Seahawks have a title-worthy defense. But Sam Darnold has to beat his nemesis
So far, the Rams are Sam Darnold’s kryptonite.
Yet with how strong coach Mike Macdonald’s defense has played — including against Los Angeles — the Seahawks don’t need their quarterback to be Superman Thursday night.
They just need him to not hand L.A. the biggest game of the season, as Darnold did the last time he played the Rams.
Last month in Inglewood, California, Seattle’s QB threw a career-high four interceptions. Two of those gave the Rams two of their three touchdowns in Los Angeles’ 21-19 victory. L.A.’s had to drive just 3 and 25 yards for 14 of its 21 points. And the Seahawks still almost won.
Instead, Darnold lost against the Rams for the second time in 10 months. He lost to L.A. for his fourth consecutive time, dating to when he started a game for San Francisco as Brock Purdy’s backup at the end of the 2023 season.
“Playing these guys last time obviously wasn’t my best effort,” Darnold said Tuesday following the Seahawks’ walk-through practice.
Obviously. It remains Seattle’s only loss in its last nine games.
Darnold has lost all three times he’s played the Rams the last two seasons. He lost twice last season and in the playoffs for Minnesota against L.A. The Rams sacked Darnold the Viking 12 times in those two games, including an NFL playoff record-tying nine times in the wild-card game that was Darnold’s last for Minnesota, 11 months ago.
That loss ruined his 14-3 regular season for the Vikings in which he threw for 4,300 yards and 35 touchdown, career highs for the eighth-year veteran. The meltdown against the Rams’ pressure plus a similar failure the week before in the NFC North title game at Detroit to end the 2024 regular season led Minnesota to let Darnold leave in free agency this past offseason.
Darnold is 1-4 in his career versus the Rams. His only win was in December 2020, 23-20 at Los Angeles. That was his then-New York Jets’ first win following 13 straight losses to begin that season.
The only other NFL team he’s played as many as five times and won only once is Miami. He’s also 1-4 against the Dolphins, from his first three seasons in the league starting for the bad Jets who drafted him third overall in 2018.
There is irony to the Rams dominating Darnold. He grew up in San Clemente, California, about an hour south of Los Angeles. He played collegiately at the L.A. Coliseum for USC.
The News Tribune asked Darnold Tuesday what this showdown with the Rams Thursday night means to him personally. He didn’t bite on the notion the Rams “own him.”
“Personally, I would just say I grew up an hour away from them — but even then, they were in St. Louis when I was growing up,” Darnold said.
“It’s just another opponent. Obviously, it’s a divisional game. And I would just leave it at that.”
Darnold with Seahawks’ defense
This season Darnold is the NFL’s co-leader with 16 turnovers, the same number as Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa.
Darnold not throwing another interception or fumbling the ball away again is the key to this first Thursday night in game in NFL history to feature two 11-win teams — and to the rest of Seattle’s season.
The Seahawks’ offense didn’t score a touchdown last weekend against the Colts. The week before they were in a 6-6 tie into the third quarter at four-win Atlanta. Seattle scored three points total in the first quarters of consecutive games at one-win Tennessee and against four-win Minnesota.
“That’s got to improve quite a bit,” Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said Tuesday. “Every week that’s a big point of emphasis. Every week you’re trying to get points on the board early. And (it’s) not something that we’ve done as of late.
“This is one of the best defenses in the league (with the Rams), so they’re going to make it hard for us.”
Macdonald has talked this week about looking into Seattle’s “openers,” the 10 to 20 plays Kubiak scripts to run at the start of each game on offense.
The running game has gone nowhere early — or late — in recent games. Lead back Kenneth Walker has repeatedly had multiple defenders in his face in the backfield as soon as he receives handoffs from Darnold.
The Seahawks ran for just 49 yards against the Colts. Yet Kubiak keeps calling runs. Seattle ran 22 times against Indianapolis.
The Seahawks are fifth in the NFL in rush attempts — but fifth from last at 3.9 yards per rush.
“I think it’s got to improve pretty quick,” Kubiak said.
“We’ve got to move the ball better on the ground. We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got to block better. We’ve got to help the operation by being a more balanced team.”
Yet as the Seahawks are proving, they can win like this. At least against almost everyone except the Rams and 49ers, the team they have to beat to win the West.
With Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon, middle linebacker Ernest Jones, veteran Pro Bowl ends Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence plus dynamic rookie Nick Emmanwori giving Macdonald weapons all over the field, the Seahawks have a championship-quality defense.
Seattle is second in the league in points allowed. It has surrendered just one touchdown in the last three games, a 26-0 win over Minnesota that was Seattle’s first shutout in 10 years, 37-9 over Atlanta and 18-16 last weekend over Indianapolis.
The Seahawks are third in the league in rushing defense, fourth in sacks and fourth in overall defense. They have a defense that has done what few have to Matthew Stafford and the Rams offense.
Since Macdonald became Seattle’s coach before the 2024 season, he and his defense have faced Stafford, play-calling wizard Sean McVay and the Rams offense three times. Let’s throw out the 2024 regular-season finale last January in Inglewood; the Rams had the division title and their playoff seed clinched before the meaningless game the Seahawks won 30-25.
In the two other meetings, the Rams offense has driven more than half the field for a touchdown against Seattle defense just twice in eight quarters.
In November 2024 at Lumen Field L.A. scored just one offensive touchdown in regulation before the Rams won in overtime.
But those Darnold turnovers...
Last month in California, Los Angeles had just one scoring drive of more than 23 yards: 74 yards to their second of their three TDs. Darnold threw those four interceptions. Yet the Seahawks only lost by two points.
In week one against their other NFC West rival, the Seahawks were within 10 yards of beating the 49ers. But Darnold lost a fumble in the red zone in the final minute when San Francisco’s Nick Bosa pushed Seattle right tackle Abe Lucas into the quarterback. The Seahawks lost 17-13.
Macdonald enters this game believing he has the ideas and the players to control McVay’s offense. If Darnold doesn’t turn the ball over again, the Seahawks have the defense to win — on Thursday night, next week at Carolina (7-7) and in week 18 at San Francisco (10-4).
If they win those three, Seattle will win the division for the first time since 2020 plus earn the first seed and bye in the NFC playoffs that begin next month.
“Yeah, it’s the best. That’s the kind of football you want to be playing in December, meaningful football,” Darnold said.
“We take that head on in the locker room. And we love it.”
