The Seahawks have a quarterback issue that looks a lot uglier than the one hanging over the Rams.
Seattle’s Thursday night loss to the Denver Broncos put Sam Darnold right at the center of it. With the game tied 14-14 late in regulation, he threw one interception that killed a chance at a potential winning drive. Then, on Seattle’s first possession of overtime, he threw another pick, and Denver cashed that in by taking over in Seahawks territory and winning on a field goal.
That gave Darnold seven interceptions against seven touchdowns through four full games. If Week 1 against New England is set aside, since he left injured after two pass attempts, the Seahawks are 1-3 in his starts.
That’s the part that makes Seattle’s situation feel more serious than what the Rams are dealing with in Matthew Stafford’s early-season unevenness.
Stafford has absolutely had some rough moments, including his NFL-record 33rd pick-six against the Broncos. But his six interceptions through four games looked more like a weird early stretch than a full-blown problem, especially after he threw eight all last season. He answered with a three-touchdown, no-turnover game in Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills.
Even while Stafford was stumbling through those first four games, he still looked like the same quarterback who can flip a game when it’s on the line. That’s been the key difference. The mistakes have been there, but so has the late-game lift.
Darnold, on the other hand, has a history that makes this look less like a blip. He led the league in giveaways last season.
Even after his resurgence with the Vikings, he has still been accused of “seeing ghosts” on the field. Thursday night offered more of the same, with both of his interceptions against Denver standing out as brutal throws that seemed doomed the moment they left his hand.
Rams fans know Stafford will make the occasional W-T-F decision. But they also know who they’d want with the ball if the offense needs a touchdown with 90 seconds left and no timeouts. Stafford is still the quarterback you trust to go 75 yards when everything is on the line.
That showed up again last week against Buffalo. It showed up against the Eagles in Week 4, when he helped produce a pair of touchdown drives in the final half-quarter. And it showed up in Denver, even if the end result was a loss.
When the game tightens, Stafford can still be surgical.
When it tightened in Denver, Darnold blew up the Seahawks.
Seattle’s bigger problem is that the rest of the offense isn’t doing enough to take the burden off him. Sean McVay still leans toward the pass in Los Angeles, but the Rams have a strong rushing attack behind Kyren Williams, who is in the middle of a career year. Seattle has not found that kind of support after Kenneth Walker III’s departure in free agency.
The Seahawks probably would rather not be throwing as much as they have. But a ground game averaging under four yards per carry, with six fumbles and five lost, doesn’t give them much choice.
That leaves Seattle asking a dangerous question: can it really keep putting games in Darnold’s hands late? With Stafford, even on a shaky night, there’s still confidence in a must-have drive. With Darnold, the Seahawks just watched what happens when that trust breaks down.
In Other News...
Rams Face A Familiar Threat To Stafford And The Offense
The Rams next trip into the NFC West brings more than a divisional opponent. When they line up against the Cardinals, Sean McVay will be facing Mike LaFleur for the first time as a head coach on the other sideline, a familiar face from McVays own staff and part of a coaching tree that has shaped plenty of recent Rams football. The connection runs deeper than just one meeting, with McVay, LaFleur and Matt LaFleur all tied together through years of shared ideas and overlapping success, while Matthew Stafford has also had a front-row seat to how that family of coaches works.
For the Rams, the matchup is another reminder that the league keeps circling back to relationships as much as schemes. McVay has spoken highly of Mike LaFleurs impact, and Stafford has too, which makes this one feel a little different than a standard division game. Theres still the usual stake of a divisional test, but theres also the added layer of two coaches who know each other well and an offense trying to stay ahead of a defense that has seen plenty of the same concepts from the same coaching line. [Read more 🡒]
Rams Special Teams Problem Has Become Impossible To Ignore
The Rams have spent enough time trying to patch the issue that it is no longer possible to call it a one-week hiccup. Their special teams have been a problem all season, and the numbers have reflected it in ugly fashion, with the unit sitting last in several key categories. Los Angeles has already started to address it by moving on from kicker Harrison Mevis and bringing in cornerback Damarion Williams to help the coverage units, but the fixes so far have only underscored how deep the concern runs.
Bubba Ventrone now has a unit under the microscope, and the pressure is not just on the players trying to make tackles and flip field position. Les Snead has shown a willingness to keep adjusting the roster when something is not working, and special teams may be headed for more of that scrutiny if the Rams do not clean things up soon. For a team trying to stay sharp everywhere else, this phase of the game has become the one area it can least afford to keep ignoring. [Read more 🡒]
Rashod Bateman Trade Buzz Could Put Ravens In A Tough Spot
With the Rams sitting at 2-3, the search for offensive help is already starting to take on some urgency, and Baltimore wide receiver Rashod Bateman has surfaced as a name to watch. Bleacher Reports Gary Davenport pegged Los Angeles as a possible landing spot, pointing to the teams need for more receiver depth and Batemans track record as reasons the fit could make sense.
Bateman has shown enough this season to keep his name in the conversation, with one touchdown, 16 catches and 233 receiving yards in five games. For the Rams, any move of this sort would be about adding another reliable target and reshaping the passing game around the stretch run, while the possibility of a deal could leave Baltimore weighing whether it can afford to part with a receiver who still has plenty of value in the market. [Read more 🡒]