Klint is scripting the first half assuming the QB will be able to hit the throws that will be open, when they are open. Sam is just struggling to beat dime looks and light boxes... Which you would think would be a signal to audible to a run, but we havent done as much of that as we should. In the last 2 games when we have, we have seen good results.
I honestly think Klint and MM are dialing up plays that Sam NEEDS to figure out early in games because we have the defense to keep things close even when Sam isn't executing them as he should.
Sam has a 9-9 TD to INT ratio and is averaging 220 passing yards per game over his last 8 games compared to a 16-5 TD/INT ratio and 260 yards per game in the first 8 of the 2025 season. His last 8 games look more like Carolina Sam than who he was in Minny or how he played for us early and it's a trend that has yet to break.
His INT against Carolina is a perfect example of the playcall being right, but Sam killing the team with his decision making. jSN was nowhere near open over the top but Sam chose to throw it there rather than hitting a shorter route to Barner. That's 100% the QB.
That tendency to want to look deep(er) has shown up over and over and is putting undo pressure on our online to protect longer than they should for the plays to work.
We also look to be calling more shotgun based plays early in games. Again, I have to think that Kubiak is doing this because he NEEDS Sam to be able to function from that set, but trends show that the PA is less effective in gun and Sam is showing a tendency to be less deceptive in his tendencies from gun which is tipping an advantage to opposing defenses. He looks to be telegraphing his reads to the D. When he is under center and turns his back to the D in PA, they can't read his eyes for the first second or so of the play which is giving him an advantage. When we go under center, Sam's success rate goes back up.
But I think Kubiak and MM know that we can't be so one dimensional as to avoid an entire section of the playbook because Sam can't execute it. I think they are pushing him to work through his issues in the hope that he will eventually get better. Sometimes 7 on 7 against friendlies in practice isn't enough to generate improvement. Look at how Russ still struggles with beating 2 high looks in dime and nickel. When he was here, word throughout the week was how good he looked in practice. When game time hit, it was a ramble drill, deep bomb or bust. He never figured it out.
Hopefully Sam does figure it out. But dumb decisions like his toss deep to JSN that was intercepted last week doesn't bode well. He is a creature of habit and that habit says look medium, look deep and trust what you see the defense showing you presnap. All three tendencies are killing us early in games.
