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It’s time to admit it.
Sam Darnold didn’t just benefit from a “perfect situation” in Minnesota — he proved something bigger. D.A. explains why this season, and especially the NFC Championship Game, showed that Darnold is a legit NFL quarterback when the environment is right.
He stepped up when it mattered most. He made the throws. He didn’t flinch on the biggest stage.
This wasn’t smoke and mirrors. This was validation.
Plus, D.A. breaks down why the NFC title game was a great playoff game — featuring what he believes were the two best teams in the NFL, period.
#SamDarnold #SaySorry #NFLPlayoffs #NFCCG #NFLTwitter #TalkBall #Seahawks #Seattle #LARams #Rams
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0:01
Sam Darnold has earned all of our
0:04
apologies
0:06
and I will put myself into this
0:08
conversation. I started to believe in
0:10
the Seahawks in the final two months of
0:13
the season. I made the pivot around
0:15
midseason where I thought, nah, this
0:17
team this team's got got what it takes.
0:20
And certainly that defense is a huge
0:24
reason why. But you saw him you saw him
0:27
in the NFC title game. Darnold was
0:29
phenomenal.
0:31
Darnold was absolutely phenomenal. And
0:35
Darnold's signing in the off season was
0:38
met with a lot of yawns around the NFL
0:41
outside of Seattle. And let's just be
0:44
real here. I'm I'm going to just be as
0:46
honest as possible with all of this. In
0:48
the off season, we all thought it's a
0:51
lot of money for Sam Darnold. had a
0:54
really good season last year in
0:56
Minnesota. But we all thought, and I'll
0:59
speak for myself here, I thought Justin
1:02
Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Kevin
1:04
O'Connell indoors,
1:07
one year, everything goes well. Yeah,
1:10
you know what? Sam Darnold's good for
1:12
that one great year when everything's
1:14
perfect around him. But that ain't going
1:15
to be the case in Seattle. And so you
1:18
pay him all that money for three years
1:21
and it just feels like, you know, the
1:23
bubble's gonna burst when he does not
1:26
have all the pieces at his disposal.
1:28
Now, he had a couple pieces, great
1:30
defense, put him in a lot of
1:31
advantageous positions, had a lot of
1:33
leads, has an unbelievable wide receiver
1:36
in Jackson Smith and Jigba. And what we
1:38
found out was Mike McDonald's, one of
1:40
the best coaches in football. What a
1:42
fool believes.
1:44
But Sam Darnold also passed all of his
1:48
tests. All of them. And didn't have to
1:50
do much last week against the NerS.
1:53
But today he did. Today he did. And he
1:56
did it. And he did the damn thing. And
2:00
he did it a month ago when they faced
2:02
the the Rams up in Seattle in their
2:06
final regular season matchup, the 3837
2:08
overtime win. And he did it again today.
2:11
And he did it down the stretch. and he
2:13
did it in crunch time and he kept doing
2:15
it this season and he deserves a lot of
2:18
apologies including from yours truly cuz
2:20
I thought it was a lot of money to spend
2:22
at a guy that you were assuming could do
2:25
what he did last year and that was a bad
2:27
assumption and I was wrong. I assumed
2:29
wrong. What he is is that's the real Sam
2:32
Darnold. Yeah, he needs a lot of working
2:35
parts around him but the Jets Sam
2:37
Darnold is not Sam Darnold and the
2:39
Panther Sam Darnold's not the real Sam
2:41
Darnold.
2:43
This is This is real. He's going to the
2:46
freaking Super Bowl. And it just goes to
2:48
show you what losing franchises and
2:52
dysfunction will do to an actual good
2:55
quarterback. And yeah, maybe there are
2:58
great quarterbacks in NFL history that
3:01
could have overcome any situation. Maybe
3:04
Pton Manning could have overcome any
3:05
situation. You know, he was drafted into
3:07
a bad organization, went three and 13
3:09
his first season. Maybe no matter what.
3:12
He did have Marvin Harrison,
3:15
did have Reggie Wayne, did have Edan
3:17
James, did have Dwight Freeny in the
3:19
other side, did get Tony Dunie. I mean,
3:22
he he he had some had some pretty good
3:24
weapons at his disposal. But maybe
3:26
there's guys that would have been great
3:27
no matter what. Maybe Tom Brady would
3:29
have been great no matter where he was
3:30
drafted. The Bengals, the Jaguars, what
3:32
have you. But that's unlike most guys.
3:35
Most guys need some type of winning
3:38
culture around them or pieces around him
3:40
to help build a winning culture. Darnold
3:42
got it and Darnold's delivering. Not
3:44
calling Sam Darnold an all-time great.
