Helton peered into Sam Darnold’s face mask. “You can always see it in a quarterback’s eyes,” Helton said. “They’re either deer-in-the-headlights or they look at you like it’s just a practice. He’s always looked like, ‘Coach, don’t worry ...

The Houston Texans defense will see an unlikely opponent in Sam Darnold when they face the Minnesota Vikings. Darnold is stepping in as the starter after No. 10 overall pick J.J. McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury back in training camp.

So it would have been reasonable for outside observers to cringe at Sam Darnold's wild flip of the ball toward running back Aaron Jones Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, not only because it threatened to turn a busted play into a massive turnover,