Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold can silence a lot of critics if he can put together a performance that helps his team win the NFC title game and punch their ticket to the Super Bowl. Nonetheless, Darnold faces a Los Angeles Rams team that have been a thorn in his side this season.
Darnold had a passer rating of 62.4, 549 passing yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions in two games against the Rams this season, per StatMuse. Still, that can all be washed away with an excellent showing on Jan. 25.
Although Darnold has put together back-to-back seasons with impressive numbers, since 2024, he’s posted a passer rating of 100.9, with 8,367 yards, 60 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions in 34 games between the Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings, per StatMuse.
Despite this production, Darnold has doubters, and one of them is FS1’s Nick Wright, who isn’t willing to consider the Seattle standout elite even if he wins the NFC title game.
“Even if [Darnold] plays awesome and they get there one awesome playoff performance judged against the entirety of his career and part of the entirety of his career is two consecutive excellent regular seasons [that] doesn’t take you from wherever he is right now to elite,” Wright said on the Jan. 22 edition of “First Things First.”
“There has to be more of a path from. He can’t go into this game. It’s like he might be pure pumpkin or elite.”
Nick Wright Gets Honest About Sam Darnold
Moreover, Wright makes one exception, in which he will discuss whether Darnold is an elite player at his position.
“Like there’s got to be a middle ground. Now he plays great this Sunday [and] they get to the Super Bowl [and then] plays great in the Super Bowl they win this like then that is now more of a discussion. But there is nothing that can happen on Sunday to where Monday people are like, ‘Nick, name the elite quarterbacks in the NFL.’ I say I just [couldn’t name Sam Darnold]. I wouldn’t. I think that’s fair.”
Darnold, who is dealing with an oblique injury, will likely follow the same blueprint that allowed the Seahawks to dominate the San Francisco 49ers. Seattle will want timely passes from Darnold while leaning on the running game and defense.
Seahawks QB Sam Darnold Will Need to Overcome Rams
Nonetheless, former Seahawks star Richard Sherman believes that Darnold will need to overcome this Rams hurdle that plagued him this season to get Seattle to Santa Clara for Super Bowl LX.
“If you’re Sam Darnold, you thought you overcame your nightmares with the Rams,” Sherman said on the Jan. 19 edition of “The Richard Sherman Podcast.” “You thought you had overcome them. You thought, ‘Hey, I only had to see it once. I killed Freddy Krueger. I killed him. He’s dead.’
“… But he’s going to have to overcome. They’re going to bring back all the stats about the Rams’ pressure and how Sam Darnold struggled against it. And so, as high as we are for the Seattle Seahawks right now, they’re on the moon. They are freaking playing lights-out football defensively.”
Seahawks’ Sam Darnold Gets Striking Words Before Rams Game