Chapter 1: What challenges has Sam Darnold faced in his football career?
Yeah, I'm happy for Sam, too, given all the things that he's gone through in his career and now to be anointed the NFC champion and play just an absolutely fabulous game. I mean, he and Matthew Stafford went back and forth. I was hoping that Matthew Stafford was going to score late in the game to see if Sam could bring his team back and win it that way, which would have been even more impressive.
But that Clint Kubiak, the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, how he doesn't become the Raiders head coach, I would... I'd be shocked. I mean, Tom Brady's sitting here doing the whole game, and he's talking about the offense of the Seattle Seahawks, and he's gushing over Clint Kubiak. Sure. And, you know, we all know what Tom Brady does in the other part of his life.
He actually owns part of the Raiders, and his buddy is the general manager. That's right.
Chapter 2: How did Sam Darnold perform in the NFC Championship game?
So I would think that, man, watching what Sam Donald has done with him as his offensive coordinator and Sam as quarterback, you would think that that would be the perfect spot for him. But... I was just, you know, Sam never really came close to throwing an interception yesterday. You know, he played solid. He played great. I mean, the numbers are off the charts.
He played his best game ever, I think, as a professional football player, at least, in the biggest moment. And that's really a crowning achievement for, at least through my eyes.
Yeah, and he got another opportunity, and that's the biggest thing. Last year in those two games, it had lingered around him, how great of a year he had, and then it was all of a sudden, well, he turned back into Sam Darnold, and the Seattle Seahawks said, hey, we saw a lot from him.
Clint Kubiak said, this guy is going to be, along with Mike McDonald, our starting quarterback, and not only did he recreate the great season he had last year, he made it even better.
And then he gets the same opportunities as he had last year and then this year wins those games and then gets an opportunity to play in the divisional round in the NFC Championship game and now gets a chance to play in the Super Bowl. It really is an incredible story. And you think about all the great quarterbacks that have dominated.
the NFC and AFC, especially the AFC over the years, and now you've got two guys, one who was left for dead in the NFL in the quarterback blender who has gotten his team, the Seahawks, to the Super Bowl, and another guy who was drafted just a couple of years ago in his second season, taking the New England Patriots, who felt like they were away for 10 minutes, back to the Super Bowl.
So it is very interesting and different, a different quarterback matchup than we've seen in the last number of years.
You know, when he was traded to the Carolina Panthers, Matt Rule was the head coach. They also brought in Baker Mayfield at that time. I mean, like, just think about that. That was four years ago.
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Chapter 3: What role did Clint Kubiak play in Darnold's success?
Yeah.
Think about that for a second. And, you know, he ends up kind of winning the battle against Baker because Baker ends up getting traded to the Rams late in that season. And what Baker did with Sean McVay was amazing. Because remember, he got off a plane and they played a game. And he hadn't really practiced with the Rams. I think he was there maybe for three days.
And somehow the Rams won that game. And I think it was on a Monday night game or a Thursday night game. But anyway, so then he goes to San Francisco and basically sits and watches Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan do their thing. Kind of like going to quarterback school. And then, lo and behold, he gets a break when J.J. McCarthy gets hurt after the Vikings draft him with the 10th overall pick.
And he's thrust into the starting role because of that knee injury that J.J. suffers. And he has Kevin O'Connell call and plays. And he's throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. And now, all of a sudden... The Seahawks move on from Geno Smith, and they sign Sam Darnold. And by the way, that was controversial when that all went down in Seattle.
Everybody loved Geno out in Seattle. And Mike McDonald just said, you know, and John Schneider, who is one of the more aggressive GMs in the entire NFL, decides, hey, you know what? We're changing. We're moving on. We got a new coach. I need a new quarterback. And they invested about $35 million a year in Sam Darnold to be their quarterback. And boy, has that paid off.
Yeah, and I remember at the time thinking that this is what Minnesota is going to do. They're going to let Sam Darnold go because they believed in J.J.
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Chapter 4: How did the Seattle Seahawks' decision to sign Darnold impact the team?
McCarthy. Every quarterback that Kevin O'Connell had his hands on, you know, turned into gold. And the thought process was that, you know, J.J. McCarthy would be that next guy. And he would just, for them, not me, because I never liked the guy, but that's what they were thinking. And they thought, like, you know, Sam was expendable and good for the Seahawks, seeing that it wasn't just...
the situation there in Minnesota, it was the player. Uh, and they went out and got that player, put them in their system. And, uh, now he's an NFC champion, took that team back to the Superbowl.
