Seahawks Won't Bench Sam Darnold After Loss to Broncos

Through six games, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold isn’t writing a great sequel to his Super Bowl-winning campaign from last season. 

Darnold threw two back-breaking interceptions in the fourth quarter and overtime of the Seahawks’ loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night, giving him seven picks in essentially four games played. However, head coach Mike Macdonald is standing by his quarterback.

Macdonald was asked about potentially making a quarterback change on his weekly radio appearance with Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard and Mike Salk, and he quickly said it wouldn’t be happening.

Later, Macdonald addressed reporters and doubled down on sticking with Darnold moving forward.

“I think we have a lot of faith in Sam,” Macdonald said. “Sam’s played great football for us. He’s done a lot of great things this year. We’ve obviously turned the ball over way more than we want to. I feel like there’s things on our end that can help him play better football, and I think he’s definitely part of the solution rather than the opposite.”

Macdonald said there’s a “sense of urgency” to improve in multiple areas, and especially on offense. The coaching staff is optimistic it can find solutions to the issues and help Darnold succeed.

“We just won a world championship with him. We believe in the guy; we see him every day, we see what he does, we see the plays that he’s been able to make, we see the actual talent. All those things. That’s where my mind is.”

Drew Lock essentially made three starts for the Seahawks when Darnold suffered a glute injury on the first drive of the season against the New England Patriots. Lock completed 72.9 of his 48 pass attempts for 422 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. 

Seattle is 1-3 since Darnold returned, largely because his interceptions have come at critical junctions in the game when Seattle has an opportunity to win the game. It’s hard not to look at the two sample sizes and wonder if the offense would perform better with Lock under center.

Macdonald, while acknowledging that Lock is a potential starting-caliber backup, shot down the idea that it’s as simple as a quarterback issue.

“I don’t think that’s doing the whole thing justice; there’s definitely more to the equation … I understand the question, but I think there’s more to it than just who’s playing quarterback,” Macdonald said.

Darnold will try to prevent the Seahawks from falling to 3-4 when they face the Kansas City Chiefs at 5:20 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25, at Lumen Field.

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