Scathing article in The Athletic on the decision not to resign Darnold -
Seahawks, Vikings both made Sam Darnold gambles. Now they’re headed in opposite directions
The Vikings visit Seattle reeling without reliability at QB, while their former signal-caller has the Seahawks flying high and dreaming big.
www.nytimes.com
Here’s a taste -
Head coach Mike Macdonald believes in what he saw when his team lost to Darnold last season: poise, accuracy, toughness, leadership and high-level command of the game.
The coach was asked this week why Darnold’s poor finish in Minnesota didn’t deter the Seahawks from signing him.
“It’s a little narrow-minded,” Macdonald said. “You’re just going to go off a two-game sample? When we were looking into possibly trying to get Sam, to a person, the type of player and teammate he was on a daily basis was really cool.
“Then you watch the totality of the tape — there’s a lot of great things going on in the red zone, on third down, two-minute, on the move; we know he’s a great thrower on the move. All those things shined through.”
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Tight end AJ Barner spent most of training camp
telling anyone who’d listen that Darnold is one of the best quarterbacks in the world. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp was on the winning end of Darnold’s playoff debacle against the Rams, and yet he is adamant that the non-believers citing the quarterback’s final two games as their primary evidence are misguided.
“Go watch the games with a football understanding of what’s being called, what’s being done, positions that Sam’s being put in, the positions that the offense was in,” Kupp urged earlier this year. “There’s a bunch of other things going on for Sam that people don’t want to talk about because maybe you don’t understand it, it’s not as fun to talk about or it’s not as divisive to talk about.”
youtube.com
- just like always
