Sam Darnold’s four-interception performance against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday stands in stark contrast to the string of games he put together in the weeks leading up to the matchup that put him in MVP conversations. That one game may have ended his faint bid to contend with Josh Allen for the award, but it certainly didn’t end the Seahawks’ season.
Seattle’s players are aware of that, backing the starting quarterback after a rough day at the office led to a two-point loss and the slip from first place in the NFC West to second. Darnold will have his chance to bounce back next week against the Tennessee Titans, a road game that Seattle should be heavily favored in.
But less than a month later, Darnold and the Seahawks will play the Rams again. And within that time, Seahawks fans have to be wondering if their new franchise quarterback’s kryptonite is a dangerous divisional rival.
Former NFL head coach now ESPN analyst Rex Ryan didn’t dismiss Darnold’s body of work over one performance, but he did highlight that Darnold’s worst performances over the past two seasons have come against one team: the Rams.
“This is not just a physical game, right, it’s a mental game. And this team, I think, is in Sam Darnold’s head,” Ryan said on Get Up Monday morning.
Ryan then pointed out that in his last two games against the Rams, Darnold was sacked nine times and threw four interceptions. Not entirely accurate, though, as Darnold threw another interception in last year’s playoff game, totalling five.
Still, all of the sacks came in last year’s meeting as a Viking, and nearly all of the interceptions came in this past week’s game. He also lost a fumble in that loss last year, so it’s even worse against L.A. than Ryan is selling it.
“Up until that point, he’s basically played MVP-level football except these two [games]. This team certainly has his number,” Ryan said. “But, I think, we know we’re going to see another one, right? We may see twice, we may see this opponent, this game, two more times this season.”
This comes in a discussion on whether Darnold can win big games, which has become a sticking point in conversations around him since he reclaimed his footing as a starter last season in Minnesota.
While Damien Woody and Ryan didn’t cast total doubt on Darnold because of his larger body of work, it’s a running concern that Darnold turns the ball over with such frequency in these types of matchups.
Whether or not it’s specific to the Rams is a question that remains unanswered. Darnold has had a few stinkers over the past seasons, but they aren’t exclusive to Los Angeles either. There’s an old saying that ‘once is random, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a trend’. Darnold is facing quite a daunting coincidence, at the very least.
Still, arguably the larger concern is that if Los Angeles does have Darnold’s number, then Seattle has much bigger issues this season and for the years to come. The Rams are going to be on the schedule twice every season for a lot longer than Darnold is going to be the starter in Seattle.
But, while he is, Seahawks fans need to know he can stand up to one of the toughest teams in the league, let alone their own division, especially if he’s going to have the team looking like a Super Bowl contender the other 15 weeks out of the season.
And to Ryan’s point, Seattle could see L.A. another two times this season, the next one at home and the other in the postseason. If the Rams truly are Darnold’s kryptonite, Seahawks fans might learn it as an unwanted Christmas gift two days before the holiday. And that could set up a very sour start to the new year, with the postseason on the horizon, and all the momentum backing the Rams.
