When the Arizona Cardinals scored a touchdown to go up 19-6 in the third quarter, the Minnesota Vikings found themselves in a position they hadn’t been in all season: down by two touchdowns. Before that, their largest deficit of the season was 11 points to the Detroit Lions, a hole they dug back out of before the Lions kicked a game-winning FG.
That led to one of the first true comeback opportunities for Sam Darnold, and he passed it with flying colors. In three drives, the Vikings scored a TD, kicked an FG, and scored the go-ahead TD for 17 total points and a 23-22 victory. Darnold, who was just nine of 14 for 79 yards and had taken four sacks when the Cardinals scored, went 12 of 17 to 156 yards and two TDs over those three drives, taking one sack for zero yards and adding a 12-yard scramble.
Arizona’s defense punched Darnold and the Vikings got in the face. However, he regrouped and fought back to win the game. That doesn’t happen without resilience from the QB position.
Still, Darnold isn’t often the focus when people talk about Minnesota’s offense. Justin Jefferson is the star everyone highlights and represents on the graphic before every game, a spot usually reserved for the QB. People praise Kevin O’Connell for his offensive design and the job he’s done helping Darnold turn into a quality starter. People will talk about the run game’s resurgence with Aaron Jones before they give the credit to Darnold.
Everyone on offense had to play well for the Vikings to execute, but make no mistake — this win is squarely on Darnold’s shoulders. He took over the game, made decisive reads, and executed a number of impressive throws to bring the Vikings the win.
Let’s break down the tape.
first drive
Darnold started off the comeback with impressive pocket movement. On the first play after Arizona’s TD, Brian O’Neill jump set on play action, and lost the rep to Baron Browning on a long-developing Yankee concept.
Darnold recognized the pressure and stepped up in the pocket, all while reading the play. The read includes Jefferson, who is doubled on a post by Arizona’s Quarters coverage. The safety on Jefferson’s side took away Jordan Addison on the deep crosser, so Darnold skips ahead while recognizing he’s under pressure and finds Jalen Nailor on a curl over the hash.
Calmly finding your third option while climbing due to pressure is high-level quarterbacking:
Darnold followed up progressing to Minnesota’s WR3 to trusting his WR1 in Jefferson on the next play-action throw.
On this play, he has Jefferson running a deep curl off of play action against a Cover 2 look by the Cardinals. Jefferson’s step pushes the deep safety off, but Darnold has to fit the ball between two underneath zone defenders. That also requires a great deal of trust in Jefferson, who has to come back to the ball to create the window for Darnold. Jefferson does his job excellently, and Darnold fires the ball in there for another first down.
Darnold’s fourth throw of the drive was another good read. The Vikings put Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson on the same side, and stretch Arizona’s defense horizontally. The defense starts with an LB over Hockenson, but he runs out fast to cover Jefferson in the flat. That vacates the area underneath for Hockenson, and the safety doesn’t drive on Hockenson’s curl. Darnold diagnoses it correctly for an easy catch, and Hockenson gets 11 with a strong effort after the catch.
Darnold mostly kept the offense on schedule this drive, but he brought out his creation ability for the TD. The Vikings are running crossers in the end zone, with a delay from Johnny Mundt that eventually leaks out for the TD. Mundt initially blocks an edge before passing him off to Cam Akers and releasing to the flat.
The problem is that Akers attacks his block incorrectly, cut blocking a defender right at Darnold’s feet. Combined with Blake Brandel losing the edge, the pressure forces Darnold to scramble. He’s able to avoid the defender on the ground at his feet, get out of the pocket, and find a wide open Mundt for the TD.
second drive
Darnold continued the scoring by leading a field goal drive, and ended up in a second-and-14 after a failed first down run. He responded with impressive anticipation on another curl to Jefferson. The Cardinals are in Cover 2 again, which means Darnold needs to get the ball out before the underneath defenders can see the route. You can see Darnold starts his throwing motion when Jefferson is about the 44, before he makes his break and turns around for the ball.
Darnold knew Jefferson was going to win, and felt confident in his decision to throw. You can see that both underneath defenders dove for the ball, showing that the window would have been tighter if Darnold had hesitated on the throw. It’s also impressive because Cam Akers lost in pass protection again, leading to a defender in Darnold’s face who contacted him as soon as he released the ball. Jefferson does the rest, making a couple moves after the catch for a 30-yard gain.
The next play, a zero-yard sack after Akers lost in pass pro again, could have killed the drive. It’s hard to recover after taking a negative play, but Darnold responded. He noticed that the Cardinals had vacated the left side of the field, and found a ton of open room to scramble for 12 yards and a first down. He had open receiving options on the play, but keeping the ball on the ground was a safe option that led to a positive play.
Darnold followed that scramble with an impressive display of arm talent. The Vikings are running a double 7s concept, with Addison on the shorter corner and Jefferson on the deeper one. The Cardinals have 2 CBs to that side.
