Outside of Monday Night Football, who is the most surprising team in football through four weeks of the 2024 NFL season?
It’s probably the Minnesota Vikings.
With Kirk Cousins traded to the Atlanta Falcons and first-round pick JJ McCarthy out for the season with a knee injury, Minnesota started the season with Sam Darnold. The Vikings are currently 4-0 thanks to their imposing defense and the play of Darnold. Depending on how the Detroit Lions perform against another surprising team, the Seattle Seahawks, on Monday night, the Vikings could be on the road next weekend in England to face the New York Jets. They could get over that and maintain a two-game lead in the NFC North.
I’ll let people far smarter than me, like my dear colleague JP Acosta, jump into the defense of Brian Flores and the confusion it creates. Today we will focus on Darnold and his feet.
Over the years, much has been written and said about Bill Walsh and how the legendary coach viewed and evaluated quarterbacks. Walsh was a firm believer that very few people could coach this position, and even fewer could appreciate it. Darnold and the rest of the 2018 NFL Draft QB class (Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson) may be evidence of that fact.
But much of what Walsh was looking for could be found close to the ground. Michael Lombardi writes:
Walsh got the rest of the football world to take notice of the quarterback’s arm. He was concentrating on his feet. It was a paradigm shift born out of his lifelong love of boxing. Walsh frequently shadowboxed the hallways of the Niners’ headquarters, delighted every time he found an apt boxing metaphor to inspire his team. While watching the matches, he analyzed the boxers’ footwork, quickness, movement, timing, and balance. Like a boxer who can move his legs and throw a flurry of punches, Walsh’s quarterback similarly required parts of his body to work together surgically. Quick feet, quick arms. Balanced legs, balanced arms. Coordinated feet, coordinated attacks.
It’s hard to watch Darnold this season and not hear Walsh’s words.
In Sunday’s season opener against the Green Bay Packers, Darnold spun under pressure on a second-down play and forced a throw into coverage, but was nearly intercepted. The pass fell incomplete, breathing new life into Minnesota’s first drive. But if the Vikings wanted to expand their possessions, that 3-14 situation needed to change.
challenge accepted:
Darnold connects with Jalen Naylor on this cross concept to move the chains, but pay particular attention to his footwork on this play. Using shotgun, Darnold takes the snap from an empty formation and uses a five-step drop (first with a cheat step with his left foot). As you take the final step, you take a slight hitch step, balance perfectly in the ball of your foot pocket, and the ball comes out. In this play, he’s an NFL quarterback, a professional boxer, and maybe even a music conductor. Everything was in rhythm, the timing was accurate, and the Vikings got a first down.
And then came Darnold’s next pass attempt, a 29-yard touchdown to Jordan Addison.
Once again, notice how the footwork syncs up with the route and leads to big plays for the Minnesota offense. Addison runs a vertical route, showing the cornerback a curl route with a cut leg about 9 yards deep downfield, then continues with a deep vertical stem. As this unfolds, Darnold uses a three-stage drop from the shotgun, and once he reaches drop depth, he puts both feet back in the pocket while balancing fully underneath. He kept an eye on the middle of the field, took one last look to freeze the post safety in Green Bay’s Cover 3, and finished the play with a perfect throw to Addison, resulting in the score.
Walsh would have loved these two plays.
In fact, Walsh would have liked much of what Darnold delivered on Sunday, discussing the importance of footwork for quarterbacks and offenses. Walsh is often quoted as having the idea that to understand how a quarterback is playing, all you have to do is look at their feet, and that will give you the answer.
Darnold’s third touchdown pass of the game, a 14-yard back-shoulder throw to Justin Jefferson, is a case in point. He puts this throw in perfect position, but his footwork and what you can learn from it stands out.
He stays as calm on his feet as possible to quickly work on Jefferson in single coverage on this throw. He’s a comfortable, confident quarterback who trusts the people around him, the offense he’s in, and ultimately himself.
Minnesota built a 28-7 lead against the Packers by halftime, but the offense sputtered a bit in the second half, opening the door for a Green Bay comeback. That included Darnold’s only interception of the day on a corner route to Aaron Jones, which Xavier McKinney deftly stepped forward. Also, a strip sack by Darnold early in the fourth quarter gave Green Bay great field position and turned it into a touchdown to make it a one-score game.
Suddenly, the match was in jeopardy. This brings us to another side of Walsh’s view of quarterbacks. It’s about how they play under pressure. “He’s a great guy,” said former Stanford University head coach (and now a member of the Denver Broncos’ front office) David Shaw, who studied under Walsh. You have to see that the QB has a “feel” to move in the pocket. He has high expectations for throwing the ball and must perform at his best in key situations when the game is on the line. ”
As the game drew to a close, Darnold hit perhaps the best three of the game.
The first was a crossing route to Jefferson to start Minnesota’s next possession after Green Bay cut the lead to 28-22.
He misses a deep drop with run action from under center, and the ball comes out as soon as Darnold hits the final step. This is another example of perfect timing in the route concept.
Minnesota ended that drive with a field goal, giving them three points, which were important at this point in the contest.
Two drives later, the Vikings found themselves on third-and-12 at the Packers’ 44-yard line, still holding a 31-22 lead. Another first down would be crucial with just over four minutes left, and the Packers knew it coming pre-snap. Darnold shows the promise Shaw mentioned above, making a perfect throw to Jefferson on an out route and the free runner pushes Jefferson into the pocket.
This is a three stage drop and the ball comes out as soon as you reach the last stage. Darnold sees his cornerbacks play pre-snap and knows that if Jefferson breaks to the outside, he’ll have a leverage advantage. He made a perfect pitch and the catch was finally confirmed after a challenge by Minnesota, giving the Vikings a chance to get another down and run the clock a little more.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell put the ball in Darnold’s hands on the very next play, and more of that “feel” was on display in the pocket when the QB rebounded off pressure from the edge, climbed away and nailed the throw to Addison. You can see that Curl route:
That drive ultimately stalled deep in the red zone, and the Packers added a touchdown in the second half for a final score of 31-29.
But the focus here is on Darnold and the footwork he showed Sunday. He commands the offense with confident quarterback footwork and has complete trust in those around him. To borrow a little more from Walsh, if footwork really is an indicator of how well a quarterback is playing, then Darnold’s footwork alone should tell you a lot about how well Minnesota is doing right now.
Can I continue?
So far, the footwork shows it’s possible.
