At this time two years ago, Kirk Cousins was using flash cards to memorize Kevin O’Connell’s complicated play calls. For example, one of O’Connell’s play calls is [12/11] North RT Clamp F CTR 200 Jet X Stick Spacing. Matt Fries explains the intricacies of that play and O’Connell’s complicated playcalling here, but each element describes the formation and what each player is supposed to do.
In O’Connell’s system, the quarterback must memorize the plays and spit them out quickly enough in the huddle to have time to do checks at the line. Eventually, Nick Mullens told Cousins that he records himself saying the play calls and plays the recording over his car speakers. In Netflix’s Quarterback series, they showed Cousins getting into his Ford SUV, connecting his iPhone, and playing back his voice over the speakers.
It was one of the moments that endeared the public to Cousins. Playing the calls over his speakers showed his dedication to his craft and also his undeniable geekiness. Cousins’ reputation improved after the show. Before Netflix, many people saw him as a .500 quarterback who was more interested in making money than winning football games. After the show revealed him playing through a rib injury and living a relatively normal life off the field, many people fell in love with Cousins.
Sam Darnold is in a similar place that Cousins was two years ago. Darnold, 27, will likely take over for Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons in the offseason. The former third-overall pick must learn a new offense after spending three years with the New York Jets, two with the Carolina Panthers, and last season with the San Francisco 49ers. He signed a one-year, $10 million contract in the offseason, likely to start until J.J. McCarthy is ready to take over under center.
Much of O’Connell’s terminology is similar to Kyle Shanahan’s because they coached with Sean McVay in Washington. However, there are nuances that Darnold must learn. He said that he has also recorded himself saying the plays and played them back to ingrain them in his memory.
“Yeah, I do a bunch of different things,” he said after minicamp last week.
“Recording them is a big one. So I can hear it, hear it again, and then say it, drawing it on the whiteboard. First, learning the formations, learning the concepts together, getting poker chips and writing up the different, whether it’s Q, H, F, Z, X, Y, being able to write those down on poker chips and kind of move them around and see concepts go together. Just visually, it helps me out.”
Darnold has started writing the plays out on a whiteboard and practicing the steps in his apartment. Every play requires the quarterback to drop back a specific number of yards. Sometimes, he must make the throw off the drop, and other times, it’s off the hitch. Timing is crucial in the NFL, where every route is designed around the quarterback’s drop, and he only has around three seconds to make the throw.
“A lot of times, this far along into the process, drawing it on the whiteboard, saying it,” said Darnold, “and even in my apartment, taking the drops and doing all the footwork stuff that I need to do to make sure that I’m prepared to practice, training camp, and then go out there and play on Sundays.”
This summer, the Vikings have created a low-stakes environment in organized team activities (OTAs) and mandatory minicamp. O’Connell and his staff want the players to focus on the process and worry about the results closer to the season.
“We’re still in the learning phase, and I think that the improvement from Day 1 to now, especially in certain aspects that we’ve really been focused on, has been really apparent,” said O’Connell. “Sam’s had a great spring, really engaging with a new offense, new verbiage, new teammates, and every single day getting a lot out of it with production but then also making sure mistakes aren’t being made twice.
“There’s a real emphasis on being dialed into the details of what we do, how we communicate, and then the feedback that they have for me or Josh (McCown) or Wes (Phillips) or Grant (Udinski) that allow us to coach at a higher level and make sure we’re providing the clarity that we need to during the learning phase.”
Darnold played with McCown in New York, and Phillips has a familiar name as a third-generation coach. However, third-year assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski’s cram sessions have been instrumental to Darnold’s ability to memorize the plays.
“Yeah, Grant’s great,” said Darnold. “Just being able to study with him and hear him call the plays.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just hearing the plays. The more I can just hear the terminology and be able to call it right back to him and know my reads and go for it that way, the better off I’ll be. Because when I get out there during the season, it’s just muscle memory at that point.”
While McCarthy is working on his footwork and mechanics, Darnold is learning the playbook and going through reads. He’s trying to get it all down while the biggest threat is furniture in his apartment, not 300 lb. linemen.
“Got to watch out,” he said. “New apartment. You never know where things are going to be.”
Worse yet, Darnold has a habit of bouncing the football while going through the playbook and his steps, and he has a second-floor unit.
“I have a ball, and I’m just bouncing it on the ground,” he admitted. “They probably love that.
“I’ve got to remind myself, too, after the first couple, I’m like, oh, yeah, there’s people that live below me.”
Darnold will face a challenging early schedule. The Vikings play the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, Green Bay Packers, and New York Jets in Weeks 2 through 5, then the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams in Weeks 7 and 8. If Darnold picks up early wins, people will be on his side, and there may be a quarterback controversy if McCarthy looks ready.
That’s a convenient problem for the Vikings but a predicament for Darnold. They will ultimately go with McCarthy because they traded up to pick No. 10 to get him. However, Minnesota is the best team he’s ever been on. He’ll want to hold on as long as he can. Darnold’s neighbors might get upset with him, but Vikings fans from Apple Valley to Zimmerman would let him use their spare bedroom if he figures out O’Connell’s offense. They won’t mind him bouncing the ball as long as it means he’s throwing it to the correct receiver on Sundays.
Tom Schreier
Tom Schreier is the founder and proprietor of Zone Coverage. He created Zone Coverage with the goal of mixing new age media with old-school journalism. His goal was to create an economically sustainable platform for sports content for Minnesota fans. Before Zone Coverage, Tom wrote for Bleacher Report and Yahoo! Sports before joining 105 The Ticket in 2014.
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