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Sam Darnold can learn a lot from the Rifle on Sunday


RonaldJet

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The Red Rifle may not have the best arm in the world, but he is an absolute master in the pocket. Sams biggest weakness is the fact that he is terrible in the pocket and his footwork goes to hell when pressure is around him. Hopefully he keeps an eye on Dalton (who owns the Jets), and it motivates him to get better. 
 

Guys like Danny Dimes, Red Rifle, and David Blough don’t have near the arm talent Sam does, but play the position better. I’m seeing Josh Allen improve a lot, but still don’t see enough improvement from Sam in this area (which is an indictment on coaching). Eventually teams are going to make adjustments to keep him in the pocket and he will probably struggle. 

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9 minutes ago, RonaldJet said:

The Red Rifle may not have the best arm in the world, but he is an absolute master in the pocket. Sams biggest weakness is the fact that he is terrible in the pocket and his footwork goes to hell when pressure is around him. Hopefully he keeps an eye on Dalton (who owns the Jets), and it motivates him to get better. 
 

Guys like Danny Dimes, Red Rifle, and David Blough don’t have near the arm talent Sam does, but play the position better. I’m seeing Josh Allen improve a lot, but still don’t see enough improvement from Sam in this area (which is an indictment on coaching). Eventually teams are going to make adjustments to keep him in the pocket and he will probably struggle. 

Disagree. Sam is actually a very good up and coming pocket QB. Does he still need to learn more? Of course. But his pocket awareness and FEELING when to roll out of the pocket are traits can't be taught. You either have that sixth sense of you don't. His poor footwork is a product of a disintegrating pocket. A poor OL play that's not leaving many directions to go with the football. Besides, Sam actually passes the ball quite well under duress and on the run - all times when you won't necessarily be able to stop and plant your feet the way the coach writes it up.

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16 minutes ago, RonaldJet said:

The Red Rifle may not have the best arm in the world, but he is an absolute master in the pocket. Sams biggest weakness is the fact that he is terrible in the pocket and his footwork goes to hell when pressure is around him. Hopefully he keeps an eye on Dalton (who owns the Jets), and it motivates him to get better. 
 

Guys like Danny Dimes, Red Rifle, and David Blough don’t have near the arm talent Sam does, but play the position better. I’m seeing Josh Allen improve a lot, but still don’t see enough improvement from Sam in this area (which is an indictment on coaching). Eventually teams are going to make adjustments to keep him in the pocket and he will probably struggle. 

Solid post. Sam is an excellent athlete  with tons of natural gifts. But like @CTM said, he is much more a puncher than a boxer. He still has an absolute ton to learn about playing the position and if he does he can turn into a top ten QB in this league for a decade or more!  But don’t kid yourself, he has a long way to go and more bumps ahead. 

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When given time, Sam, now, more than ever, looks calmer(no happy feet) and scans a lot more fluidly than before. not sure I can agree with the OP. Couple really telling instances in the Oakland game that looked really good. When he hit Robby Anderson in the corner of the endzone, he sat in the pocket and made his way over to his 3rd option rather calmly. It’s because he was given time the majority of the day. The clock inside of his head wasn’t sounding off before it truly needed to.

simple pressure isn’t what shakes Darnold’s footwork in the pocket. Constant, non-stop, avoidable pressure(letting rushers free/blowing assignments) is what will. 

And it will to any QB.

Edit: and btw I totally agree that he needs a LOT more polish and I’m not killing the OP as others, because in some regard, I agree with that part of his point. I think Darnold has a long ways to go but is already so talented that you are seeing enough from a 22 year old QB that he’s putting up say.... 2 TD’s 300 yards in the National Football League without the typical QBing EXP under his belt. Long ways to go but to be able to produce with nothing around you at this point in time of development...very nice.

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40 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

Solid post. Sam is an excellent athlete  with tons of natural gifts. But like @CTM said, he is much more a puncher than a boxer. He still has an absolute ton to learn about playing the position and if he does he can turn into a top ten QB in this league for a decade or more!  But don’t kid yourself, he has a long way to go and more bumps ahead. 

I like Dalton. Shame he has been on such crummy teams. He’d be great backing up Sam as his career at Cincy is probably over after this season. There’s no way we should lose this game. The Bengals are just terrible and that’s with a vet QB. Just think Jets with Falk at beginning of season....that bad.  

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2 minutes ago, docdhc said:

Obviously the OP is trolling but including David Blough in his argument definitely cracked me up.

People call me a troll cos I have not elected Sam for Sainthood or believe that Adams is Ronnie Lott reincarnated.

(if he chopped off his pinky, i might buy in...    or that might just make him Yakuza... which gets him badass pts)

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3 minutes ago, Wonderboy said:

I like Dalton. Shame he has been on such crummy teams. He’d be great backing up Sam as his career at Cincy is probably over after this season. 

i mentioned this a couple weeks back, but, NFL is so QB poor that he may get another starting shot.

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2 minutes ago, Losmeister said:

i mentioned this a couple weeks back, but, NFL is so QB poor that he may get another starting shot.

If he does, hopefully it’s with a contender. But can’t think of one off the top of my head where he’d fit right now. But I love his mechanics. He has great pocket presence and a very good arm. But.....he desperately needs to be protected by a good OL.  Da Bears ??????

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I’m on record here, and still feel a Dalton type career is an excellent comp to what Darnold can become. That’s not a knock in the slightest way, either. If Dalton played for a more talented team, he’d be viewed a lot differently.

I just don’t get the Favre, Rodgers comps a lot of people throw out here regarding Sam. Who knows though, we will just have to wait and see how it plays out.

It’s been nice to see the class of ‘18 has looking good the last few weeks. Jackson has to be the leading MVP candidate, Allen has taken a huge jump this year, especially the last 8-9 weeks, he’s also in the MVP conversation, albeit far behind LJ. they’re both obviously doing very well. Mayfield and Sam have also been playing well the last three weeks.

Its been fun watching them the last two years, and I think every team is happy with who they took. Aside from them all underestimating Jackson, I can’t imagine anyone of these teams thinking they took the “wrong” guy.

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Guys like David Blough get into the NFL because they are good at playing the position and have what it takes between the ears. Ryan Fitzpatrick is the ultimate example. 
 

Sam has the talent and the smarts, but he’s not advanced at all with regards to the nuances or the QB position. When I start seeing him manipulate the pocket instead of vacating it at the first sign of trouble I will feel better. When do you ever see Darnold hang in the pocket until the last minute? He’s started to do a better job stepping up the past few weeks, but it’s still not where it needs to be. 
 

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