"It's just a matter of avoiding those plays" Kevin O'Connell enlightens on Sam Darnold's decision making process vs. Colts
One of the tough parts about the Minnesota Vikings season is the volatility of quarterback Sam Darnold. He's completed 69.5% of his passes for 1,900 yards and 17 touchdowns, but his seven interceptions have been rough for the Vikings' offense. This past Sunday, Darnold threw two interceptions with one of them coming in the red […]
One of the tough parts about the Minnesota Vikings season is the volatility of quarterback Sam Darnold. He's completed 69.5% of his passes for 1,900 yards and 17 touchdowns, but his seven interceptions have been rough for the Vikings' offense.
This past Sunday, Darnold threw two interceptions with one of them coming in the red zone and the other coming right after Byron Murphy Jr. intercepted Joe Flacco. That inconsistency has been really tough on the Vikings' offense, especially when trying to string together drives.
Sam Darnold's decision-making was "really good"
The decision-making for Darnold was up and down on Sunday night, mainly the two interceptions. Head coach Kevin O'Connell talked through
"I think it all goes back to what we call DTA: decision-making, timing, accuracy. The decision-making part of it. Once you've had great fundamentals, he had some really, good snaps in the game of, throwing off plant, throwing off hitch little pocket movement, mixed in there. But his decision-making for the most part in the game was really good. I think it just comes down to a first and 10 play pass that you know, especially after the defense had forced the turnover first and 10. We're trying to be aggressive just because the play call is aggressive and we've got an eligible down the field that happens to be Justin or even Jordan, possibly on the interior route, they're still great. Happens to put the ball in play, that was a huge point of emphasis and has been for a long time. And we had a lot of explosives the other day, and we weren't really trying to hunt them. We got some plays because of the ball going down the field when, when justified, warranted, but also Sam throwing completions, and Josh Oliver or BP (Brandon Powell), or Trent Sherfield tight turn getting north.
"I thought Justin and Jordan were both really good. And it's not always the run after catch that gets on Sports Center, making people miss. It's just the details of catching and getting vertical. And instead of it being six, it's nine, or, you know, five, it's 11, you know, the first play of the game, Josh Oliver caught that ball two yards, two yards beyond the line of scrimmage, and got 11. So just all those little hidden yardages we talk a lot to our guys about. And so Sam, you know, understanding. You know why. You know the player that intercepted that, that last interception, the second one was the flat defender. Flat defenders at 20 yards deep, that should tell you something. And, and I want him to be aggressive. He's, in my opinion, throwing the ball as well as you know, many, many guys in this league right now, and we're going to be aggressive. But that decision-making and everybody gets goes down that game management world. It's play management. It's who takes what away, and hopefully, we've given you answers for that, and just put the ball in play. Because if he's learned nothing else with the guys he's throwing to and our system, you're going to get your ops. It's just a matter of avoiding those plays and all part of the process for Sam. What I love the most is, you know, responded the way he did in the second half, and even the way he did off of that play there in the second half, and move the team and put it away with that last touchdown pass."
The answer that O'Connell gave about the second interception was particularly interesting. The defender (Nick Cross) was responsible for the flat and ended up getting the interception nearly 20 yards deep. That is something that Darnold needs to pick up on and just get the ball in play, especially since it's on first down.
It also says that the defense is adjusting to your tendencies, which with the Vikings is wanting to throw 10-20 yards over the middle. However, O'Connell seems to like that aggressive mentality, especially when you look at his play-calling tendencies and how he tries to create explosives.
The other side of that is you need to have a willingness to take the check-down when the explosive isn't there. Once Darnold gets a little more comfortable with that, the Vikings' offense can take a step forward.
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