And then in the other game, we have this fiasco of a play with Jared Stidham. Yeah. And you know, this is, this is backup quarterback stuff. This is quarterbacks that aren't used to the speed of the, the, the, the, you know, the league cause they haven't played. You heard everybody in the pregame show talking about it. I think her cousins brought it up. Um,
And it really showed itself in a couple decisions that he ultimately made that he just wasn't used to making those decisions. And by the way, the New England Patriot defense has been awesome throughout this playoff run. They have held opposing offenses to one touchdown in each of these games or less.
The other thing about this whole game is that if it weren't for that horrific play by Jarrett Stidham, I don't know if the Patriots would have scored at all.
Yeah, exactly. And everything felt like it was going the Broncos way. Stidham looked really, really good up until that point.
I thought that ball got knocked out of his hands, and it should have been called a fumble initially. And again, this is New York getting involved, by the way.
You know, I know. I initially thought that he had pushed it out and it was an incomplete pass, but then obviously looking back on it, you know, he ended up scoring a touchdown anyway, so it didn't end up hurting them. But, yeah, looking back on it, obviously, you know, they end up calling it a fumble. But he, I mean, I was really impressed with the way he was playing up until that point.
And then that play happens, and then you can tell that that just changed everything in his mind.
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Chapter 5: What was the significance of Darnold's previous seasons with the Panthers?
Then the weather on top of it, and it was just impossible. And, of course, We've seen how many times the coaches go for fourth downs, and that's what it is, and it's aggressive, and it's this, and it's that.
It's one thing about fourth and six inches. It's another thing when it's fourth and a little bit more than a yard. And you're in a game. Now, the weather had not changed yet.
Well, that's exactly right. So I wonder if... If someone had said to Sean Payton at the time, like, hey, there's going to be a blizzard any minute now. You might want to get your points if that would have changed things because no one was really talking about that. So I went back and looked, and that weather showed up earlier than everybody had forecasted.
So I don't think anybody knew that it was going to be like that.
That's just a real mistake on Sean Payton. The reason you hire a guy like Sean Payton is because he understands situational. Well, if I hear the word situational one more time.
Situational football. Oh, my God. Jesus Christ. This is situational football.
But anyway, you have to understand who you're playing against, how your defense is playing, where you're playing. All these things should be a part. And who your own quarterback is. So you have to take all this stuff into account. We all knew it was going to be a low-scoring game just simply because both defenses are really good.
And it was going to be really hard for a young quarterback to go on the road under those circumstances, play in that chaotic kind of situation. And then on top of all of that, the weather comes in the second half. And, you know, I don't think there's any one of us, like, I don't know how many text messages I got. Can we please kick a field goal? Can we please kick a field goal?
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Chapter 6: How does Darnold's journey compare to other NFL quarterbacks?
Can we please take into account what the stakes are here, the way the teams are playing? You know, Drake May did not play great in this game. He did not, especially in the beginning of the game. He was way off. He was underthrowing people, short-arming people, running out of the pocket. He was not doing a great job. And Will Campbell has been a real liability at left tackle for them.
And he was, again, yesterday, even another liability. So, I mean, I don't know why Sean Payton doesn't kick the field goal there.
I wanted him to kick the field goal. I had picked the Broncos and the points, so I was rooting for the Broncos. I wanted that field goal there, obviously, for that reason. The only devil's advocate that I could play is that at that point, Denver had all the momentum.
And he just gave it back to them.
Well, I know, but right. I know that if you miss it, you'd give it back to him. But I'm thinking he's feeling great about his team. Foot on their neck. Let's go get it. Score a touchdown. Make it 14-0. And then this place is going to be going crazy. And I thought he got caught up in the moment a little bit and didn't want to feel like he was playing scared with his backup quarterback.
And it just wasn't the right decision.
So, ultimately, when you look at this game from a Denver perspective... You know, Jared Stidham is a good athlete. He hasn't played in two and a half years. He looked rusty. He had a couple of nice throws. But, you know, he doesn't have the athleticism that Bo Nix has.
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Chapter 7: What were the critical moments in the game that led to the outcome?
He doesn't run all over the place like Bo Nix would always run out of trouble, make plays, run for first downs, kind of like Drake May did yesterday, kind of like Sam Darnold did yesterday. Every now and again, you've got to run for a first down. You've got to go make a play. And this kid just, you know, that's why he's the backup. But he's not Bo Nix.
If Bo Nix was playing in that game yesterday, Denver would have won.
Yeah. You want to talk about a bad beat, by the way, that I was just thinking about? So yesterday, take the Broncos and the points and FanDuel Sportsbook. Also take R.J. Harvey, the running back, over 37.5 rushing yards. All right? So in the fourth quarter, he goes over. He goes over. He gets to 40. And a friend of mine who had the same bet goes, there it is. Now just don't go backwards.
All right? He ends up on his next carry losing three yards, back to 37, and then never gets another carry.