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Brady Henderson
Landover, MD – At halftime of the Seattle Seahawks’ blowout win Washington Commanders Sunday night at Northwest Stadium, Sam Darnold He had four touchdown passes and zero incompletions, connecting on all 16 of his attempts.
He didn’t know this until someone told him – a ‘no-no’ in football is the same as talking about a ‘no-hitter’ in baseball.
“Obviously, I could feel the flow of the game and understand that we were doing really well on offense, but no, I didn’t know that I didn’t throw an incomplete ball,” Darnold said. win 38-14“It was great. Someone told me at halftime that I didn’t throw an incompletion, so I feel like he’s guilty of throwing an incompletion in the second half.”
By the time Darnold missed the first time, the Seahawks were on their way to a win, improving their record to 6-2 – and increasing their quarterback’s MVP chances in the process.
“Won’t tell who it was,” Darnold said with a smile, refusing to give up the culprit.
Darnold completed 21 of 24 passes for 330 yards, four touchdowns and one interception before he was pulled to the side. drew lock Just over seven minutes left. This was good enough for a total QBR of 97.8, the best of any game in his eight-year NFL career.
According to ESPN Research, there have been four instances of a player recording a QBR of 97 or higher in a game this season, and Darnold has three of them. Others are protesting against them tampa bay buccaneers in Week 5 (97.4) and New Orleans Saints in Week 3 (97.3). Darnold’s three such games is tied with Tom Brady (2007), Tony Romo (2014) and lamar jackson (2019) Most by a starting quarterback in a season since ESPN began tracking total QBR in 2006.
“The way Sam is hung up right now is absolutely ridiculous,” coach Mike McDonald said. “We’ve talked about all the things he’s doing, but decisive, making smart decisions, our receivers are doing a great job, I thought the safety was really good.”
The Seahawks lacked a receiver. Cooper Kupp, jake bobo And dereck young All inactive. However, that didn’t seem to be the case with Darnold throwing touchdown passes on each of Seattle’s first four possessions. He connected with Rookie twice Torrie Horton – who played Kupp’s WR2 role before giving the rookie a tough fight Eliza Arroyo and experienced receiver cody white,
Darnold’s 87.5% completion rate was the second-highest in a game (minimum 10 attempts) in Seahawks history, behind Russell Wilson’s 88.6% in 2020. By completing his first 17 passes, he broke the franchise record set in 1998 by Warren Moon, who also started the game.
“Believe me when I say this, I’m not surprised,” McDonald said of Darnold’s string of completions. “We watch Sam every day and how he works, and he’s the same kind of guy every day, which is what you love about him. We’re chasing it. The guys are determined and it’s fun to see, when a team comes together, you can do these types of things when you play the right way, you prepare the right way. Our coaches deserve a lot of credit. I thought [offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak] Called a great game.”
Jackson Smith-Njigba Extended his NFL lead with 129 yards on eight catches, the sixth time in eight games he has topped triple figures.
Smith-Njigba was asked about the etiquette of playing with a quarterback who is off to a hot start.
“We stay away from him a little bit and let him do his thing,” he said. “I think someone might have broken the news to him, but yeah, honestly, I didn’t know. We were just in such a flow and just working out, so it was great to see.”
According to ESPN Research, Darnold began the day at 60-1 odds to win MVP, according to ESPN Bet. By the end of the game the odds had increased to 18–1.
With their win, the Seahawks improve to 4-0 this season and 11-1 since the start of last season.
Seahawks lose middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV For knee injuries and cornerbacks josh jobe For a blow in the second quarter. “It’s not the end of the season, but we’ll see how it goes,” McDonald said of Jones’ injury.
