The Jets will see a familiar face on the opposing sideline when they play the Vikings in London on Sunday.
Sam Darnold, whom the Jets selected third overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, is not only the Vikings’ starting quarterback but has also become one of the biggest redemption stories in the NFL.
In the season’s first four games, Darnold is playing at an MVP-type level and has helped lead the Vikings to a 4-0 record.
“I think he’s doing a great job,” Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley said about Darnold, his teammate from 2019-20. “He’s not making a lot of risky passes.
“Just watching from the sideline while he was here and just seeing what he’s been doing on film, you know, he’s a very smart quarterback. You know, he does a great job of looking off receivers, I mean, looking off defenders about what he does.
“What he’s been doing well so far is just really obviously not making [mistakes], but being decisive with his passes, you know, putting his players in positions and you know their coordinator [Wes Phillips] been doing a good job of just letting him get the ball out of the pocket.
“Whether just him getting the ball down the field, letting the run game work for him, or, you know, just making plays on his feet, he’s been doing that.”
Minnesota entered the 2024 season with low expectations after both the Lions and Packers made the playoffs coming out of the NFC North last season. But Darnold’s play has been one of the catalysts for the Vikings’ surprising undefeated start.
Darnold has thrown for 932 yards, 11 touchdowns, and three interceptions. His 11 touchdowns are the most Darnold has thrown in a season since 2019 when he was with the Jets.
After they drafted him in 2018, Darnold spent three seasons with the Jets and had a 13-25 record with the club after passing for 8,097 yards, 45 touchdowns, and 39 interceptions. Following three struggling seasons, the Jets traded Darnold to the Panthers in 2021.
Darnold spent two seasons in Carolina before he signed a one-year deal with the 49ers in 2023 to be Brock Purdy’s backup quarterback.
Minnesota signed Darnold to a one-year contract last offseason to be a bridge quarterback to first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy, who tore his meniscus during the preseason.
Heading into Sunday’s game, Darnold said he doesn’t believe the Jets organization failed him.
“I had a lot of opportunities in New York,” Darnold said. “I always felt like I could have played better there.”
HACKETT ON VIKINGS’ DEFENSE: ‘THEY’RE CRAZY’
After scoring three touchdowns in their first three games of the season, the Jets offense was grounded last week during the 10-9 loss to the Broncos.
Gang Green did not register a single touchdown and went 0-for-2 in the red zone.
One of the main culprits for the Jets’ woes against the Broncos was the offensive line didn’t protect the way it did the previous three weeks. Denver sacked Aaron Rodgers five times, and Gang Green’s rushing attack was almost nonexistent after rushing for 64 yards.
“We realized that you know, some movement and some blitzing, you know, we didn’t handle that really well,” Jets tight end Tyler Conklin said. “It’s a copycat league, so you know, if we don’t fix it this week, it’s something team is going to keep doing.
“So it’s something we really focused on in practice this week. I think we’re prepared to kind of handle the blitzing in the movement.”
Not only did the Jets’ offensive line allow a lot of pressure and sacks last week against the Broncos, but there were also five false start penalties. That created quite a stir after head coach Robert Saleh said the team had to “figure it out” whether it was good enough or “ready to handle all the cadence.”
Rodgers later said that Saleh’s response was “one way to do it,” but another way is to “hold them accountable” after players committed five false start penalties.
Saleh said on Wednesday that “there never was a cadence issue,” and it was “created” [by the media].
Whatever the cause of the Jets’ false starts, eliminating self-inflicting wounds has been a point of emphasis for a team that led the NFL in penalties a season ago.
“We looked at it a whole bunch and it’s part of our operation every day,” Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “From how we motion, to how we use our cadence, to every single thing.
“It is one of those things we looked at and we just have to keep working it and we are in a great place right now.”
The Jets will go from one team that loves to generate pressure by blitzing to another this week in the Vikings. Minnesota is second in the NFL in blitz rate (40.8%). Only Denver (44.1%) has a higher blitz rate through four games.
The Vikings lead the NFL with 17 sacks and are tied for fourth with three forced turnovers. According to Pro Football Focus, the Vikings’ defense has not allowed an opposing quarterback to register an offensive grade higher than 69 this season.
The highest grade any quarterback has recorded against the Vikings defense is Jordan Love’s 68.8 during Minnesota’s 31-29 victory against Green Bay last weekend.
“They’re crazy,” Hackett said about the defense. “Every personnel grouping, every single front, people in different spots, pressure all over the place.
“They want to bring five every single play and it is something we are going to have to have great communication with everyone across the board.”
