Penton: Rejuvenated Darnold sparks NFL Vikings
By Bruce Penton
Big-name quarterbacks in the National Football League are taking a back seat to some lower regarded passers and the best example through the first five weeks of the 2024 season is Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings.
Darnold, a 27-year-old in his seventh season in the NFL after a stellar college career with the USC Trojans, set the league on fire in the early going. But the only reason he’s been allowed to step on the field is because first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy — the Vikings’ hope to fill the shoes of the departed Kirk Cousins — suffered a pre-season knee injury and won’t play at all this year.
Big deal, as it turns out, because Darnold, signed by the Vikings strictly as an insurance policy, has stepped in and resembled Tom Brady.
Talk about a career renaissance. Through the first five games, Arnold had guided the Vikings to a 5-0 record and among NFL leaders in touchdown passes with 11, against only four interceptions.
Darnold is on his fourth team in his seventh season in the league after being the third player chosen in the first round by the New York Jets in 2018. He didn’t set the world on fire with New York, who were desperate to find a Broadway Sam, but instead had to settle for an Average Joe. He posted a 12-25 won-loss record, throwing 36 TD passes in the first two seasons, but slumped to only nine in his third year and the Jets traded him Carolina for a passel of draft picks. After two mediocre seasons with the Panthers, he was signed by San Francisco 49ers as a free agent last year to back up Brock Purdy, seeing limited action, and signed as a free agent with the Vikings in the off-season.
Fate then took over, with McCarthy getting injured, Darnold getting thrown into the fire and now his name is being tossed around in Most Valuable Player discussions through the first month or so. His completion record is almost 70 per cent and his quarterback rating is among the best in the NFL.
“In anything whether it’s football … or any occupation where you start at a young age, you get better and you learn from experiences that you have,” Darnold told The Mirror US Sport. “I would say that’s the exact same in what we do, and I feel like every single year I’ve continued to learn and grow as a player. It's no different here.”
Playing in London, England on Oct. 6 against the team that drafted him, the Jets, Darnold came back to earth with a mediocre outing, but it was enough to win 23-17.
Thanks to his quick start, his career path is no longer a question mark. He’ll either be a hot commodity on the trade of free-agent market, or he’ll be a solid fixture with the Vikings.
Eamon Lynch of golfweek.com, on the regular beatings the U.S. gives the Internationals in the President’s Cup: “The last time (the Internationals were victorious (1998), R. Kelly was No. 1 in the Billboard charts and not inmate No. 09627-035 at a Federal Correctional Institution in North Carolina.”
Another one from Eamon Lynch: “LIV wound down its season with a now-familiar whimper, its finale awarding Jon Rahm $18 million, or 200 bucks for every viewer watching.”
Vancouver comedy guy Torben Rolfsen: “Oreo cookies are the Maple Leafs’ new helmet sponsor. I was hoping for ‘I can’t believe they’re not better.’
Jayson Stark of The Athletic, on the late Pete Rose, who died Sept. 30: “The hits, the hustle, the records, the indelible moments, the laughs, the fun that flowed from watching the Hit King play baseball — I’m not banning those for life.”
Jay Onrait of TSN, giving highlights of an NHL exhibition game between Calgary and Winnipeg: “ …. and Justin Kirkland bangs it in for the Flames. Kirkland, who wears all that Costco stuff, made no mistake.”
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, on the death of Pete Rose: “I don’t know what his family might put on his tombstone, but a fitting epitaph comes to mind: ‘They never forgave him.’ And Cote continued: “It would be cruel of baseball to welcome him to Cooperstown posthumously. But no more cruel than denying him for the past 35 years.”
Humorist Steve Burgess of Vancouver: “RIP Pete Rose. Pretty soon it will be legal to bet on whether he makes the Hall of Fame.”
Canada’s parody website The Beaverton: “NHL fans excited to watch their team’s five remaining uninjured players when regular season begins.”
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, after Braves’ manager Brian Snitker pulled starter Spencer Schellenbach after only 94 pitches (and a 3-1 lead) in the eighth inning of the crucial Braves-Mets playoff game on the last day of the MLB season: “Was Snitker saving him for an intrasquad spring training scrimmage?”
Headline at fark.com. after a stray bullet struck an Ohio golfer in the leg: “Golfer with two leg gets a hole in one.
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca