The first half for the Vikings against the Rams in the NFL’s Wild Card round could not have been worse. When we say that, one stat proves it could not have been worse for one player, specifically Sam Darnold.
For the past couple of weeks, the argument has been made for the Vikings to keep Sam Darnold around; this first half may end that.
Dan Pizzuta of The 33rd Team shared a dumbfounding and disheartening statistic on Bluesky if you are a Vikings fan. Pizzuta points out that among 557 qualified playoff performances tracking EPA per play, Sam Darnold is entering the second half in dead last among those.
EPA is a stat that is explained as a statistical metric used in the NFL to measure how well a team or player performs on each play.
Darnold has played well all year for the Vikings; he was in MVP consideration at one point. In the last two weeks, he has seemingly broken into his old New York Jets version of himself and is playing shellshocked. Both he and the team will need a big second half if they want to make things competitive.
