Sam Darnold works on getting better during Seahawks’ bye

RENTON — Sam Darnold walked in front of a group of reporters to begin his weekly chat.

He hadn’t done it in a bit. Last week was his Seahawks’ bye week.

“I missed you guys,” Darnold said.

Skeptical scoffs filled the room.

“I swear,” he said.

Darnold has reasons to have been longing for his regular routine. His weekly’s been great for him and the Seahawks so far in his debut season as Seattle’s QB.

Darnold is among the NFL’s most accomplished quarterbacks through the first eight weeks of this season. He leads the league in yards per pass attempt (9.1) heading into NFC West-leading Seattle (5-2) playing at Bobby Wagner’s Washington Commanders (3-5) Sunday night in Landover, Maryland (5:20 p.m., NBC, KING-5 locally).

Darnold’s seven game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime are tied with Patrick Mahomes for most in the NFL since the start of the 2024 season, when Darnold starred for Minnesota. He has 15 games with two or more touchdown passes with a passer rating above 100 since the start of last season. That’s the most in the league. His 17 games with a 100-plus passer rating since the start of 2024 is the NFL’s most.

Darnold is most of the reason Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL in yards receiving with 819. That’s 99 more than Cincinnati’s far-more-heralded Ja’Marr Chase, and Chase has played one more game than has Smith-Njigba.

A sixth 100-yard receiving game from more of Darnold’s constant targeting of him Sunday at Washington and Smith-Njigba will be the first Seahawk with four consecutive 100-yard receiving games. It would also tie him with Hall of Famer Steve Largent for the most 100-yard receiving games in a season (six).

Seattle still has nine games left in the regular season after this weekend.

More than 56% of Darnold’s passes targeted Smith-Njigba last week against Houston, before Seattle’s bye.

No wonder Smith-Njigba said Thursday: “I love Sam. I love playing with him.

“I love his leadership, and the role that he has on this team.”

Two plays against Houston showed how much Darnold and Smith-Njigba trust each other.

On Smith-Njigba’s touchdown catch in the first quarter that had him dunking the ball over the goal post to celebrate — and get fined $14,491 by the NFL — Darnold stood in waiting for Smith-Njigba to break open across the end zone inside a Texans defender and before another one arrived from the opposite side. Darnold delivered a perfect throw to where he knew Smith-Njigba would be — while also knowing he, Darnold, was about to get hit by Houston’s Tommy Togiai, who had beaten right guard Anthony Bradford’s pass block.

In the third quarter, the Seahawks had a fourth and 1, leading 14-6. Darnold rolled left and had tight end AJ Barner in front of him for an easier throw outside. Yet the QB waited and threw a lower-percentage pass, to an 18-yard out route by Smith-Njigba. He caught it in tight coverage for the first down that set up a field goal by Jason Myers.

Primary, secondary, front-side, backside routes alike, Smith-Njigba is learning to trust that Darnold is going to throw him the ball.

“The confidence I have in him is at the absolute highest,” Smith-Njigba said. “I can’t get more confident in my quarterback out there doing his thing.” Sam Darnold’s studious bye week

Yet while teammates such as Pro Bowl defensive tackle Leonard Williams went away to Hawaii during the bye week, Darnold studied. He was scrutinizing how he can make his fine start as the Seahawks’ quarterback finer.

He is still lamenting the times this season he’s held onto the ball too long, trying to throw. The latest was in Seattle’s last game. On a third down against Houston, Darnold was throwing from his own end zone. He had tight end Barner open outside to his left in the flat as a check-down option, which likely would have resulted in fourth down and a punt. Instead, Darnold held the ball and ran to his left — into Texas edge rusher Will Anderson. Anderson had disengaged outside from Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross’ block on him. Darnold ran right into Anderson for a sack in the end zone.

To compound that mistake, Darnold lost the ball because of Anderson’s hit. The Texans’ veteran recovered the fumble for Houston’s first touchdown. That turned a game the Seahawks were dominating midway through the third quarter into a 17-12 challenge.

It was only the ninth sack of Darnold in seven games. The only full-time starting quarterback sacked fewer times this season is Denver’s Bo Nix (eight).

Ball security remains an issue Darnold is talking about and coaches are emphasizing. Darnold has committed turnovers at the decisive moments of both of Seattle’s losses. In the opener Sept. 7 against San Francisco, he lost a fumble in the final minute in the red zone with the Seahawks down 17-13. The 49ers’ Nick Bosa pushed right tackle Abe Lucas into Darnold, knocking the ball from the QB’s hand before he could throw a check-down pass. Seattle lost for the eighth time in nine games against San Francisco.

In week five, the Seahawks were tied at 35 late in a shootout with Tampa Bay. Darnold and the offensive line did not recognize a Buccaneers safety blitz off the left side. Antoine Winfield Jr. slammed into the quarterback as Darnold was trying to throw another checkdown pass to Cooper Kupp. The ball hit off the helmet of a defensive tackle into the arms of Tampa Bay’s Lavonte David. The interception handed the Bucs their game-winning field goal in Seattle’s 38-35 loss.

For the season, Seattle is minus-4 in turnover margin. There are 11 NFL teams with turnover margins of minus-4 or worse. The Seahawks and 49ers are the only two of those 11 teams with a winning record. Washington is at minus-5, third-worst in the league.

Darnold said on the fumble he lost in the end zone against Houston, the Texans had a better defensive call than the Seahawks had on offense for that play. He reiterated he needs to more often take what’s open, even if the receiver is short of the line to gain on third down, as Barner was on that turnover.

“(It’s) just being able to get the ball out,” Darnold said. “On that sack-fumble against Houston, it was a play where I felt like I could have gotten the ball out, and just (better) understanding situationally when the play might not be in our favor after holding onto the ball a couple seconds and going through my progressions and being able to just get the ball out.”

Darnold also spent time last bye week with his quarterback coach Andrew Janocko studying his cadence calls at the line of scrimmage before snaps. He said there have been times in games his linemen have told him after plays that had defenders streaming into the backfield: “Hey, let’s switch up the cadence.” That is, the rhythm and speed which he barks out signals, because defenders were getting jumps on them off Darnold’s repeatedly similar commands at the snap.

“That’s part of the bye week, as well, the self-scout part of that, being able to understand what my tendencies are as a quarterback, my cadence, all of that,” Darnold said. “So, just understanding that as a player is huge, to be able to undress some of the defenses that we see.”

Snap cadences aren’t the only fundamental Darnold spent some of the bye week studying. He also studied his balance, footwork and throwing motion on his 192 passes so far this season

“Yeah, that’s a huge part of my game, especially during the bye week,” the 28-year-old, eighth-year veteran said. “I take a look at my mechanics, understanding certain throws that I’m missing consistently, and just being about to talk with the coaches and understanding a plan to attack some of the things I might not be doing the best.”