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<\/a><\/p>\nThe first positive pass from Darnold in his career, and it\u2019s an impressive third down conversion.\u00a0 He shows patience in the pocket as the play develops, with the Lions playing tight man coverage.\u00a0 The play call is somewhat interesting, but things don\u2019t go according to plan.\u00a0 If I\u2019m reading this right, there is a pick play in motion, with Neal Sterling as the aggressor.\u00a0 However, Sterling doesn\u2019t get a clean release and is being held by the defender.\u00a0 Notice Enunwa on this play because he\u2019s going to run a crossing route, but the defender over the top crosses over Sterling to get towards Enunwa, who is further slowed down by another Lions defender.\u00a0 If Sterling gets a free release, he has enough time to impede the path of the defender on Enunwa, but that option is taken away.\u00a0 The primary read on the play is Enunwa, but he\u2019s well covered, so Darnold goes to his second read, which is Sterling.\u00a0 Notice the timing of this throw, because he starts his motion at the same time Sterling starts to make his turn, showing supreme confidence in his tight end to gain separation.\u00a0 During the draft, we hear about throwing into tight windows, and this is a great example of it.\u00a0 There is a minuscule window to throw this pass before the defender recovers, and Darnold hits it perfectly.\u00a0 He shows off great accuracy, as well as poise even when his first read wasn\u2019t open.<\/p>\n
2.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is a quick read option pass to Quincy Enunwa for 15 yards, and it\u2019s very impressive to watch.\u00a0 The first thing is the pre-snap read in which Darnold realizes that the safety is playing back, at which point the quick pass to Enunwa is open.\u00a0 The danger to that quick pass is the middle linebacker cutting over into the passing lane.\u00a0 Notice how Darnold is looking straight at the middle linebacker as he\u2019s performing the play action towards the running back, because he needs the linebacker to commit to the run.\u00a0 Once the linebacker bites, Darnold pulls back and fires a bullet to Enunwa.\u00a0 It\u2019s also worth noting that the safety is lined up about 1-2 yards to the outside of the receiver, which means that Enunwa will establish inside leverage, thus limiting the chances of an interception.<\/p>\n 3<\/strong>.\u00a0 Sam Darnold is not Lamar Jackson, but his ability to escape the pressure here is quite impressive.\u00a0 The Jets come out in an empty set on third down, and James Carpenter gets fooled on a defensive stunt, allowing a rusher to run right by him.\u00a0 However, Darnold does a great job in avoiding the rusher, and then escaping the pocket while keeping his eyes down field.\u00a0 The throw is technically behind him, as he releases it across his body, but it\u2019s placed perfectly for Enunwa, and away from the defender.\u00a0 Now we can argue about the validity of the catch, but that\u2019s a discussion for another day.\u00a0 After sitting through various rulings against Austin Seferian-Jenkins last year, I\u2019m not sure what constitutes a catch.<\/p>\n 4.<\/strong>\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if I should praise Darnold or Jeremy Bates for this play call.\u00a0 The design is efficient here on third down, as you notice Enunwa at the top of the screen.\u00a0 He\u2019s facing press coverage, and once he moves, the defender doesn\u2019t follow him, indicating zone coverage.\u00a0 Enunwa stays in the backfield, which is important for the route because he\u2019s then initially engaged by the linebacker.\u00a0 Notice how the safety was starting to rotate over to the sideline as Enunwa was heading towards it.\u00a0 The positioning is important because the route combination against zone is going to create confusion.\u00a0 At the start of this play, the outside cornerback has Pryor, the linebacker has Enunwa, and the safety is over the top.\u00a0 However, Pryor cuts to the inside to engage the safety directly, while Enunwa runs his route to the outside, which cause the responsibilities to flip.\u00a0 The safety is no longer acting as the safety, and the outside corner-back is now caught in no man\u2019s land.\u00a0 If he runs to the inside to cover Pryor, then a possible go route from Enunwa is wide open.\u00a0 \u00a0The linebacker has outside contain on this play, because the design is supposed to funnel Enunwa to the middle of the field, where the safety is waiting, so he\u2019s protecting against the out route.\u00a0 Enunwa runs outside, and then cuts inside to create separation, and Darnold hits him for the conversion.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great play design, combined with Darnold making the right throw.\u00a0 I think this probably gets more credits for Bates than Darnold.<\/p>\n 5<\/strong>.\u00a0 The first touchdown pass of his career, and it\u2019s a beauty.\u00a0 The initial read seems to be a quick pass to Enunwa, based on the linebacker near the receiver.\u00a0 If the linebacker came on a blitz (which he seemed to indicate), then the pass is open to Enunwa.\u00a0 If the linebacker went back with the receiver, the dump off option to the running back exists, but the Lions play it fairly tight on 3rd<\/sup> and 2.\u00a0 The linebacker drops into coverage, but Darnold does a subtle shoulder pump to draw in the deep safety, and then hits Anderson wide open down the sideline.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great read by Darnold, although the throw is a bit late and causes Anderson to slow down just a bit.\u00a0 You can chalk this up to a lack of chemistry between the QB and receiver as Darnold may not be used to the speed of Anderson, and didn\u2019t want to overthrow him on a possible touchdown.\u00a0 The safety almost makes a play, but Anderson wrestles the ball away for a touchdown.<\/p>\n 6.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is an extremely impressive throw on the run from Darnold, as he escapes the pocket to his right, and makes a beautiful throw to Terrelle Pryor down the field.\u00a0\u00a0 Once we see Enunwa go in motion without a defender following him, we know it\u2019s zone coverage, and Darnold knows Enunwa, Anderson, or Pryor will find a hole.\u00a0 The first option is Enunwa, if the outside cornerback drops too far back with Anderson.\u00a0 The second option is Pryor as he\u2019s cutting across the field, and Darnold hits him perfectly for the pass.\u00a0 If the safety had come up towards Pryor, the third option would be a deep pass to Anderson, but the safety decided to fall back until Darnold started to throw towards Pryor.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n