Colin Cowherd: “They grab big leads and catch excellent coaches like Matt LaFleur, Kyle Shanahan, and DeMeco Ryan flatfooted. Yes, it’s Sam Darnold, yes, it’s Justin Jefferson, but I think this is the best coaching staff in the league. I don’t know if Kevin O’Connell is the best coach minus Andy Reid, but everything is working. They’re catching really smart and really well-run teams completely flatfooted.
I don’t know if it’s a fluke but I buy it. I didn’t buy into the Saints – I’m not a huge fan of Dennis Allen and Derrick Carr has limitations athletically. I didn’t buy into the Steelers – you have to score points. The Jets are not elite organizationally and in their coaching staff. I don’t know I buy into Washington yet – I think their defense will be exposed. The Vikings are the team I buy into.
Sam Darnold struggled with the Jets and the Panthers. Aaron Rodgers is finding out what happens when you go to the Jets. Brett Favre found out, then he went to Minnesota and won. A lot of really good players go to the Jets and fail. Then Darnold went to San Francisco and the staff loved him and raved about him to Kevin O’Connell. Now he’s been absolutely fantastic. All of his weakness have been coached out, and all of his strengths have been coached up. There’s a lot of flukes in this league, but Sam Darnold has always had talent, and when Kevin O’Connell got this job, he was called the ‘tall Sean McVay.’
I don’t think it’s a fluke. Maybe it’s fate. Maybe Sam Darnold always needed a coach like this. They don’t have a very layered Pro Bowl list of guys defensively but Brock Purdy said ‘I’d never seen anything like it’, CJ Stroud was totally flummoxed, and Matt LaFleur – one of the bets coaches in the league -- was outsmarted. You’re looking at their schedule coming up, you might have an 8-1 football team. I buy them.”
Watch Colin Cowherd of FS1’s The Herd explain why he doesn’t think Sam Darnold and the undefeated Vikings are a ‘fluke, saying he thinks maybe it’s just fate that the former no. 3 overall pick would end up with rising coaching star Kevin O’Connell on a deprived Minnesota franchise playing without any pressure or expectations.
Check out the segment above as Colin details why he’s buying the Vikings for the rest of the season, and why he’s already given up on the Jets, Saints, and Steelers.
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