3:46
What I'm saying is that the Darnold that
3:49
was seeing ghosts with the Jets was more
3:52
a product of that environment than his
3:54
own faults. This was incredible. This is
3:58
incredible. And if you're a Jets fan,
4:01
if you're a Vikings fan, and you're
4:04
wondering who's going to be our
4:06
franchise guy, the fact that this guy
4:08
left your building has got to make it
4:11
just so raw. Just so raw. And Darnold
4:18
has taken it all with grace. He's not
4:22
lashed out at critics. He's never put a
4:24
chip on his shoulder publicly. He hasn't
4:27
pointed fingers at people that didn't
4:29
believe in him. He He didn't point
4:31
fingers at old franchises, old coaches,
4:33
old organizations, old GMs. He's not
4:36
picking fights. He's just getting the
4:39
job done. Bravo, Sam Darnold. Bravo.
4:43
That was
4:46
the de facto Super Bowl. That those were
4:49
the two best teams in football. Seahawks
4:51
and Rams, two best teams in football.
4:54
It's a great NFC Championship game. when
4:56
they started matching haymakers in the
4:58
third quarter, that was really fun. That
5:01
was really good. And you just saw true
5:02
execution and true speed. And you
5:05
compare that to almost any of the AFC
5:08
playoff games, almost any of them. And
5:11
it just the AFC just pald in comparison
5:14
the entire bracket. There were fun
5:17
games. Broncos Bills was a fun game.
5:21
Bills Jaguars was a fun game, but you
5:24
just see a different level of execution,
5:28
not shooting yourselves in the foot,
5:30
elite coaching, and great quarterback
5:34
play. Darnold and Stafford, that was a
5:37
duel. You saw this completeness of what
5:42
the Seahawks are. a great number one
5:44
wide receiver, a great running back in
5:47
Kenneth Walker, a great secondary on
5:50
defense that when it had to made stop,
5:53
specifically that last drive that the
5:54
Rams had, including on fourth down.
5:57
You have Mike McDonald and Shawn McVey,
6:00
two tremendous coaches, and you saw a
6:03
speed and an efficiency of execution
6:08
when those two teams were trading blows
6:11
in the third and fourth quarters. You're
6:14
just watching a different level of
6:16
execution.
6:17
Steelers didn't have that.
6:20
Texans could only dream of that.
6:24
It was, you know, the Bills obviously
6:27
made a hoist uh a host of of of mistakes
6:31
and issues in their playoff loss against
6:33
the Broncos. The Broncos, even with
6:37
Boone Knicks, I don't think were nearly
6:39
as crisp, but certainly without him, it
6:41
was a offensive disaster. The the
6:44
Patriots kind of slogged their way
6:46
offensively through three games. Aside
6:48
from a couple of good throws in the
6:50
divisional round by Drake May, it was
6:52
kind of just one long slog in January.
6:55
There was nothing to write home about in
6:58
the AFC playoffs. And the NFC playoffs
7:00
gave us the I shouldn't say nothing
7:03
because Bills Jags was a lot of fun.
7:05
Bills Broncos was crazy. But
7:09
Packers, Bears, Bears, Rams,
7:13
Ners, Eagles, and then the NFC
7:16
Championship game all were a cut above.
7:18
So, bravo to the to the Rams and the
7:20
Seahawks. That was really the Super
7:22
Bowl. I fully expect the Seahawks to to
7:25
smack around the Patriots. I just think
7:27
they operate at a different level.
7:28
Again, it's a one game sample size.
7:30
Anything can happen in one game. We'll
7:31
see. Mike Frabel's a very good head
7:33
coach. Um, and he's got a good defense.
7:35
I wouldn't say it's elite defense, but a
7:37
good defense. Um, yeah, and so we'll
7:39
see. I mean, it's it's certainly one
7:41
game we've seen crazier things happen. I
7:43
mean, the the 2001 Rams were what, two
7:46
touchdown favorites and lost that game
7:48
to the 01 Patriots. So, certainly
7:49
anything can happen, but I I just think
7:52
that what we saw in the NFC Championship
7:54
game was really a true championship game
7:57
that felt like, yeah, both these teams
8:00
are really deserving. Both these teams
8:02
are really, really good. and and we knew
8:04
that early on the Rams and then they
8:07
kind of started to fade late and we
8:09
didn't know that on the Seahawks until
8:10
about midseason maybe that most people
8:12
kind of came around maybe later for some
8:14
of you but by the time we got to the
8:17
playoffs
8:19
one was a survivor in the Rams and one
8:22
was a dominant force in the Seahawks and
8:24
they met and they they put they put
8:26
together a great game that was a really
8:27
really fun NFC championship
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