to pull off an old school magic trick, one of the few that little kids can pull off with a little luck. Enter the Detroit Lions, who use a hook-and-ladder trick to trick the Arizona Cardinals into scoring a touchdown. The Lions won 20-13, with the touchdown going down in history as the decisive score.
Statistics for the week
21 years and 56 days. That’s the age when Giants rookie Malik Nabors became the youngest player in NFL history to score two touchdowns in a game on Sunday. Nabors connected with Jones on third-and-5 yards for scores, escaping the Cleveland Browns defense multiple times. Nabors was the sixth overall pick in April’s draft out of LSU, and he quickly became the legitimate No. 1 receiving option for the New York offense (and thousands of fantasy football managers). With running back Saquon Barkley now in Philadelphia, Nabors suddenly becomes the Giants’ offensive star.
Newsletter Promotion Post
Elsewhere in the league
— The Dallas Cowboys took on the Baltimore Ravens at home and lost 28-25, and the score might not have been as close as the score suggested. Early in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys trailed 28-6 before coming back to win. almost Had a chance to win the game, but they ultimately couldn’t stop Lamar Jackson and the Ravens from scoring two first downs to kill time in the final seconds. There’s no shame in losing by three points to a likely playoff team, but the fact that the final score was close belied how poorly the Cowboys played for much of the afternoon. Baltimore’s Derrick Henry had 151 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries, while Jackson had a typically strong day with his arm (12-of-15 carries for 182 yards and one touchdown) and legs (14 carries, 87 yards, one score). Cameras captured several tense moments on the Cowboys’ sideline, including a play between Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, who had just four catches for 67 yards. Prescott and Lamb are now in the process of renewing their contracts, with Prescott the league’s highest-paid quarterback and Lamb the No. 2 receiver. They have to find a way. Baltimore’s win moves both teams to 1-2 on the season.
— The San Francisco 49ers are also off to a 1-2 start, but star running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle and receiver Deebo Samuel Deebo Samuel is both out due to injury. The remaining Niners took a 21-7 lead at the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday afternoon before falling 27-24 and surprisingly finishing last in the NFC West. The key play came when the Rams’ Xavier Smith completed a 38-yard punt return in the tying game with 42 seconds left in the game. This was the first time Smith touched the ball in his NFL career, and it established the Rams’ midfield status. A pass interference penalty allowed rookie kicker Josh Karty to kick the game-winning 37-yard field goal. The 49ers’ Brock Purdy and wide receiver Jauan Jennings combined for three touchdowns to help the team defeat their opponents.
— There’s more bad news for the Miami Dolphins. They already lost starter Tua Tagovailoa to a concussion earlier this season, and his replacement, Skylar Thompson, lost Sunday 3 to a chest injury. -24 missed the loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Tagovailoa will miss at least three more games.
— The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 20-10 to improve to 2-0 in Sunday’s meeting between the two teams. The Steelers will be optimistic about quarterback Justin Fields’ defensive performance and consistency. but The biggest story in Los Angeles may be a series of injuries to the team’s most important players. Quarterback Justin Herbert has been dealing with a high ankle sprain, and the injury appeared to be more serious when a Steelers group sacked him in the third quarter. His fellow Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater also exited the second half with an injury. Prior to that, four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Joey Bosa suffered a hip injury in the first quarter. None of those stars have returned. Jim Harbaugh has a talented roster in his first year at Southern California, but he doesn’t have a healthy one right now.
——Beau Nix! The rookie quarterback was widely criticized when he was drafted 12th overall by the Denver Broncos in April. Nix played five seasons in college and finished his career well, but he rarely displayed classic NFL quarterback traits. The Pittsburgh Steelers embarrassed him in Week 2, taking him out twice and holding the Denver Nuggets down by just six points. But in his third start, Nix earned his first win, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-7. Nix rushed for 47 yards on nine carries, including a 3-yard touchdown and a 22-yard breakaway. Nix didn’t stand out as a passer, completing 25 of 36 passes for 216 yards (no touchdowns or interceptions). But he had no sacks and his completion rate was 4.3 percent higher than expected, according to Next Gen Stats. Nix, often criticized for not pushing the ball downfield, was 2-for-2 passing from 20-plus yards from the foul line.
–Of course, the Kansas City Chiefs are 3-0 despite their poor performance. This time their victims were the Atlanta Falcons, who lost 22-17 on Sunday Night Football. Patrick Mahomes has struggled as much as his team this season, but the best teams win even when they’re not at their best. And, as we know, the Chiefs tend to get better as the season goes on.