The underneath one is falling off to undercut a potential throw to Addison, while the deeper one is trying to midpoint Jefferson and Addison. That leads to a very small window, where Darnold needs to fit the throw over the underneath defender but short of the deep defender. He also needs to get the ball down so Addison, who is shorter for a WR, can catch it without taking a big hit from the deeper defender.
Darnold executes the throw perfectly, getting the ball over the underneath defender and down so Addison can toe-tap before going out of bounds. And, oh, by the way, this throw was from the far hash, which adds six yards to the distance compared to the near hash. This is a big-boy NFL throw.
Eventually this drive stalled out, but not before one more impressive throw by Darnold. On the next play, he perfectly placed a wheel route to Aaron Jones. Throwing the wheel on mesh-rail is an alert, so this is an aggressive decision by Darnold, trusting Jones to win against an LB. Jones wins, and Darnold places the ball perfectly, but Jones can’t reel in a diving catch. Notably, Darnold also sustains another big hit while making the throw.
It’s a really tough catch for Jones, so I don’t blame him for not hauling it in, but Darnold made a great throw. The other team gets paid, too.
Darnold had his next pass batted down on a play where Hockenson probably would have scored, and the third-down play didn’t stand much of a chance, leading to the FG. Darnold put the team in position to score a TD, and they just barely missed doing so a couple of times, so the FG is a good outcome.
game-winning drive
The Cardinals responded by taking eight minutes off the clock. Getting the ball with just 3:20 left in the game, and down six, the Vikings needed a TD on this drive to have a chance. Let’s see how they did it.
A quick pass to Jefferson on first down set up this play action shot to Addison. Protection is good, but not perfect, as Robinson and Brandel get split inside and outside. Darnold has to step up to his left while reading a route to his right. Addison is running a dig on a dagger concept, and his route starts at the numbers.
The thing is, because the route is breaking inside, it means that Darnold has to make the throw on the hash. So he has to keep track of the LB on the hash to that side. That means that, while moving to his left, Darnold had to keep track of two players to his right that were nine yards apart. That’s difficult to do in the chaos of an NFL game.
Darnold executed this perfectly and hit Addison in stride for a big gain to get into Cardinals territory:
Minnesota’s offense then stalled, ending up in fourth-and-five. A failure on this play meant the game was over. Arizona’s blitz had gashed the Vikings all day, with 10 pressures and four sacks on 18 blitz reps, per PFF. Minnesota had struggled to protect against the blitz the Cardinals used on this play, where they threatened pressure to the right but dropped those players out and blitzed from the left instead.
However, the Vikings were ready this time. They knew that Arizona’s players who dropped would angle to the left in their drop to take away the hole vacated by Budda Baker, the actual blitzer. The Vikings used that information to develop the route to Jefferson — a curl to the same side the droppers were coming from. Darnold dropped back, read the LB who dropped to the inside, and fired an accurate throw to Jefferson before the rush could get to him.
Darnold couldn’t hesitate here. He showed the confidence to deliver the throw on time and kept Minnesota’s hopes alive.
Darnold’s confidence under fire continued on the next play. This time, the Cardinals ran a Cover 0 blitz and rushed seven, one more than the Vikings could block. With a free runner, Darnold knew he needed to get the ball out, and he quickly identified a winning matchup for Hockenson against a safety. He threw an accurate ball, and the defender grabbed Hockenson’s hand, leading to a DPI call and another first down.
A screen to Addison got the Vikings down to the five. Then Darnold needed to go back and trust Jones, who had not only dropped a TD throw on the previous drive but had fumbled twice earlier in the game. Minnesota ran a mesh concept, and Addison’s crossing route helped slow down the LB in man coverage against Jones, who ended up wide open in the flat.
Darnold didn’t hesitate to trust his RB, and delivered the throw accurately, allowing Jones to turn upfield and score. The design did more than Darnold on this play, but it was a great way to cap a drive where Darnold propelled the offense down the field to win the game.
conclusion
Sam Darnold put all of his talents on display during Minnesota’s comeback against the Cardinals. He operated the Vikings’ offense on time, quickly processing the defense and delivering on-time passes to open receivers. Darnold showed anticipation on throws to hit tight windows, impressive arm talent to layer throws over the defenders, and strong pocket presences to avoid the rush and climb in the pocket.
Darnold also showed off some creative ability while scrambling, leading to the TD to Mundt and a 12-yard gain on the ground. He stood in and took big hits, including on a fourth-and-five conversion to save the game.
Despite his low-end contract, his status as a draft bust, and constant clamoring that he will eventually turn into a pumpkin, Darnold played lights out to enable the Vikings to beat the Cardinals. He’s in the middle of a three-game heater where he’s dismantled the Tennesee Titans, Chicago Bears, and Cardinals as part of Minnesota’s current five-game winning streak.
Let’s hope he can keep this level play up for the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
