Jalen Milroe’s Seahawks start inconclusive. What’s not: poise, love for parents
After the first fumble he lost, Jalen Milroe had no visible reaction.
He walked off the field. He looked up at the video board above the end zone, to confirm what happened. Then he walked to the bench, put his helmet on a table and sat down.
After his second lost fumble he gave the Green Bay Packers, Milroe had no visible reaction. He walked off the field. He looked up at the video board above the end zone, to confirm what happened. Then he walked to the bench, put his helmet on a table and sat down.
Third fumble, sacked five times in all, exactly the same response.
When he threw his first NFL touchdown, to Cody White in the fourth quarter, Milroe again had the same reaction.
None.
“Yeah, absolutely. Despite anything, where the game went, you have to be the same person,” Milroe said after he played while starter Sam Darnold and number-two QB Drew Lock watched Seattle’s 20-7 loss that ended the preseason. “Are you the same person when you are at a high point? Are you the same person when you are at a low point? As a quarterback, you have to be consistent.
“No one should question how the quarterback is going to be, despite anything.”
His Seahawks coaches spent Saturday night into Sunday having a difficult time assessing their rookie, dual-threat quarterback based on the final preseason game at Lambeau Field. Seattle played its second- and third-string offensive line, with some blockers who won’t be on the team when cut day comes Tuesday. They opposed a Packers team that began the game with eight starters playing on defense.
That made Milroe’s first pro start Mission: Darn Near Impossible.
The running force at Alabama knocked for his inaccuracy passing in college was 13 of 24 passing for 148 yards, with the touchdown to White and the three turnovers. Milroe missed wide on numerous throws to open receivers while throwing with near constant pressure. He ran seven times for 31 yards. Most were on pass calls that became scrambles away from charging Packers.
In three preseason games Milroe completed 22 of 39 passes (56.4%) for 255 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. His passer rating was a middling 84.9. He got sacked six times with the three turnovers. He ran 15 times for 86 yards (5.7 yards per rush). Most of those were scrambles around slower pass rushers. Milroe led three scoring drives to 17 points in the seven full quarters plus 3 minutes he played this preaseason.
By the second quarter Saturday his quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, calling the plays in Green Bay while offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak just observed for the day, was having Milroe hand the ball off to running backs on draw plays on third and long. Janocko was trying to keep the Packers from bludgeoning Milroe any more.
So, inconclusive.
Yet what his coaches did learn about Milroe was his poise. Despite five sacks, three turnovers, a 20-0 deficit and his first TD pass, the 22-year-old quarterback’s demeanor did not change.
Of course coach Mike Macdonald didn’t like the fumbles.
“Taking care of the football is probably the number-one thing,” Macdonald said of Milroe’s day.
But the coach also said this on the team’s way out of Wisconsin, before the players’ day off Sunday: “What’s great about it is he didn’t flinch. He had a couple of setbacks earlier, and he kept fighting. He kept working away at it. Up until the very end we had a chance to get back into the game and give ourselves a chance to win it. We’re fighting an uphill battle the whole game, which is not how we want to play.
“Sometimes things are going to go your way and you’ve got to fight thru it.”
The head coach said for Milroe’s position in particular, his even keel is key.
“I think that’s important,” Macdonald said.
“I think it’s really, just you be you. Don’t try to be anybody else. Be Jalen Milroe.
“That’s good. The guy has played in big games before. He’s played in some tough environments, some big time games at Alabama. It’s nothing new to him.”
Milroe’s emotional growth
Milroe hasn’t always been this stoic on the field.
He’s worked on emotion as an aspect of playing quarterback. Maturing from a teenager to 22 years old has helped, too.
At times at Alabama, he was too emotional. In his 2023 season coach Nick Saban benched him during an ugly win over South Florida. All could tell Milroe was noticeably frustrated by that.
When he returned to start that season, he threw a late touchdown pass to beat archrival Auburn. He yelled on his way off the field at hushed Jordan-Hare Stadium that night: “Let’s f---ing go. Give me the Heisman!” He admitted a few weeks later to espn.com he “let my emotions get the best of me.”
Now? He’s gone from flappable to so far unflappable in his first months in the NFL.
“Fumbles come, interceptions come, false starts. It doesn’t matter,” Milroe the Seahawk said Saturday. “You have to keep on competing and keep on being starving and as a leader at the quarterback position you have to keep on building.”
If you were wanting Milroe to be crushed by he and the Seahawks reserve offense malfunctioning in Green Bay, you are going to be more disappointed than he is.
“Nothing to be discouraged about,” he said. “Just keep on competing and keep on looking ahead.”
Jalen Milroe’s parents’ impact
There was only one time Milroe showed anything close to a reaction publicly on Saturday. It came in the Wisconsin evening, about a half hour after the game.
The News Tribune asked the quarterback about the impact his parents and their backgrounds have had on him.
He absolutely beamed.
His father Quentin Milroe was a U.S. Marine from 1999 to 2003. He was deployed in the American forces’ initial offensive in the Iraq War. Dad was fighting in Iraq three months after Jalen was born in Katy, Texas.
His mother Lola was in the U.S. Navy from 1999-2004, in medical service.
How have they influenced the Seahawks’ rookie quarterback?
“Detail-oriented. Working as a group. Having a single focus. Being driven by goals. So many things that I learned from my parents,” he said.
“Those were things that were instilled in me. So when it comes to playing football, there are a lot of similarities when it comes to their background and how much they poured into me.
“They show what right looks like as being parents.” His smile filled the interview room at the bottom of Lambeau Field.
“I definitely love and appreciate them,” he said. “Despite anything, disappointment, failure, smiles, those are the first people I want to greet when I am around them. Those are people that I love and appreciate.
“When you talk about unconditional love, I have that with my parents.”
They were in Lumen Field this month for Milroe’s first NFL game, Seattle’s preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders. His parents will be in Lumen Field Sept. 7, for Milroe’s first NFL regular season game, when the Seahawks host the San Francisco 49ers.
“For sure,” Milroe said, glowing again.
Mom and Dad are likely to see Kubiak have a handful of plays in that week-one game plan for their son, run-pass options in short-yardage situations and third downs. Kubiak had Milroe enter on a third and short to replace Darnold in the only game the veteran starter played this preseason, last week against Kansas City. On third and 1 the 216-pound Milroe plowed 2 yards on “Tush Push” play Macdonald said the Seahawks may be employing this season.
So Saturday wasn’t his one and only. Milroe, and his poise, are just getting started this Seahawks season.
The rookie QB says he won’t change in the regular season, either.
“Nothing changes,” he said.
“I am going to keep on preparing. I know that the coaching staff is very confident in me. When you have a coaching staff like that, it makes you excited to go back to work.”
For him, his Saturday in Green Bay wasn’t as bad as everybody else may think it was.
“Nothing to be discouraged about. If you’re discouraged, that means you’re not a competitor,” Milroe said.
“I love football. I love everything about it. The highs. The lows. The failures. The disappointments. You have to love football. It is part of the game.
“It was my first start, man. It is a great opportunity to build upon it. I am just excited to keep on competing and keep on getting better.”
This story was originally published August 24, 2025 at 6:47 AM.
