Jalen Hurts isn’t better than Sam Darnold because of 2025…he’s proven himself for a while now…
Honestly I won’t even call Hurts better than Darnold period haha. I think Hurts has regressed if I’m being honest. But why are you dismissing Sams turnovers? 20 is a lot for a guy who leads the league in passing attempts…let alone for a guy QBing the team who ran the ball the second most in the league.
Maybe McDonald doesn’t trust Sam in the low red area because he has such a propensity to turn it over idk…
I’m not into the darnold is a top 10 qb camp (I think he’s 11-15 range) but obviously he’s more than good enough to lead a complete team to the sb which is all that matters. As long as he shows up when it matters and he has so far than those turnovers he had are irrelevant. Just win.
This isn’t far off what I’m saying. He’s proved you can get to the SB with him under the right set of circumstances.
And my suggestion of it being a disgusting SB is almost fact haha. Seriously…has there ever been a SB where both teams that made it were not top 10 preseason favorite teams? I don’t think many people had Seattle as a playoff team being the likely 3rd in the division prediction. And pretty much no one had the patriots as a playoff team.
Even though I’m still disgusted it’s not us in the sb. I find it refreshing that’s its some new faces in the sb with elite defenses. I actually like defensive football.
Maybe I’m salty because I am a Josh Allen/Matt Stafford slappy. And if my Lions aren’t in it, I wanted one of them to get a ring. After the season they just had Seattle is not gross. But I still feel the patriots are about the least tested SB team in history.
Although I would’ve also thought Seattle/Denver would’ve been gross, it would’ve been a legit battle of the two best defenses in the league. Which to steal your sentiment…would’ve been a refreshing change up.
It honestly depends on the qbs in the nfl at the moment tbh. Do I think darnold can get a winning record with a bad defense and bad oline play like Goff did for yall? No. But do I think you can win a sb with him if the teams is complete with an elite defense? Yes. Don’t have to be a world beater at qb when your team is as good as Seattle and if he wins, he’s a sb champion regardless of rankings.
If it we’re not for the two final games last year. Nobody would have a problem saying Darnold is top 10. I agree his implosion was as bad as it gets. But when the Rams plsyed Seattle I said we would win because Stafford is clutch and Darnold is not.
I was wrong and Darnold was more clutch than Stafford in that game. I’d be hard pressed to find 10 QBs who have played better than Darnold of late. Key word “played”. Not who I would rather build around which is a different discussion.
Sam Darnold played better in the NFC championship game than Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson have ever played in the playoffs and they needed every bit of it to win the game.
That stuff matters to me more than hypothetical performances
I mean Sam darnold only had 1 really good year…this past year was as average as it gets statistically and that’s being nice. 25 tds tp 20 turnovers when you don’t throw that much isn’t good. I’m not gonna vault him over qbs that have seasons of consistent play and him winning the sb doesn’t change my opinion. He got hot when it mattered but that’s not sustainable and can’t be counted on imo. On average he’s just an average qb to me. His defense has completely saved him given the turnovers to help him get to those clutch moments.
The Panthers had Baker Mayfield AND Sam Darnold in their building at the same time. They failed both of them and moved on. Now we have to deal with the aftermath because they handed so many assets to the Bears after giving up on Baker and Sam.
The story of the rise (and fall) of the Cowboys dynasty is very interesting. Dallas took Troy Aikman #1 overall. They were not convinced he was the guy…nor were they patient. Before Troy had a chance to throw a pass, the Cowboys used another 1st round pick on his replacement…in the supplemental draft. That pick ended up being the #1 overall the following year. The Cowboys are the only franchise that I know of that spent back to back 1st overall picks on a QB. And they have to be the only franchise to spend #1 overall picks months apart, without ever giving the first guy a chance to throw a single pass in training camp.
This year Darnold was 5th in passing yards and 11th in passer rating. That’s top 10 ish production. I feel like this where discussions become black and white and everyone ignores gray.Nobody is saying Darnold is elite or top 5.
But…
From a production standpoint can you honestly there have been 10 QBs who’ve done more than Darnold the last 2 years? I feel like this is the Goff thing where nobody wants to admit they are wrong on a guy they wrote off. He’s part of the reason Seattle is going to the Superbowl.
I think it shows more about how quick teams are to point the failures of an organization on the QB. I think it also shows that QBs need a good supporting cast and time to develop.
Too many QBs got better after their original teams gave up on them.
Completely wrong. Nobody has been a better playoff QB than Josh Allen statistically. It’s not his fault his amazing D completely falls apart in big games.
I’m so sick of this narrative it’s so surface level it’s ridiculous. Sam Darnold can never be and will never be comparable to Josh Allen.
QBs with Lesser attempts often have higher QB ratings than the guys who chuck it a ton. The reasons they aren’t throwing as much is due to them having ideal opportunities to throw because their offense is run centric. Therefore, they get to throw more play action, against run heavy defenses, and against a lot man, in shorter to go situations. And if you get to throw against a lot of man coverage, your chances of hitting big plays increase greatly. It’s literally the only reason Lamar Jackson has this ridiculous inflated passer rating. He isn’t legitimately a top passer in this league…quite the opposite actually. He just has ideal throwing circumstances. Especially since the arrival of king Henry.
The more QBs who throw less like Darnold are asked to do, the more his “impressive” passer rating will suffer. His numbers are highly misleading because of these circumstances. He hits a lot of big plays because his opposing defenses are playing an elite player like JSN 1 on 1 in situational defense. All it takes is one 50 yard touchdown to take a passer rating from 65 to 100, or 80 to 105 in any given game.
I feel like you are looking at the black and white and not the context details as to why…I think you are accusing others of doing exactly what you are doing.
Calling Sam Darnold a game manager doesn’t really hold up when you look at how he’s actually playing the position lately.
If we understand the position by looking at production and impact, the 2025 and 2026 numbers tell a completely different story than the one you’re trying to spin.
2025 Season - He finished with 4,048 passing yards and 25 touchdowns on a 67.7% completion rate. That’s top-tier efficiency.
2026 Postseason - He’s coming off a massive performance in the NFC Championship throwing for 346 yards and 3 TDs.
Come on we’re talking about a guy who ranked 4th in the league in Big Time Throws 29…..Usually, managers are busy checking down to the flat for a 3yrd gain on 3rd & 12, not leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl appearance with a 127.8 passer rating in the NFC Championship game.
The difference between Seattle and a team like Detroit is we have Gibbs and they don’t. The two Seattle backs have very few big plays that turn that 11th ranking into a top 5. Again context. Take away Gibbs top 6 runs and you have Kenneth Walker.
Walker goes 3-5-4-2-9
Gibbs goes 15-1-0-5-12
I wonder what seattles average 3rd down was vs ours