“From a decision-making standpoint, just trust what’s gotten him here,” O’Connell said, “which is throwing the ball at a really high level, making really good decisions, using his athleticism when he needs to. But the layer of just managing the game from a standpoint of play call intent, value received on this decision I’m about to make and the impact it’s going to have on our team.”
Perhaps Darnold was expecting to have more downfield shots available to him Sunday, because the Jaguars threw the Vikings a curveball.
Their typically aggressive, man-to-man heavy coverage used before last week’s game turned into soft, off-coverage umbrellas against the Vikings. Jacksonville played with at least two safeties deep for over 90% of the game, which was the highest single-game mark tracked by NFL Next Gen Stats since 2018.
“They played some of those coverages [before],” Phillips said, “just not necessarily the whole game, which credit to them they were able to keep us out of the end zone. This league sees what happens, and it’s a copycat league. Teams are going to see, hey, they didn’t score a touchdown. If they want to try to re-create that, we’ll be ready.”
Darnold said he’s focused on completions and accepting that a check-down might be the best play.
“You don’t want to turn the ball over, period,” Darnold said. “But in the red zone, understanding we’re having points. For me, I just got to continue to take what they give me. And if I am going to force one in there, make it an us-or-nobody throw.”