Sam Darnold: ‘I Have to Be Better’ After 4 INTs in Loss to Rams

‘I have to be better, protecting the football, and we’re doing everything that we can ... to try to take care of the football a little bit better,’ he said.

Sam Darnold (14) of the Seattle Seahawks during a 21–19 Rams win in the NFL 2025 game between Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Nov. 16, 2025. Harry How/Getty Images

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold knows that turnovers are holding the offense back.

The Seahawks have a top-10 offense in both yards and scoring, but have the most turnovers in the NFL. The turnover issue was pushed into sharp focus when Darnold threw four interceptions in a 21–19 loss to the Los Angeles Rams last week. Darnold told reporters Thursday that he feels the impact of the turnovers very acutely and is working to fix it.

“It’s unacceptable,” he said. “We understand as an offense we have to be better. I have to be better, protecting the football, and we’re doing everything that we can in practice, and when the game comes, to try to take care of the football a little bit better.”

The Seahawks currently have the sixth-ranked offense in the NFL in yards per game, with 365.8 yards per game; they also have the third-highest scoring offense at 29.4 points per game. But they also have the most turnovers in the NFL with 20. Darnold has thrown 11 interceptions, and the team has lost 9 fumbles.

The high volume of turnovers has put strain on the Seahawks’ defense, which ranks ninth in the NFL in yards allowed per game at 301.5 and sixth in points per game at 19.3. They are also tied for ninth in takeaways with 13. Their minus-7 turnover differential is tied for fourth-worst in the NFL.

Last week’s loss to the Rams accounted for almost one-third of Darnold’s interceptions and one-fifth of the Seahawks’ total giveaways. Darnold finished the game 29 of 44 passing for 279 yards and 4 interceptions. Outside of that, he has only had one other game with multiple picks, but he has thrown at least one in the previous four games.

Linebacker Ernest Jones defended his QB in his press conference after the game.

“Sam’s been balling,” Jones said Sunday.  “Sam’s had us in every game. So, for him to sit there and say, ‘Oh, that’s my fault.’ No, it’s not. There [were] plays that, defensively, we could have made plays. There were opportunities where we could have [gotten] better stops. ... He’s our quarterback. We’ve got his back, and [if you’ve] got anything to say, quite frankly, [expletive].”

Darnold said he feels responsibility for putting pressure on the defense.

“We’ve put a lot of work in up to this point and, you know, I think myself included, but all those guys in the locker room,” he said. “When things don’t necessarily go the way that I want them to, especially on game day. The reason that it sucks for me is because I feel like I’m letting those guys down. And I feel like a lot of the guys in the locker room feel the same way.”

But he was grateful to Jones for defending him.

“It meant a lot to me, just for a guy to have my back like that. But again, I know that the guys are just going to go fight no matter what the case is. And so I’m going to do everything that I can to put my best foot forward and go execute at a high level.”

Darnold credited the Rams for disguising their coverages well, but he said he needed to see the coverage shells better and put the ball in the right spot. He also said he did not go through his progressions and got stuck on his first or second read, waiting for his guy to come open instead of moving on to his next read.

He said he has a tendency to lose control and act out on his anger when he makes a mistake, screaming and throwing his helmet or some other thing on the ground. He said he did a good enough job of moving past it in the game, but he needs to do a better job moving forward.

“I just have to have a mentality of moving on to the next play because there’s nothing that I can do once I throw an interception or fumble. ... So it’s about moving on as fast as I can, understanding why I messed up, looking back at it and understanding, ‘Okay, this is why this happened,’ and just being able to move on.”

He is currently looking to move on from last week to this week, when the Hawks take on the Tennessee Titans. But he is working on making the corrections necessary to ensure he does not repeat last week’s result.