Sam Darnold emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL this season.
The 27-year-old quarterback signed a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings in the offseason and almost immediately found himself as Kevin O’Connell’s starting QB after rookie JJ McCarthy blew out his knee in preseason.
It was all going so well for Darnold, who spearheaded one of the league’s most potent offenses and broke the record for most wins by a quarterback in his first season with a new team en route to a 14-3 record and playoff appearance.
The former third overall pick also had the best statistical season of his career, throwing for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdown passes, seemingly all but guaranteeing a handsome payday this offseason.
The ex Jet, Panther, and 49er played at an MVP-caliber level this year, leading veteran sportscaster Colin Cowherd to make a bold claim on a recent episode of The Herd.
After the Vikings beat the Packers in late December, Cowherd suggested Darnold would be a more reliable option in the playoffs than Baltimore Ravens signal caller Lamar Jackson, a two-time MVP who has historically come up short in the postseason and failed to replicate his regular season form.
“His [Vikings] roster isn’t great,” Cowherd recently said on The Herd.
“There’s no but. Lamar Jackson, Sam Darnold. Look at the numbers. Who do you trust more in a playoff game? Are you sure it’s Lamar? And I love Lamar.
“What you’re seeing is the Andrew Luck thing and they’re asking him to make big boy throws. He leads the NFL 60 completions over 20 plus yards. Those are Brady and Mahomes throws.
“He’s the league’s most efficient quarterback now and in the second half of the last seven games, 1000 yards and a passer rating of 114. Why is he not in the MVP discussion?”
Unfortunately for Cowherd, his words came back to bite him on Monday night, just over two weeks after he uttered them.
On his playoff debut, Darnold had his worst game of the season at the worst possible time, completing 25-of-40 passes for 245 yards, a second-half touchdown, and an interception in a 27-9 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams.
The site of Darnold holding onto the ball for way too long and dancing around in the pocket aimlessly became the theme of the night, and by the end of the game he had absorbed a playoff-record nine sacks.
He also lost the Vikings a combined 82 yards on sacks, the most in a playoff game in the Super Bowl era and the most in any game since Cam Newton lost 91 yards on nine sacks vs the Eagles in 2014.
To make matters worse, just days earlier, Lamar Jackson put on a flawless performances in the Ravens’ 28-14 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, completing 16-of-21 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
Cowherd’s comments about Darnold being more reliable than Jackson resurfaced after the Vikings crashed out of the playoffs, with many commenting that they’d aged like milk.
“Lamar Jackson and Sam Darnold should never be in the same conversation,” posted on fan.
“He said this about a guy that never played in the postseason until tonight lmao his takes are terrible man,” added a second.
“Aged really badly,” a third wrote.
“When Colin is wrong, he’s wrong big. This take is freezing cold…” another commented.
‘Action Jackson’ has a 69-29 record in the regular season, but the narrative around him is that he always under-performs when the lights shine brightest.
However Lamar, who, along with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is favorite to win this season’s MVP award, somewhat quietened the chatter with a virtuoso display against the Steelers.
The dual-threat QB played with perfect poise, looking calm and measured with both his arm and his legs as he kept the chains moving all game long.
He was 2-4 in four postseason appearances prior to the Steelers win, but now finds himself 3-4 while Darnold and the Vikings are left to rue what went wrong.
Baltimore’s victory against Pittsburgh now sets up a mouth-watering divisional round clash with Allen and the Bills, after Buffalo overcame the Denver Broncos on wild-card weekend.
The winner of the Ravens-Bills matchup will then go on to the AFC Championship game where they will await the winner of the Kansas City Chiefs vs Houston Texans.
