Deep in his own end zone, Sam Darnold cocked back and launched a ball to the Minnesota Vikings logo at midfield that was snared by star receiver Justin Jefferson.
It proved to be a 97-yard touchdown connection in Darnold's second game with the team and an early indicator of the season he would have.
Darnold flashed his big arm throughout a 4,319-yard, 35-touchdown season en route to his first Pro Bowl appearance.
However, he had his struggles executing a vital part of Kevin O'Connell's offense, which a Vikings analyst argued J.J. McCarthy can excel at.
J.J. McCarthy
Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) at Vikings training camp
Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
On a June 11 appearance on SKOR North, Judd Zulgad detailed the dichotomy between Darnold and McCarthy.
From Zulgad:
If you guys recall in training camp last year, I came in and I pounded the table and said, 'Sam Darnold throws one of the nicest deep balls I've ever seen.'
He's got the deep ball down pat -- it's gorgeous. The intermediate passes are suspect.
McCarthy is the opposite. The intermediate passes are great. That's where the arm strength comes in. He threw an intermediate pass to Jalen Nailor over the middle that was gorgeous, like just in there. That pass had plenty of juice. I think what we're looking at is the polar opposite. And you can make a case that this is not a bad thing.
We are looking at the polar opposite of Darnold. The deep passes need some work, but when I talk about arm strength, the arm strength is the intermediate balls over the middle.
Zulgad's eye test holds up when looking at the numbers.
Darnold threw the fourth-most big-time throws (23) on passes of 20 or more yards. He also led the league with 12 turnover-worthy plays on intermediate throws between 10 and 19 yards.
Among qualifying quarterbacks, Darnold graded as the 19th-best quarterback on intermediate throws with a 77.7 grade by Pro Football Focus.
In particular, on throws 10 to 19 yards out along the left boundary, Darnold completed an abysmal 9 of 26 passes (34.6%) for 157 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and a 36.9 passer rating. That area became untouchable for the offense.
While Darnold's deep ball lent itself to dazzling highlight-reel worthy plays, deep throws only made up about 75 of 585 pass attempts -- roughly 12.8%.
Kevin O'Connell's offense is largely predicated on intermediate throws over the middle, which seemed to be McCarthy's wheelhouse.
The young quarterback looked better at those chain-moving throws than the seven-year veteran in training camp last year.
That should bode well for McCarthy being productive in his first year as he continues to develop his game.