Seattle Seahawks guard Grey Zabel said that quarterback Sam Darnold is a “killer.”
“He’s the man,” Zabel said. “I love him to death. Like, I would go to war for Sam Darnold. He’s the best.”
“Probably the first day I met him. Like, you look in his eyes and you think, ’this dude could be a killer. Like, this dude’s the best.‘ I’d probably have to say training camp, some of the throws he was making, I was like, ’this dude’s a killer. He’s unreal. And I think that’s what makes Sam who he is. He doesn’t let anyone outside the building get to him.”
Zabel pointed to a conspicuous example of Darnold’s resilience ahead of the Seahawks’ matchup with the division rival Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship. During the Rams’ week 11 loss to the Rams, Darnold threw four interceptions. Still, he threw for 279 yards and led a drive that would have won the game if not for a missed game-winning field goal by kicker Jason Myers. Zabel recounted how, despite the struggles, Darnold was able to keep his composure.
“He had four interceptions ... and he’s still calling a play like we’re up by three scores,” Zabel said.
“Then you have the second Rams game, to where it’s the biggest drive in overtime, and he doesn’t flinch,” he said. “He wears one as he throws a dime to [wide receiver] Cooper Kupp. I know he’s probably hurting after that.
“Then he gets up and marches down and ends up finding [tight end] Eric Saubert for a two-point conversion. ... It’s just a straight-faced, stone-cold killer. And I’m like, ‘That’s my guy.’”
As Zabel pointed out, Darnold redeemed himself in the week 16 rematch with the Rams. Despite two interceptions and four sacks, he passed for 270 yards and two touchdowns, and led the game-winning drive in overtime.
“Sam’s playing out of his mind right now,” Macdonald said. “And you see him, he’s just such a cool customer. But he’s a guy on a mission. He’s just so determined for us to be a great team and a great offense, and he’s doing a great job leading us.”
The Seahawks went into the fourth quarter of their week four win over the Cardinals with a 17–6 lead. But late in the game, the Cardinals scored touchdowns on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 20. Seattle got a stroke of fortune on the ensuing kickoff when Arizona kicker Chad Ryland missed the landing zone by inches, setting the Seahawks offense up at their own 40-yard line. Two plays later, Darnold threw a pass to Smith-Njigba, who was running a fade route down the boundary. Smith-Njigba stopped running and leaped into the air to make the catch, then twisted his body towards the sideline through a tackle by Cardinals cornerback Max Melton. Kicker Jason Myers, who had just missed a field goal attempt that led to the game-tying touchdown, redeemed himself, kicking a 52-yarder to win the game.
Darnold put some of the cool-headedness his coach described into his postgame presser, talking about the confidence he had in himself and his teammates going into the final drive.
“At the end of the day, when you get in those two-minute situations, we run through those situations so much in practice,” Darnold said. “All I can do is just be me. Our guys go out there and not do too much, and just do whatever the play is called, and then if we’ve got to make an adjustment from there, we go from there.”
