Sam Darnold: ‘I’ve got to do a lot better job taking care of the football’
MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings are 7-2 after a 12-7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, on what might have been Sam Darnold’s worst game in a purple jersey.
The Vikings dominated the Jaguars in every phase, except for the scoreboard. They had 28 first downs to Jacksonville’s 10, a 402-143 advantage in total yards and they had the ball for more than 42 minutes. Minnesota ran 82 offensive plays, but still needed four Parker Romo field goals and big defensive plays to leave victorious.
That’s because Darnold had a season-high three interceptions. He's also got five in his last two games.
"I’ve got to do a lot better job of taking care of the football, I think that’s obvious," Darnold said after the win.
Why it matters
Darnold came to the Vikings on a one-year deal, and he’s largely written a crazy comeback story. He has 17 touchdowns on the season. But Sunday, he committed three turnovers, all on throws to Justin Jefferson. Two of them were in the end zone. If those are touchdowns, it’s a much more convincing win for the Vikings over an inferior Jaguars’ team.
Darnold’s first interception was thrown into a tight window, broken up and picked off by Foyesade Oluokun. He had Jefferson open in the end zone on the second interception, but the throw was behind him. The third was at the pylon in the end zone, but Darnell Savage jumped the route and picked it off.
"The last two interceptions were more so just him trying to make a play. He’s a competitive guy, but when you’re in the scoring zone, either as space shrinks you have to anticipate and put the ball in a place where you want to, or you’ve got to protect the football and progress in rhythm, and he knows that," Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. "You can’t have 400 yards of offense without your quarterback moving the ball and making some plays and running the show."
Where did he succeed?
The Jaguars weren’t going to just let Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison make chunk plays all day. Darnold leaned on his tight ends, with T.J. Hockenson getting eight catches for 72 yards and Josh Oliver four for 52. That’s 124 yards passing to tight ends. Hockenson made four catches for third down conversions on one drive alone.
Darnold is good for one bad throw or bad decision per game. But he knows he can’t do it multiple times in one game, and it will come back to bite him against better teams than the Jaguars. But if Vikings’ fans were told Darnold would have 2,141 yards (237.8 per game), 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions through nine games, I think you’d take it.
"Sam Darnold has played a lot of football at a really high level this year. He’s a huge reason why we’re 7-2, and looking back on it, this can be a critical moment where we all kind of absorb and understand we’re still 100 percent confident in Sam," O'Connell said. "It’d be craziness not to be, but a great opportunity to figure out exactly what happened."