Beating the San Francisco 49ers for the second time in a few weeks, this time with the stakes heightened by the playoffs, won’t happen unless the Seattle Seahawks get a big game from quarterback Sam Darnold, and that won’t happen unless the hosts at Lumen Field find a way to restore the veteran signal-caller’s “uncanny” favorite play.
It’s a play based on Darnold’s ability to move the pocket. A talent offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak paired with an unorthodox part of Darnold’s game for great results earlier in the season.
The secret sauce for Darnold’s success throwing on the move is explained in detail by Steven Ruiz of The Ringer. He outlined how “Darnold throws with his right hand but has an uncanny ability to make passes while moving to his left. Most right-handed quarterbacks aren’t comfortable making throws across their body, so the majority of bootlegs are designed to go to the right side of the field. Since 2021, there have been just over 4,000 bootlegs called across the NFL, and only 999 of them have gone to the left side of the field.”
Unfortunately, numbers for this key concept have declined in recent weeks. Kubiak will only boost his case for a head-coaching job if he finds a way to counter how defenses are targeting and wrecking Darnold’s go-to play.
Restoring this staple of the playbook would be a major boost for Darnold, now he’s expected to overcome an oblique injury and face the Niners in the Divisional Round on Saturday, January 17.
Klint Kubiak Must Restore Prolific Play
Darnold’s left leanings when moving the pocket paid huge dividends for the Seahawks through the first 11 weeks of the campaign. Ruiz noted how “In 2025, Darnold was the only right-handed starter who finished the regular season with more bootleg dropbacks to the left than bootlegs to the right. He finished second in left bootleg dropbacks behind only Tagovailoa, who is a lefty quarterback. Those weak-handed boots by Darnold caught the league off guard early on. Through 11 weeks, he generated 11.0 EPA on 21 dropbacks and was averaging 13.6 yards per play.”
Most of those numbers owed a lot to the way Kubiak designed routes off the bootleg action. Ruiz described routes at three levels, vertical, over the middle and in the flat.
Of the three, Darnold’s preference was usually to hit the one in the middle and target crossing patterns. At least he did until opposing teams caught up and started taking away what had worked for the Kubiak and Darnold passing game.
Adjustments from defenses meant that “While Darnold ended up leading the league with 359 yards on bootleg dropbacks to the left this season, the efficiency of those plays took a nosedive down the stretch. After leading the league in EPA on those plays through the first 11 weeks, he finished dead last in the same category over the final seven weeks,” per Ruiz.
The latter explained “defenses made more of an effort to attack the left edge to prevent Darnold from getting out to the perimeter where he would have plenty of time and space to find an open receiver.”
Tweaking the formula can revive this prolific play. Perhaps by having Darnold fake rolling one way, only to go back and throw from the other side.
It’s what he did for this deep completion to Jaxon Smith-Njigba against the Tennessee Titans in Week 12, highlighted by Alexandre Castro of SB Nation’s Field Gulls.
Alternatively, Kubiak could dial up more rollouts to the right. Darnold is also strong throwing in this direction, evidenced by this touchdown strike to wide receiver Cody White against the Washington Commanders in Week 9.
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Ultimately, Kubiak must get the bootleg game working again, because without it, Darnold has become an easy target for defenses.
Sam Darnold Will Decide Seahawks’ Fate
How Darnold plays will decide how far the top seed Seahawks go in these NFC playoffs. More particularly, if Darnold can’t avoid the turnovers that have plagued him most of his career, including late in this season, the Seahawks won’t beat their division rivals.
The 49ers are tipped to manufacture ways to put Darnold under pressure. It’s the likely plan from San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, according to Rotoworld Football’s Kyle Dvorchak, who thinks it’s obvious the Niners must “create havoc for Sam Darnold, while Patrick Daugherty believes “The only way they could plan to win is Robert Saleh putting Sam Darnold in a blender.”
Blitzing Darnold might be a better strategy than trying to match up with Smith-Njigba, the NFL’s leading receiver. Yet, the Seahawks can counter pressure by finding ways to roll Darnold away from the rush and into space to throw deep.
Seahawks Must Restore Sam Darnold’s ‘Uncanny’ Favorite Play vs. 49ers