Walkthrough: It's All About The Journey, Man.
A Baker Mayfield-Sam Darnold shootout and a Daniel Jones-led Colts blowout highlight a Week 5 celebration of journeyman quarterbacks.
In this king-sized Week 5 edition of Walkthrough:
The Eagles finally lose. Are you doomers happy now?
The Bills finally lose. How come no one is freaking out about that?
The Ravens have left do-not-resuscitate orders. Please respect their wishes.
The Vikings show the Browns that their Kevin is the best Kevin.
The Colts are sexy now? THE COLTS ARE SEXY NOW.
And much more.
But to kick things off …
Making the Most of Second-to-Fifth Chances
The Seattle Seahawks represent Sam Darnold’s fifth chance as an NFL quarterback.
The Jets ran Darnold through their usual sausage grinder of a passion play: savior-to-martyr in 20 column inches of tabloid gospel. Then they shipped him off to the sticks to drive the clown car in Matt Rhule’s Carolina Flea Circus.
Darnold escaped to San Francisco, where Kyle Shanahan offered him an adjunct mentor position, non-tenure track. The frigid temperatures of Minnesota rejuvenated Darnold last year, but the Vikings preferred the contents of their mystery box: a copy of QB Prospect #1, in mint excellent satisfactory condition. So Darnold signed with the Seahawks in one of the offseason’s most shrug-inducing transactions.
Darnold threw four touchdowns — and one crippling interception — in a 38-35 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday. Despite the loss, his Seahawks are 3-2 and poised to remain in the thick of the NFC playoff chase.
Baker Mayfield, who won Sunday’s shootout against Darnold with yet another of his typical last-second comebacks, has made the most of his fourth NFL chance. Mayfield was hobbling slowly toward the mythical middle tier of quarterbacking for the Browns when the devil appeared to Jimmy Haslam wearing a cheap suit and brimstone patchouli. “I’m offering you a literal Faustian bargain designed to ironically ruin your life,” the devil said, and Haslam opened a vein before Ol’ Scratch could finish unrolling the contract.
Mayfield helped Darnold sweep elephant dung for Rhule for a few weeks. He made a pilgrimage to Los Angeles, where he touched the hem of Sean McVay’s cloak. He won the right to replace Tom Brady in Tampa, which was like winning the right to replace Olivier in Hamlet. Yet Mayfield grew slowly into one of the NFL’s most resilient, resourceful field generals, the Best Quarterback You Still Think Isn’t Good Enough.
Daniel Jones is only on his second chance. Or maybe his seventh. The Giants gave him the same chance six times. He was bad. They were worse. They couldn’t stand to look at him by this time last year: he reminded them too much of themselves. Off to Indianapolis and the mentor/caretaker/placeholder circuit. When Jones won the Colts starting job from Anthony Richardson in August, it felt like a defeat for the entire organization. But the Colts are now 4-1 after thumping the Raiders.
Jones and Darnold, for all their tribulations, were just walking miles in Geno Smith’s moccasins. Smith entered the NFL too immature (somehow) for Rex Ryan’s rumpus room. The Jets dumped him with the Giants, who planted his fingerprints on the weapon that killed the Eli Manning era.