Vikings’ Sam Darnold, Kevin O’Connell chimed in after historic 9-sack collapse
The Minnesota Vikings had a tough exit in 2024 NFL playoffswith Sam Darnold was sacked nine times in a 27-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round. After a 14-3 regular season, it’s a bittersweet exit, and so is Darnold reflected on the gamenoting that he could do better when it comes to pressure management.
“It’s up to me to be able to feel it and either step, move, run for a first down or just throw it away,” Sam Darnold said, via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert . “I felt like there were a lot of sacks that I was responsible for where I was just holding the football and getting sacks where I could have fouled it at somebody’s feet or just thrown it over somebody’s head.
Darnold elaborated on why he wasn’t able to avoid and prevent nine sacks from happening, saying he just couldn’t take the ball away when the pressure was on.
“Just a spur-of-the-moment decision, trying to get out and I couldn’t get the ball out,” Darnold said, via Seiftert.
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Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell he noted that Darnold “had to have some completions” throughout the game. He said Darnold could have done a better job checking and keeping the Vikings on schedule.
“You have to find a way to check the ball and just move the ball forward,” O’Connell said, via Seifert. “Endings negatively affect the defense.” They just work. Those moments when you hold that ball and your reaction is to try to make a play.”
The Vikings have to make a decision now, like Darnold should be a free agent this offseason. After an overall great season, the Vikings could make a case for bringing him back, but performances against the Rams and Detroit Lions over the last two weeks cast some doubt on whether the team should pay him, especially with JJ McCarthy likely to be healthy next season.
It will be interesting to see how the Vikings handle things, and whether performance in these two big games will factor into the decision at all.
2025-01-14 14:41:00
