As the Seattle Seahawks took on the Denver Broncos to kick off the Week 6 slate on Thursday Night Football, they produced no evidence that this is the same team that won Super Bowl LX.
The offense, in particular, struggled to get going, with criticism now mounting against what Sam Darnold brings to the table just eight months removed from a Super Bowl win. The ugly overtime loss to the Broncos prompted NFL analysts to ring alarm bells over this iteration of Seattle.
NFL Analysts Concerned Over State of Seahawks After TNF Loss to Broncos
PFN’s Jacob Infante wasted little time going after Darnold after what was an error-riddled night for the Seahawks quarterback.
“Sam Darnold’s recklessness with the football is killing the Seahawks’ chances of repeating as Super Bowl champions,” Infante said.
“Sure, the fact that both of Seattle’s two top running backs are out injured is hurting the team’s efficiency on offense, making teams more prone to focusing on stopping the pass. Still, Darnold made far too many bad mistakes against the Broncos, and his accuracy has fallen off a cliff.”
Infante added that the Seahawks are far too talented a team to count out of the Super Bowl conversation just yet, but this offense will not go too far as things stand.
PFN Deputy Editor Alex Kennedy struck a similar tone in his assessment of Seattle’s TNF loss. “It’s time to hit the panic button in Seattle. Sam Darnold is struggling mightily, and if he can’t turn it around, it may be time to have a conversation about benching him for Drew Lock, who played really well in Darnold’s absence.”
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Brandon Austin went a step further in his criticism of Darnold, writing, “Sam Darnold is seeing ghosts again. The defense is elite, and JSN is all-world, but this offense just isn’t the same. It’ll be tough to repeat with this level of QB play.”
Brandon Astreicher also believes it’s time for Seattle to start worrying about a few things. “They are clearly the 3rd-best team in the NFC West. Darnold has to figure it out for this offense while their RBs get healthy. Bo Nix and the Broncos’ offense tried to lose that game, but Darnold kept bailing them out,” Astreicher said.
The criticism of Darnold went on, as Jason Katz remarked, “There are too many instances of Sam Darnold looking like the guy who bounced around the league before landing with the Vikings. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really think they may need to consider turning to Drew Lock if this continues.”
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Darnold finished Week 6 Thursday Night Football with a PFN QB Impact Grade of 68.9. He now has the most turnovers in the league since the start of the 2025 season, with 27 in all.
Kyle Soppe touched on the talent on this roster, but came back to Darnold’s role in the grand scheme of things. “If your game manager quarterback struggles to manage the game late, your ceiling is only so high. This team has too much talent to not be in high-leverage games this winter, but this Darnold stuff is too dangerous a flaw to pick them over anyone of quality when the chips are down.”
While Denver ultimately escaped with a 17–14 overtime victory, neither the Seahawks nor the Broncos impressed offensively.
The visitors at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver ended with a 68.5 PFN Team Offense Impact, whereas the Broncos graded out at 66.7 in the same metric.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.