Sam Darnold Discusses Preparing For Week 8 vs. Bears

Sam Darnold (0:00)

Yeah, obviously got a big challenge ahead of us this week. Really good football team, really well coached, you know, really good defense as well. Fly around, make plays.

And again, really looking forward to the challenge.

SPEAKER_2 (0:13)

Can I throw you off here? Best Halloween candy ever made?

Sam Darnold (0:18)

I'm gonna be honest, Jeff did not do a good enough job preparing me for that question out there. So best Halloween candy ever made? I mean, depends what, you know, you could go a bunch of different routes. I think, you know, you think of two things, right? You think of, you can go sour candy. You can also go with the chocolate, the savory kind of candy. So I'll think I'll go chocolate and just keep it really simple with the Snickers.

I don't think you can really go wrong there. So the safest, safest option would be a Snickers. And that's how I'm gonna, that's how I'm gonna roll on that one.

SPEAKER_3 (0:51)

So what were your thoughts when you heard Quenton Nelson was coming here? I mean, obviously, you know, Hall of Fame caliber guy, a player joined in your offensive line.

Sam Darnold (0:58)

That's a great question, by the way. I really appreciate that. That was good.

No, obviously, Q, Q coming in here, you know, he has a lot, just a lot of experience, you know, really, really talented football player, obviously. So, you know, he has a lot of experience to this group. And just with our guys, too, like, you know, sometimes with things like this can be, you know, tough on a group, tough on a team, you know, maybe coming in and shaking things up. But Q has been doing a great job of just learning everything. And, you know, I think our offensive line in general has done a great job of welcoming him with open arms and they've been handling the situation with grace. Third down, conversions against Kansas City were the best of the year. Chicago, one of the best at preventing teams from converting on third. What did you see on Sunday night that you know can transfer over to Monday?

Yeah, I think, I think for myself, like, just playing fast, being able to understand what we're doing in terms of scheme and how we're trying to attack them and, you know, what gives us problems in our scheme and how they could present a potential issue for us on every single play and being able to diagnose that today with the coaches, be able to communicate that with the skill guys in the offensive line and go from there.

SPEAKER_4 (2:16)

Sam, with Quenton coming in, Charles out and Grey flipping sides. It's three or five spots on the line now different than what they were on Sunday. Do you have to put in any extra time to kind of make sure things are set up this week? How do you kind of approach things to try to make sure you're all good?

Sam Darnold (2:32)

No, yeah, I'm not thinking about it at all. You know, I know those guys by the time Monday night comes, they'll be ready to go.

SPEAKER_5 (2:39)

It used to be that folks focused a lot on third down offense and now a lot of the best offenses seem to like avoid third down entirely. So, like, what's your checklist for what makes a healthy offense in the NFL?

Sam Darnold (2:51)

Yeah, I think just moving the ball forward. You know, I think that's the best recipe and it's not, you know, I'm not saying that sarcastically or, you know, any type of way, but it's true. It's like the offenses that just continue to move the ball forward and, you know, it's not, you're not ever really seeking out explosive plays. You know, they just kind of happen throughout the game, especially when you keep moving that ball forward, you're converting first downs and you're going first, second, first down, staying out of those third downs. And if they are third downs, they're third and short, third and manageable. So it's a, that's kind of the recipe, you know, to, to playing really good football. And again, we were able to convert some of those third downs on Sunday night, the other night. But I think for us, like, you know, it's just continuing to be, push ourselves, right? To be more efficient on those first and second down, so we can just stay out of third downs completely.

SPEAKER_6 (3:39)

It sounds like you guys kind of narrowed down the focus offensively over the mini-by, that's what Cooper Kupp told us yesterday. What do you feel like that did for you, excuse me, against Kansas City?