Welcome to the Week 14 grades!
This was supposed to be the week where Kirk Cousins got revenge on his old team. Instead, the Vikings proved they made the smart decision to move on from their former quarterback. Sam Darnold was the quarterback who replaced Cousins in Minnesota, and he went off on Sunday, throwing for five touchdowns in the Vikings’ 42-21 win over the Falcons.
In the win, Darnold accomplished multiple things that Cousins never did during his six years in Minnesota:
- Darnold was the first Vikings QB with five or more passing touchdowns in a game since Daunte Culpepper in 2004.
- Darnold now has four straight games with at least two touchdown passes and zero interceptions, which is the longest single-season streak in franchise history.
- Darnold is now the first QB to start 11-2 or better in his first season after changing teams since Brett Favre in 2009. Favre also did it with the Vikings. In his first 13 games with the Falcons, Cousins has Atlanta at 6-7.
With that in mind, let’s get to the grades, starting with Minnesota’s big win:
Minnesota 42-21 over Atlanta
Pittsburgh 27-14 over Cleveland
Jacksonville 10-6 over Tennessee
Miami 32-26 over N.Y. Jets
New Orleans 14-11 over N.Y. Giants
Philadelphia 22-16 over Carolina
Tampa Bay 28-13 over Las Vegas
Seattle 30-18 over Arizona
L.A. Rams 44-42 over Buffalo
San Francisco 38-13 over Chicago
Kansas City 19-17 over L.A. Chargers
Detroit 34-31 over Green Bay
Read the full article here
