QB of the future?

I actually wonder if there's anyone that's convinced that QBs actually achieve NFL level excellence and success by themselves...?

If so, they need to study the game much more closely, because all the emphasis on the player, just the one player, is a guarantee of missing most of the game.

Mahomes? Reid's system rewards him as much as he rewards it, their synergy is apparent...but, if you've watched KC regularly, you've seen our current "QB god" throw plenty of picks, lose ground trying to save blown plays, and even he couldn't save games where his team had the dropsies and last season. The team, the coaches, everyone in the organization end up supporting the Mahomes mythos to a degree, but they all get rings and the occasional pop uber-star girlfriend.

Hurts was in the big game very recently, threw the fatal pick to lose Monday night's game. Allen infamously goes on streaks of beating himself and his team. Burrow...I think he and that team are a bigger mess than has been shown. On the other hand, maybe someone is beating real consistency out of Kyler Murray with a real scheme and real coaching, now...?

For our team, Dobbs was a great improvisor until other teams had enough footage to study...and he would clutch at fatal straws to save doomed plays. Mullens throws like a condensed best-and-worst of Jeff George film, and Darnold...ah, Darnold...! He's looking (so far) like what would serve the team best: a younger, more mobile version of Kirko that is veteran enough not to panic but young enough to escape those failing pocket moments (except early week 1...thanks, Ingram, for nothing).

If the team, coaches and players alike, show the same strength, poise, and resilience against the Texans as they have the last two games, there's plenty of reason to be optimistic...and Darnold can maybe brush off his detractors a bit more, being seen for what he's doing instead of what happened years back.

I'm cautious about Darnold, but just as cautious about McCarthy. The first two games have looked good, but I was bit by the Josh Dobbs excitement last year, so I need a much larger sample. As the broadcasters raved on Sunday and said, "Both Shanahan and O'Connell really think Darnold just needed the right team to succeed", I thought, "Yes but Shanahan let him walk and O'Connell immediately drafted a QB to replace him."

But Drank, that applies to KOC as well - not definite he is a proven "QB Guru", that much-debated title. I think Darnold has had 2-game streaks in his career, as did Dobbs, prior to Kevin's touch. So we'll see. That said, Darnold is not Dobbs. KOC picked him and has had a full offseason and TC to work with him, so KOC has no excuse if he doesn't improve Darnold.

But you are saying that if KOC does get a strong season out of Darnold we can be confident McCarthy will be even better under his tutelage and we can let Darnold leave. Whoa. Next fall, McCarthy will be exactly what he was on draft day: unproven. I have seen too many highly-drafted QBs flop to assume that he will succeed, regardless of environment, weapons, or coaching. Trey Lance played in the same environment and with the same coaches and weapons as Brock Purdy.

Still...IF - and yes, still a huge if - Darnold takes this team to the playoffs and especially a win, I will be pretty ticked if the Vikings let him walk. Darnold is not Case Keenum, who lacked some of the physical qualities desired, and he's not Randall Cunningham, who was aging. Both those QBs got the team to NFCCG appearances and were dumped for alternatives the team preferred. 

That's encouraging for sure. And I think Darnold can probably get a bit better with time.  I'd be somewhat curious where our average starting position sits in comparison to last year.  It's 2 games, but one big outlier would be getting the ball at the SF 10 along with 3 other takeaways that are going to distort that value a bit. 


I'd also note that the running game is significantly better after 2 games, and that has nothing to do with who is under center.  Darnold has outplayed Kirk 2 games in, but I doubt he goes full Kirktober starting in week 5 either, not to mention the post-Kirk offense was pretty bad minus 2 games with Dobbs doing an adlib. The extra improvement IMHO is probably more due to the running game. It's a lot easier to move the ball and score with a balanced attack. 

Regardless, it's encouraging. 

I'll bite...

Every single time someone mentions a QB that shall not be named and his one playoff win and two appearances in his time here is example number one. While it may not be anyone's intent, arguments like that are logically absurd and ignore the role of the other 52 guys on the roster, because it's not like Pat Mahomes would have changed our fortune much because QB play wasn't the only deficiency on this team. People give Raptorman a ton of crap (unfairly in a lot of cases) for beating a dead horse on how defense matters when in reality, he's right. You need offense, defense, and special teams to make a good team, and a true contender is usually going to need to be top 10 in both offense and defense and not be abysmal in ST.  And I say this as someone who did not want said QB to stick around. 

Every single reference to QB wins as a stat. Period.

Or perhaps we can look at just how pessimistic people were on this team with Sam Darnold at the helm predicting top 5 picks despite the massive improvements to our defense this offseason. I have been clear that the offensive performance will hinge on Darnold's play and KOC's ability to fix the running game. So far it looks like KOC has done his part with the run game *knock on wood* and so far Darnold has played reasonably well, but the offense is still not the main reason we're 2-0. 

People overvalue QB play. That's why teams like ATL sign the one who shall not be named to a 180M deal with 100 guaranteed, why we signed him in the first place, or why Prescott and Love got the extensions they got. Darnold has played well, but statistically so far, he's been more of a game manager and he's a part of our turnover problem that hasn't bit us yet. I'm fine with that, especially since he's down a pretty good TE and at the moment his #2 WR while still getting a feel for a new system. Hopefully he improves a bit particularly with the turn overs, which we will need if we're on our way to our next inevitable NFCCG loss, but he's not the only one who needs to play better on offense, but it will be his play that everyone talks about. It's been the focus all offseason and it will continue to be the focus even though the defense is much more dominant so far. 

You want to know how to judge a good QB?  It's simple. Look at how well they play when their defense gives up more than 25 points during a game.  See, the average win % of QBs, any QB, when the defense gives up 18 points or less is 85%.     People slammed Cousins for a year while he was here.  But he wasn't the problem. Any team that scores and average of 25 points a game should be in the playoffs, unless you have a defense that gives up 25 points per game as well.  But that's beating a dead horse I've been told.  It's all on the QB. 

I challenge anyone who has slammed Cousins over his time int MN to find a discussion about his winning in MN where it's tied to team play.   People think Mahomes was the reason KC won the Super Bowl last year.  Yeah, no, take a closer look at their season.    For the record, the Chiefs W/L record from last year when the defense gave up 18 or more points. 4-6.  The year before?  12-3. The year before that,  6-6.   But, but, but...........it's the QB. 

I’m not paying Sam that much money. JJ has the same skill set. I like JJ more because he’s won something Sam has been broken before with ghost.

I’m letting Sam resurrect his career, if he does I’m tagging and trading him.

Skill set similar but I think JJ mentally stronger based on what I know about them. I can’t pay off one year I need a body of work.