Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 1.14.25
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The Twin Cities’ Best 3X a Week Sports Newsletter turns four today. Thanks for the support.
Be back Friday, going to take awhile to recover from that game.
Darnold, O’Connell Exposed Again as Rams End Vikings’ Season
Sam Darnold has lost more money the last two weeks than anyone on Wall Street on Black Monday in 1987.
The one-time MVP candidate, who I saw called “Sham Darnold” by DJRay23 on Twitter last night, was given no favors by his offensive line or head coach. But he was completely outclassed, showed limited decision making ability and flat out looked like the former No. 3 overall pick that three NFL teams had given up on.
This one ranks right up there with 41-donut, Gary Anderson and the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia. The Vikings are the oldest team in the four major men’s leagues to have never won a championship.
Darnold was sacked six times and turned the ball over twice, including once for a touchdown, in the first half alone. Third-and-eight, down 18 early in the fourth, he hung onto the ball waaaay too long (6.85 seconds to be exact) and took a sack. Kevin O’Connell, the Vikings head coach who’s talked about as one of the best offensive minds of his generation, reminded me of whomever Mike Zimmer’s offensive coordinator of the day was a few years ago. Run on first, run on second, throw two yards short of the sticks on third.
O’Connell’s worst mistake came in a desperate moment a minute before halftime. With the Vikings reeling 17-3 after Jared Verse’s 53-yard fumble return for a TD, Stafford threw short of the sticks on 3rd-and-5, and O’Connell inexplicably went for it on 4th-and-2 from midfield. Punt, and go into the locker room down two scores while getting the ball back. Instead, they went for it, Darnold got sacked for a huge loss, and the Rams scored with ease before halftime for a three-touchdown lead.
With Minnesota trailing 27-9 late in the third, O’Connell let the clock expire instead of running one more play. For a guy into analytics…With fifteen minutes left, every play counts, no?
The offensive line definitely was an issue, but Darnold just couldn’t figure out when to get rid of the ball. In four of his six first-half sacks, he held onto the ball for at least 4.4 seconds. Too long. He’s got Justin Jefferson, who can catch anything (but didn’t catch a single thing in the second half and wasn’t even targeted for 30 minutes of game action).
Per ESPN research, he became the first NFL quarterback to get sacked six times in a half since the Vikings’ Wade Wilson in the 1987 NFC Championship Game. Also from ESPN, it marked the first time in the playoffs any quarterback was sacked three times with an interception in the game’s first 20 minutes since 2010.
They went 21 straight possesssions without a touchdown, the longest in O’Connell’s tenure, before Darnold hit T.J. Hockenson for a TD late in the third..
Brian Flores was exposed, too. His defensie has been no match for the Lions or the Rams the last two weeks. Matthew Stafford completed his first 10 passes. They allowed a pair of critical third downs on the Rams’ first drive of the third quarter.
And so this is now J.J. McCarthy’s team. If he’s healthy. Darnold, who a month ago was set to make $40 million next year (he made $10 million this year) will likely sign somewhere else. The Vikings only had Daniel Jones as an emergency option. He is not a very good QB but couldn’t have done much worse than Darnold had he been available for the second half. Jones isn’t under contract for next season, so we’ll see if the Vikings bring him back or roll with Nick Mullens.
Remember, everyone thought this team would win six or seven games. Vikings fans will cling to that, but you don’t have to accept laying eggs with everything on the line. You’ve got every right to be upset for buying into this house of cards.
Wolves Too Much for Six-Win Wizards
The Wolves rode Anthony Edwards’ 41 points to a 120-106 win at Washington last night. Before you get too excited, those are the 6-32 Wizards.
ANT was also fined $50K for an obscene gesture in a recent game. He’s been fined $285,000 this season. If the NBA thinks it’s sending a message, it doesn’t appear to be happening.
A nice little tuneup for tomorrow night’s home tilt with Golden State on ESPN. The once mighty Warriors are out of the top 10 in the West. Minnesota is eighth.
Gopher Hoops
The Gopher women are now ranked for the first time since 2019 - they’ll take their 16-1 mark on the road to Maryland tonight. The Terrapins are 15-1 - Minnesota is 16-1 - and are 5-1 in the Big 10, just a half game ahead of the Gophers. We’ll learn a lot about where the Gophers are at on Tuesday.
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