Tom Brady’s LFG Player of the Week 17 Game: Vikings QB Sam Darnold

For each game it broadcasts in 2024 The NFL all season past Super Bowl LIX, FOX Sports’ leading NFL analyst Tom Brady he rewards his own LFG Player of the Game to that one player he saw on the field that made him say…

“LET’S F*** GO!!!”

In week 17, the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, Sam Darnold, received praise after leading his team to a 27-25 victory. The Green Bay Packers. The win, which improved the Vikings’ record to 14-2, was crucial to their hopes of securing the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Now the Vikings final game of the regular season against the The Detroit Lions will determine who wins the NFC North and gets the No. 1 seed. 1 in the conference.

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Before Minnesota looks ahead to next week, Darnold’s performance on Sunday was worth remembering. He completed 33 of 43 passes for 377 yards, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 116.1. After coming up empty on the team’s first two possessions of the game, Darnold led the Vikings with five touchdowns in the second and third periods. Those scores helped Minnesota build a comfortable 27-10 lead, which was big enough to withstand the Packers’ late rally.

While awarding the LFG Player of the Game trophy, Darnold jokingly noted that it’s a lot harder than it looks. However, he made it clear that moments like Sunday’s game were not too big for him and the Vikings.

“We have all the confidence in the world,” Darnold told Brady when asked why the Vikings have so much confidence. “First of all, just playing as a team. Our defense, doing their thing. Our special teams, doing their thing. And as an offense, we’re trying to do our best. I felt like we did that at times today.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of ways we can get better. But yeah, I feel like we’re going to continue to grind and get better every week, every single day and we’ll go from there.”

The biggest reason why Darnold might have that confidence is the presence of Justin Jefferson. The 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year didn’t find the end zone Sunday, but he did make a very worthy one-handed snag in the fourth quarter that prompted Brady to compare him to Vikings legend Randy Moss.

That catch was actually not counted because of the catch penalty. Still, Jefferson had eight carries for 92 yards Sunday, making a key catch in the second half to help Minnesota win.

“He’s a great player, man,” Darnold told Brady from Jefferson. “Playing with that guy is really fun. We’ve got JA — Jordan Addison — too. Speedy Jalen Nailor has caught some great stuff. TJ Hockenson, I could go on and on about the guys we have.

“But yeah, Jets is an amazing player and I’m very lucky to have him as a partner.”

That tandem between Darnold and Jefferson has led to the Vikings being one of the surprising teams of the 2024 regular season. Minnesota will get its chance to knock off Detroit, who was the NFC North champion last year and one of the top Super Bowl favorites entering the year, next week.

But Darnold doesn’t look at the Vikings as his little brother, focusing on the job at hand.

“We’re going to keep taking it one game at a time, Tom. You know how we do it,” Darnold said. “That’s been our mindset. It’s been our mindset all year. Really, you know, taking it back to April, that was our mindset then.

“Why did you change now?”

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