SonicHawk
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- Aug 22, 2012
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I'm going through each Sam Darnold play but instead of reviewing in text I'm going to only provide highlights.
Q1 2:21 | SEA 0 ARZ 3 | 2nd & 2 ARI 27 | INC -- this is the first throw where Sam doesn't go to the designed pass catcher. Nothing negative here, just surprised how little they are asking of him up until this point.
Q1 2:16 | SEA 0 ARZ 3 | 3rd & 2 ARI 27 | Kupp for 11 -- My highlight here is Sam does NOT pat the ball before throwing. Unlike some of the designed routes, this was just Sam's first read. Kupp finds a small space in the zone and Sam gets it there JUST in time. So very glad to see him not pat the ball here or it could have been easily deflected.
Q1 1:38 | SEA 0 ARZ 3 | 1st and 10 ARI 16 | Barner TD -- Sam's third read into man defense. Looks over to JSN who is blanketed by 3 defenders, moves to the left side where he sees Kupp covered well with safety help, then sees Barner scooting out with his defender trailing behind. Just a little throw and catch. Oline did a good job too and I think that is mostly because Bradford had no one to block.
Q2 8:20 | SEA 7 ARZ 3 | 1st and 10 ARI 49 | INC to Horton -- Once again Sam gets some good time in the pocket thanks to Bradford having to block nobody and Sam airs out it out deep to Horton who's one on one. This was a beautiful ball to the spot where the corner could only just throw up his hands. Too bad Horton can't secure it.
Q2 3:45 | SEA 7 ARZ 3 | 1st and 10 SEA 10 | Arroyo for 32 -- the pocket collapses because a linebacker comes storming in and Charbs stands him up allowing enough room for Darnold to escape. Arroyo is basically alone down the sideline and Sam waits for the following linebacker to make a move. Initially I thought it was an underthrow, but after about a dozen rewatches I think Sam sees the numbers on the linebacker, knows hes cooked on any comebacker, know Arroyo isn't running away from him and throws it short so Arroyo can come back to the ball and get an easy catch. Shout out to Charbs, Darnold, and Arroyo.
Q2 1:23 | SEA 7 ARZ 3 | 2nd and 8 ARZ 17 | INC to Arroyo, DEF PI in the endzone -- this ended up being a great throw but I hate it. Sam is throwing falling backwards with a defender in his face. If Baker ever turns around and finds the ball, he could've picked it. Instead he freaks out and starts tackling Arroyo long before the ball gets there. Good result, really bad decision.
Q3 11:05 | SEA 14 ARZ 3 | 1st and 10 ARI 34 | Sack -5 -- Anthony Bradford is a ******* menace. Instead of covering a guy, he assists with the triple team letting the linemen run free to Sam.
Q4 4:58 | SEA 20 ARZ 13 | 3rd and 6 SEA 26 | JSN for 36 -- JSN catches the defense crashing on the short routes and has man on a go and Darnold sends a perfect ball.
Q4 0:23 | SEA 20 ARZ 20 | 2nd and 10 SEA 40 | JSN for 22 -- I don't understand why teams are so insistent on leaving JSN 1 on 1 in critical situations. Darnold lofts it up short so JSN can come back to the ball while the defender is off-balance.
This game felt very "game manager" play style. When Darnold was asked to go through reads he did well, but it was generally limited. Some of the accuracy wasn't crisp. I think what really separates an elite passer from a mid-tier one is just a quarter second better anticipation and accuracy. The good thing is Darnold has not had a problem throwing high or low, it's usually behind.
I'd genuinely like to see the Hawks increase their dependance on Darnold, allow him to push the ball downfield and not handcuff him so much to quick shorter passes. He's shown a solid understanding of how to throw balls deep/mid and put it in places where we have the highest chance of completing.
At the end of the day though, it's a win.
Darnold B+.
Q1 2:21 | SEA 0 ARZ 3 | 2nd & 2 ARI 27 | INC -- this is the first throw where Sam doesn't go to the designed pass catcher. Nothing negative here, just surprised how little they are asking of him up until this point.
Q1 2:16 | SEA 0 ARZ 3 | 3rd & 2 ARI 27 | Kupp for 11 -- My highlight here is Sam does NOT pat the ball before throwing. Unlike some of the designed routes, this was just Sam's first read. Kupp finds a small space in the zone and Sam gets it there JUST in time. So very glad to see him not pat the ball here or it could have been easily deflected.
Q1 1:38 | SEA 0 ARZ 3 | 1st and 10 ARI 16 | Barner TD -- Sam's third read into man defense. Looks over to JSN who is blanketed by 3 defenders, moves to the left side where he sees Kupp covered well with safety help, then sees Barner scooting out with his defender trailing behind. Just a little throw and catch. Oline did a good job too and I think that is mostly because Bradford had no one to block.
Q2 8:20 | SEA 7 ARZ 3 | 1st and 10 ARI 49 | INC to Horton -- Once again Sam gets some good time in the pocket thanks to Bradford having to block nobody and Sam airs out it out deep to Horton who's one on one. This was a beautiful ball to the spot where the corner could only just throw up his hands. Too bad Horton can't secure it.
Q2 3:45 | SEA 7 ARZ 3 | 1st and 10 SEA 10 | Arroyo for 32 -- the pocket collapses because a linebacker comes storming in and Charbs stands him up allowing enough room for Darnold to escape. Arroyo is basically alone down the sideline and Sam waits for the following linebacker to make a move. Initially I thought it was an underthrow, but after about a dozen rewatches I think Sam sees the numbers on the linebacker, knows hes cooked on any comebacker, know Arroyo isn't running away from him and throws it short so Arroyo can come back to the ball and get an easy catch. Shout out to Charbs, Darnold, and Arroyo.
Q2 1:23 | SEA 7 ARZ 3 | 2nd and 8 ARZ 17 | INC to Arroyo, DEF PI in the endzone -- this ended up being a great throw but I hate it. Sam is throwing falling backwards with a defender in his face. If Baker ever turns around and finds the ball, he could've picked it. Instead he freaks out and starts tackling Arroyo long before the ball gets there. Good result, really bad decision.
Q3 11:05 | SEA 14 ARZ 3 | 1st and 10 ARI 34 | Sack -5 -- Anthony Bradford is a ******* menace. Instead of covering a guy, he assists with the triple team letting the linemen run free to Sam.
Q4 4:58 | SEA 20 ARZ 13 | 3rd and 6 SEA 26 | JSN for 36 -- JSN catches the defense crashing on the short routes and has man on a go and Darnold sends a perfect ball.
Q4 0:23 | SEA 20 ARZ 20 | 2nd and 10 SEA 40 | JSN for 22 -- I don't understand why teams are so insistent on leaving JSN 1 on 1 in critical situations. Darnold lofts it up short so JSN can come back to the ball while the defender is off-balance.
This game felt very "game manager" play style. When Darnold was asked to go through reads he did well, but it was generally limited. Some of the accuracy wasn't crisp. I think what really separates an elite passer from a mid-tier one is just a quarter second better anticipation and accuracy. The good thing is Darnold has not had a problem throwing high or low, it's usually behind.
I'd genuinely like to see the Hawks increase their dependance on Darnold, allow him to push the ball downfield and not handcuff him so much to quick shorter passes. He's shown a solid understanding of how to throw balls deep/mid and put it in places where we have the highest chance of completing.
At the end of the day though, it's a win.
Darnold B+.
