It’s Sam against Kirk on Sunday.
Thus far this year, the Minnesota Vikings have to feel great about their decision to hire Sam Darnold as quarterback. He’s been a better signal caller than Kirk Cousins while making one-fourth of the money. A win at home on Sunday would be great, but the reality is that it’s a game inside the game.
It’s Sam against Kirk on Sunday.
Kirk Cousins returned to Minnesota for the first time since taking the payday from the Atlanta Falcons. He was almost immediately reminded that all organizations aren’t made the same, and his replacement wound up being the first-round draft selection. Through 12 games, the former Vikings signal-caller has led his team to just six wins. It hasn’t been pretty.
Football is a team game, and the Vikings would love to get their 11th win of the season on Sunday. Kevin O’Connell will try to downplay the importance of beating Cousins, and he’ll have his team locked in on the overarching goal. That doesn’t mean the focus won’t be on Darnold outplaying the guy he took over for.
To date, Sam Darnold has put up the best season of his career. An incredible coaching staff supports him, and his playmakers have helped to achieve otherwise unimaginable results. There have been lackluster games along the way, but one of them must be avoided on Sunday. Darnold didn’t play for the Vikings while Kirk did, but the two could not be more scrutinized.
Last weekend, against the Arizona Cardinals, Darnold put up arguably the best game of his career. He orchestrated a late-game comeback and led his team to a win despite being down by a sizable margin. Ideally, the Vikings would go wire to wire on Sunday, and Darnold would replicate a high level of performance.
No matter how the game ends, a significant storyline will be how Darnold fares in relation to his counterpart. Who threw for more yards? Did one turn the ball over a couple of times? How about touchdowns? All of the counting stats between Darnold and Cousins will be an easy tale of the tape.
It really doesn’t matter to Cousins how Darnold has played this year. If he can beat his replacement for the Vikings and take a win along the way, you’d best bet he’ll be flying high like Kirko Chainz on the way home.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes daily for Minnesota Sports Fan. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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