5 Stats That Tell the Story of Sam Darnold’s Performance Against the Giants
Entering the 2024 season opener, no storyline was more compelling for the Vikings than how Sam Darnold would perform as QB1. The former third-overall pick was returning to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, the same stadium where he played home games as a New York Jet from 2018-20.
The Vikings had revamped their defense and hoped former Packer Aaron Jones would bolster their running game. But none of this would genuinely matter if Darnold couldn’t execute the offense. However, Darnold proved why he was a top-3 pick, at least for one week.
The final stat line was efficient yet modest. He completed 19/24 passes for 208 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception that came on a deflected pass. Darnold never appeared more under control than he did on an 11-play, 99-yard drive that culminated with a three-yard touchdown strike to Justin Jefferson on 4th-and-2. Ultimately, the Vikings would prevail 28-6.
The games will be more challenging moving forward, with a ferocious 49ers defense coming to town next Sunday, but it was a step in the right direction for Darnold. Here are five stats that tell the story of Darnold’s performance against the Giants.
5 Stats That Tell the Story of Sam Darnold’s Performance against the Giants
79.2 Completion Percentage
Darnold completed 79.2% of his passes, the second-highest mark of his seven-year career and well above his career average of 60%. He was on target and in rhythm from his first pass of the game, completing his first 12 passes.
0.8%
How unlikely was Darnold to connect on his first 12 pass attempts? According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Darnold had a 0.8% chance of completing all 12 passes. This was based on each pass’s completion probability, including a 44-yard completion to Jefferson deep down the left sideline.
113.2 Passer Rating
The high completion percentage and two touchdown passes gave Darnold a passer rating of 113.2, the eighth-highest mark of his career through 67 games. This wasn’t due to him dinking and dunking the ball and letting playmakers do the work, either. Pro Football Focus (PFF) charted him with an Average Depth of Target (ADOT) of 9.1 yards, showing that Darnold was pushing the ball downfield.
1 Sack Taken
Darnold only took one sack on Sunday, a somewhat rare feat for the seventh-year QB. He has taken at least two sacks in a game in 44 of his 67 career games. Of the 23 games where he took two or fewer sacks, Darnold played less than 25% of his team’s total offensive snap eight times.
9.1 Pressure-To-Sack Rate
According to PFF, the offensive line held up well on Sunday, allowing 11 pressures on 28 dropbacks to a Giants defensive line that features Dexter Lawrence. This resulted in a 9.1 pressure-to-sack rate, about half the rate of his career mark of 18.1%. Darnold took off and scrambled one time.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
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