Shortly after the Seahawks signed Sam Darnold back in March, Matt Hasselbeck talked about Darnold’s need to develop the “clutch gene.”
That was a reference to Darnold and the Vikings’ failures in the final two games of 2024, including a blowout loss to the Rams in the playoffs.
On Sunday, Darnold threw four interceptions that led to a 21-19 loss to the Rams instead of what could have been a comfortable win.
As former Rams QB Kurt Warner put it, “I think some guys have the ‘big game gene’ and others not so much. Not saying he doesn’t, but hasn’t shown it at this stage of his career.”
While a lot of fans are writing off Darnold as a paper tiger, we are going to let the season play out before making that judgment. Darnold has played too well across most of this season, and he will have a few more chances to prove his mettle.
There can be no argument that he has yet to prove he can win a big game. He is 2-3 against winning clubs this season. The two he has beaten – Pittsburgh and Jacksonville – are just barely above .500 at 6-4 and not considered Super Bowl contenders.
His five other wins have come against teams with an aggregate winning percentage of .317. As Rams coach Sean McVay said on his radio show, the Hawks “have been feasting on bad football.”
The Hawks’ next three foes are the Titans, Vikings and Falcons — more “bad football” teams that have a combined eight wins. Darnold and the Hawks should gobble them up on the way to a 10-3 record.
Then Darnold will have three chances in the final four games to show his clutch/big game gene: at home against the Colts (8-2) then a Thursday game vs. the Rams (8-2) and the finale against the 49ers (7-4) after a game vs. Carolina (6-5).
Darnold has come up just short in Seattle’s three defeats – the Hawks have lost them by a total of nine points.
Some want to put all three losses on Darnold, because he turned the ball over to end the first two, killing a rally against the 49ers and putting the Bucs in winning field goal position. Then he threw the four interceptions against the Rams.
On Sunday, it was clear that he had the nine-sack playoff game from last January stuck in his head – he obviously was determined to avoid that. But instead of taking sacks, he threw picks – and that hurt the Seahawks much more. No Seattle team had thrown four picks while giving up no sacks since 1985.
The Rams knew what was on Darnold’s mind. They counted on it.
“He don’t want to get sacked,” said Kam Kinchens, who picked him off twice. “He’s just trying to get the ball out of his hands, so that’s when I knew there was an opportunity.”
Mike Macdonald said, “The majority of them came late in downs where we just need to get to the next play. Sam has played on time and in rhythm a lot this year and he’s made a lot of plays for us doing that. He’s also made a lot of plays off schedule. You don’t want to take the playmaker out of him, but you also understand when we need to be able to get to the next play versus putting the ball in jeopardy down the field.”
Darnold settled down in the end, leading the Hawks on an 84-yard TD drive and then moving 56 yards in the final seconds for a shot at a 61-yard kick that could have won it.
He has gotten the first Rams meeting out of the way – he should be much more comfortable in the next one. He realized he was too focused on not taking sacks in this game and should have eaten the ball a couple of times.
“Those are self-inflicted wounds, turning the ball over like that,” Darnold said. “Sometimes it’s better just to try to throw the ball away or even take a sack when nothing is there.”
Darnold has 14 of the Seahawks’ league-leading 20 turnovers, and the Hawks are minus-7 in turnover margin. But they have a +101 point differential — and time to turn it around. In fact, Mike Sando has two shining examples of teams that did just that.
Per Sando’s research, the Hawks are like the 2013 Broncos and the 2000 Rams, who both had +100 scoring margins and negative turnover ratios through 10 games. The Broncos, led by Peyton Manning, went on to lose the Super Bowl to the Seahawks that season. The Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf, quarterbacked by Warner, won the Super Bowl in 1999, lost in the playoffs in that 2000 season and made the Super Bowl again in 2001 (losing to New England as Tom Brady ascended).
Of course, the Hawks want to win the Super Bowl, not just get there and lose — so Darnold needs to curb all the turnovers.
“We just can’t turn it over four times. Sam knows that,” Macdonald said. “The tricky part of that is you can’t say, ‘(Don’t) turn the ball over.’ What kind of coaching is that? I think we need to go back and look at decision criteria – the input behind it — and we will find solutions. Take a dive into it and not the easy and lazy way out.”
Daniel Jeremiah is among the even-keeled observers who think Darnold will rebound and the Seahawks will start winning big games.
“I left that game thinking two things,” Jeremiah told 710 Seattle Sports. “No. 1, based off the end of the game, Sam Darnold, even after that performance, was not broken. He still had it in him to get them down the field. And No. 2 … if that’s as bad as you (play), you turn the ball over and all those things, and you still have a chance to win that football game? They’re going to be just fine.”
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