Seahawks’ Darnold ‘hasn’t flinched’ despite playing with injury

Renton, Wash.– Sam DarnoldThe oblique injury would have caused panic inside the team headquarters when it had happened two days earlier. Seattle Seahawks‘Divisional round win, but general manager John Schneider said Thursday that Darnold wasn’t worried.

Schneider said Darnold “didn’t panic” about his injury this postseason, even playing for the second straight week last Sunday, when he threw three touchdown passes in the NFC Championship Game to help the Seahawks punch their ticket to Super Bowl LX.

“I think we were all more nervous than him about what was happening,” Schneider said. “He was looking at us like we had three heads, like, ‘What is everyone so worried about?’ He says, ‘I’ll be good.’

Darnold suffered the injury during early practice on January 15, when he felt something in his left side while throwing. He was listed as questionable for Seattle’s divisional round game against the san francisco 49ersBut he made it clear that he expected to play.

With the Seahawks controlling that game from start to finish, Darnold attempted only 17 passes, completing 12 for 124 yards and a touchdown before giving way. drew lock With nine minutes remaining in their 41-6 win.

Darnold faced a very tough test last week against Los Angeles RamsWho had six of his passes intercepted in their two regular season meetings. In the biggest game of his eight-year NFL career, Darnold completed 25 of 36 attempts for 346 yards and 3 touchdowns, with all three of his TD passes coming under pressure.

The Seahawks won 31–27 to advance to the fourth Super Bowl in franchise history.

Coach Mike McDonald later said that Darnold “shut a lot of people off” with his performance, and it should go down as one of the best in playoff history, noting that Darnold had “barely” practiced or thrown the ball that week while dealing with his oblique injury.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Darnold received pain-killing injections before both playoff games.

“I haven’t seen a lot of quarterbacks not throw a ball and then go out and play like that,” Schneider said, “and we’ve been fortunate to have some very good quarterbacks.”

The Seahawks listed Darold as a limited participant both days this week, as has been the case on every injury report released since his injury. Seattle did not practice on Wednesday and held a walk-through on Thursday, so both injury reports were speculative.