Who can defend Darnold Now?

warden

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Here's one of the NFL podcasts I really like. At the 16:00 minute mark, they talk about why it's so hard to play QB in the NFL. They thought the defensive disguises on those two interceptions were phenomenal and really tough to diagnose in real time. And yet, he shook it off and delivered in the 4th quarter and overtime. If you're going to obsessively ding him for the Lions and Rams game last year, you got to give him one back for this one.


The other team is really good and are going to make plays too, they are going to have times when they make you look bad. But in the end, all that matters is who makes the most plays and in this game we made one more play than the Rams. That is football
 

nanomoz

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His picks in this game were bad. Rookie bad. I just about barfed on my own crotch when he threw it to Turner.

But he made plays when he had to, and had a bit of luck with the world's worst successful 2 point conversion.

Looking at the other playoff teams, Id take Darnold over 5 or 6 of them. Maybe more.
 

warden

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What people forget about Darnold is he makes 34 mil a year in a league where there has to be at least 15 QBs commanding over 50 mil. Put it into perspective, that difference let us resign Jones, sign Lawrence and still have money left over.

If the Seahawks win out, it would be two Seasons in a row that has 14 wins

As Earnest Jones stated so eloquently, we wouldn’t be ******* where we are at without Darnold
 

Dolomight12

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The scary thing about the red zone pick to the big guy is that he predetermined that's where he was going and just flung it. If dude wasn't there, the DB covering Jaxon could've picked it, too. He's been playing too long for that shit.
 

nanomoz

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Maybe I'm nuts, but I was sure the Hawks would get a TD on that OT drive. I was less confident in the 2 point's success. But it was the right call, either way.
 

JPatera76

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The scary thing about the red zone pick to the big guy is that he predetermined that's where he was going and just flung it. If dude wasn't there, the DB covering Jaxon could've picked it, too. He's been playing too long for that shit.
I think (not just you I don’t disagree entirely( y’all are just being very very nitpicky in a way. If both his guys are covered then what? Toss it away then people will bitch about that? hand it off to get stuffed? People will bitch.

I feel ultimately he made the best choice and was aggressive where in a game the first half we played far to conservative. Our secondary specifically Jobe and Julian.. let way to
Much get by.
 

Jac

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What people forget about Darnold is he makes 34 mil a year in a league where there has to be at least 15 QBs commanding over 50 mil. Put it into perspective, that difference let us resign Jones, sign Lawrence and still have money left over.

If the Seahawks win out, it would be two Seasons in a row that has 14 wins

As Earnest Jones stated so eloquently, we wouldn’t be ******* where we are at without Darnold

Aside, what are we comparing him to? Stafford is obviously having his career year and beyond that, Darnold is right there leading the next tier. He's #3 in yardage and #5 in TDs. QBs are nearly impossible to find, a couple of the good ones are ancient and getting older (including Stafford), and there's nobody in the draft. What people are obsessing about is 2.5 games against the Rams, but he made good at the end against the Rams as well. It's impossible to upgrade on that in a QB-needy league.
 

Dolomight12

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I think (not just you I don’t disagree entirely( y’all are just being very very nitpicky in a way. If both his guys are covered then what? Toss it away then people will bitch about that? hand it off to get stuffed? People will bitch.

I feel ultimately he made the best choice and was aggressive where in a game the first half we played far to conservative. Our secondary specifically Jobe and Julian.. let way to
Much get by.
Was it 4th down? If so then I guess you're right. I didn't get to watch it live.
 

glenwo2

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Man..I hope so. Winning is the ultimate stat so, he’s got that going for us.

But, there’s been moments where I’m like….what in the Sam hell is happening?

Kubiak - head case
He's the main issue here.

Instead of sticking with Playaction/Bootlegs (Something Sam excels at), he does...something else. sigh...
 

glenwo2

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His picks in this game were bad. Rookie bad. I just about barfed on my own crotch when he threw it to Turner.

But he made plays when he had to, and had a bit of luck with the world's worst successful 2 point conversion.

Looking at the other playoff teams, Id take Darnold over 5 or 6 of them. Maybe more.
In an interview with ESPN, he joked that the plan was to throw that lateral off of Jared Verse's head into the endzone so Zach could pick it up. Just like they planned it. 😁
 

glenwo2

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The scary thing about the red zone pick to the big guy is that he predetermined that's where he was going and just flung it. If dude wasn't there, the DB covering Jaxon could've picked it, too. He's been playing too long for that shit.
I never understood the pre-determined sh*t.

Why does it need to be pre-determined? USE YOUR BRAIN, SAM!

Kubiak is not out there throwing the ball. He can be wrong, too.

Those are the types of throws that drive me nuts.

When Darnold isn't throwing pre-determined passes, his chances of success skyrocket.
 

bileever

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His picks in this game were bad. Rookie bad. I just about barfed on my own crotch when he threw it to Turner.
I disagree with that. I thought his 4 interceptions in the first Rams game were bad, but these two interceptions were the result of the Rams defense fooling him by doing something unexpected. In both cases, there were Rams players where you wouldn't expect them to be, and when you're processing that decision in real time, you have to make some assumptions based on what you've been seeing. Yes, they were mistakes, but not the worst ones a QB could make.
 

Nerter

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I disagree with that. I thought his 4 interceptions in the first Rams game were bad, but these two interceptions were the result of the Rams defense fooling him by doing something unexpected. In both cases, there were Rams players where you wouldn't expect them to be, and when you're processing that decision in real time, you have to make some assumptions based on what you've been seeing. Yes, they were mistakes, but not the worst ones a QB could make.
Sorry...the one to Turner was BAD.
Turner was standing there and Sam threw it right to him.

Unless I didn't see the very deceptive move Turner made.
 

Jac

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Sorry...the one to Turner was BAD.
Turner was standing there and Sam threw it right to him.

Unless I didn't see the very deceptive move Turner made.

A DT unexpectedly dropped into coverage with the rest of the Rams defense quickly cascading in from the left. He thought he had the pressure beat with the throw over the middle. It was a great defensive call. Several former QBs/analysts said that would have been hard to diagnose in real time. It’s rarely as simple as just making a bad throw.
 

sutz

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Would not surprise me at all if they draft another QB in '26. However, it seems doubtful since we have low draft capital, we'll be drafting late in the rounds, and the need is small compared to other needs.
 

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