Zulgad's Roundup: How Sam Darnold developed the touch on his deep passes
Vikings' items from Wednesday, including Stephon Gilmore's immediate impact, Aaron Jones' planned celebration for TDs at home games and whether Ty Chandler was really going to pass in the red zone.
It was early in training camp when Sam Darnold began connecting on deep passes with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. This was eye-opening considering all of the question marks that surrounded the Minnesota Vikings’ new quarterback and whether he could find success after three disappointing seasons with the New York Jets and two more with the Carolina Panthers.
Darnold’s obvious arm strength wasn’t disputable, but did he really have this good of touch on the deep ball? The answer came Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium when Darnold threw a pass from his own end zone that traveled approximately 55 yards before descending into the hands of a double-covered Justin Jefferson. Jefferson, who had beaten safeties Ji'Ayir Brown and George Odum, zigged and zagged his way into the end zone in the Vikings’ 23-17 victory.
I fully admit that while I knew Darnold didn’t have success with the Jets or Panthers, I didn’t watch him closely enough to know if he had been able to display this type of arm talent in previous stops.
“I’m always continuing to work on my deep ball,” said Darnold, who had a 44-yard completion to Jefferson from his own 10-yard line in Week 1. “I feel like that was something I struggled with early on. I’m just going to continue to work on that because when you do get those (opportunities), you don’t want to miss them.”
OK, but that didn’t answer what really interested me. Obviously, Darnold didn’t magically find arm strength, so how did he combine what he already possessed with the ability to drop the ball into a receiver’s hands so deep down field?
“For me, it’s specifically about keeping my head still and just keeping my eye on the target at all times,” he said. “ … When I was a young player, I would throw it and look up at the ball immediately. For me, it’s about finishing through the target, keeping my eyes on them, and then, if I want to track the ball, which is natural for me, I can do that. But I really want to make sure I finish through my target, especially on those deep balls to be able to guide the football as much as I can all the way through the finger tips.”
Darnold was aware of what it took to combine his arm strength with accuracy, but it’s the work he’s done that has made it become a threat to opposing defenses.
“It’s just something I’ve always seen in really good quarterbacks,” he said. “They keep their head still whenever they throw, so it’s just always something I’ve been trying to work on. I feel like, naturally, I kind of want to lean a little bit and so, as much as I can, throughout the offseason and throughout practice and pre-practice, just continuing to work on those things.”
TRAVELING MAN
Veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore signed a one-year contract worth up to $10 million with the Vikings late in training camp, helping the team address a weakness and enabling Gilmore to remain fresh for the season.
Gilmore is a five-time Pro Bowl and two-time All-Pro selection and was the NFL defensive player of the year in 2019. He had lengthy stints with the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots but has played for a different team each of the past four seasons (Carolina, Indianapolis, Dallas and Minnesota).
He turns 34 on Thursday and is no longer an elite cornerback. But he does remain a trustworthy and savvy corner and one that coordinator Brian Flores is relying upon to play an important role in the Vikings’ defense.
In the opening two weeks of the season, Gilmore has been called upon to “travel” at cornerback, meaning he isn’t playing just one side, but rather going to the side where the opponent’s top wide receiver is lining up, or where Flores feels he can be most effective.
“I’ve been doing it my whole career, so I’m kind of used to it,” Gilmore said. “It changes every week. I don’t do that every week, but I just do whatever the coaches ask me to do. It’s different assignments every week, so it depends on the team we’re playing.”
Gilmore said he looks at film differently depending on his assignment for an upcoming game. Against the 49ers, Gilmore went to the boundary at times and to cover wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk at other times. “It all depends on the situation and what personnel we’ve got in the game,” he said.
As far as missing much of training camp and joining a new team, Gilmore said: “I’ve played a lot of ball throughout my career, and I kind of know teams run the same stuff. Now, it’s just a part of making sure I’m in shape in the offseason. I was still working out extremely hard, taking care of my body and staying ready.
“They’ve got a good situation here through the training room and the weight room. They helped me out a lot to get me in game-ready shape. … It was kind of easy a little bit. My body wasn’t beat up from training camp.”
GOING TO THE VAULT
Aaron Jones came up just short of the end zone on Sunday when 49ers linebacker Fred Warner forced a fumble by the running back just before he got into the end zone. That miscue not only made the end of the Vikings’ victory more tense, but it also stopped Jones from unveiling his touchdown celebration.
Jones, who was released by the Packers after seven seasons in March, said when he scores at U.S. Bank Stadium that he will continue to do his version of the Lambeau Leap. Only, Jones will be calling it the Bank Vault.
Said Jones: “The Bank is open on Sundays.”
DID TY CHANDLER HAVE OPTION TO THROW?
The Vikings were running the 11th play of their eventual 14-play drive that ended with a Will Reichard 27-yard field goal and provided the necessary breathing room in the victory over San Francisco.
What made this play so, shall we say, interesting, was what happened after Darnold pitched the ball to Ty Chandler on first-and-goal from the San Francisco 9-yard line. The running back rolled right before putting the ball in his right hand for what appeared to be a potential pass attempt.
It looked like the intended target was going to be tight end Johnny Mundt but he was quickly tied up a 49ers defender. Chandler saw this and, wisely, decided to pull the ball down and take a 1-yard loss on the sack. The only mistake Chandler made was not keeping himself in bounds so the clock would run.
But was O’Connell really willing to chance having a running back throw a pass with the Vikings only up by six? The answer, as we found out on Wednesday, was yes.
“Ty did have the ability to throw the football,” O’Connell confirmed. “That was trying to be aggressive, just had kind of clicked under four minutes (remaining) there, but we were really trying to eat clock that whole time. … I thought that was an opportunity there. It was totally on me … on that play there still can be pass interference or illegal contact called when you pitch the ball backwards and have a potential throw.
“I warned the officials before the game in our normal dialogue, but I’ve got to do it in the moment, just so they understand how to officiate the play. That's a tough play to officiate if you don't know (it’s coming) because just like the defense, you're hoping I kind of catch everybody off guard in that moment. I didn't do that, and it was my fault. During that time, I normally would have done that. It was more about reminders of, ‘Hey, we want to stay in bounds if we don't throw the ball.’ I know Ty tried to potentially do that, but we ended up stopping the clock.
“At that point, almost seven minutes off the clock, we were ensuring points. I want to try to be more aggressive in those moments, allow our guys to execute with total trust from me. It didn't work out then, but you know, stay tuned.”
While I think O’Connell should be happy Chandler didn’t throw the ball in that situation, given the Vikings only needed a field goal to create a 9-point cushion, his point about the officials is interesting because Mundt was picked by 49ers safety Malik Mustapha at the 5-yard line but it went uncalled.
BULLET POINT
Jones briefly left Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter because of a hip injury but said he would be ready to go against the Texans. He was limited in practice on Wednesday.
Jefferson (quad) was listed as limited in Wednesday’s practice, while Addison (ankle) did not participate. Best guess is that Jefferson plays against the Texans and Addison misses a second consecutive game.