Sam Darnold's revival season starts strong, while other QBs struggle to find footing

The Sam Darnold they remember in Northern New Jersey wasn't the one they saw on Sunday afternoon. The old one was easily rattled, unnerved by "ghosts" in the secondary, burdened by expectations.

This Sam Darnold was confident, accurate, unfazed by anything. This one, the starter for the Minnesota Vikings who completed his first 12 passes of the season and went on to help beat the New York Giants 28-6, actually looked … good.

"I don't think anybody's surprised that Sam Darnold played the way he did today," said Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell. "I know I'm certainly not."

Well, there are surely at least a few who were surprised about how good Darnold looked, as he completed 19 of 24 passes for 208 yards, two touchdowns and just one interception that was caused when his arm was hit by defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence as he threw. And his performance went beyond the numbers. He led a 99-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that included a bold and perfect 44-yard pass down the sidelines to Justin Jefferson. He made several other big-time throws.

He proved to be a very capable quarterback. Every move he made was the right one.

And if that bar sounds low … well, that's just a sign of where Darnold was in his career.

"Some of the folks I get to speak to quite often they know I've talked a lot about the quarterback journey," O'Connell said. "Quarterbacks in our league don't get to control a lot of that journey and they're expected to perform in some cases immediately. I've just always really liked the way Sam carries himself. He's a talented player and he can make big-time throws. Every throw we're going to ask him to make he's more than capable of doing that."

Darnold was once the third overall pick of the 2018 draft, but