Define the debut of Sam Darnold. Go ahead. Try to encapsulate what it looked like and felt like with a new quarterback in a new offense in his first game with the Seahawks.
It’s tough, right? Because ultimately no matter what the impression was of Darnold’s first game, it will be defined by his final play.
The opportunity was there Sunday afternoon at Lumen Field for Darnold to do what any quarterback dreams about, and certainly one in the first game with a new team. Nothing announces yourself to new teammates, fans, even competitors more than leading a game-winning drive in Week 1 at home against a division rival.
Unfortunately for Darnold, that will not be the story coming from the Seahawks’ 17-13 loss to San Francisco. There was no end-zone celebration in the dying seconds. No sports radio chatter feting Darnold for his ability to spark the offense in the final moments and lead a winning drive.
Instead, the final image from Darnold’s debut will be him dropping the ball. Almost literally.
“Not our best day today, but we’ll bounce back and be better next week,” Darnold said.
Darnold’s chance at leading the Seahawks to a winning score ended at the San Francisco 16 with less than a minute remaining when his hand bumped the back of right tackle Abraham Lucas causing a fumble that the 49ers recovered.
Up to that point, Darnold had driven the Seahawks 56 yards in less than 60 seconds thanks to a couple of big completions to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. But instead of a celebratory conclusion, it was a deflating loss to begin the season.
“I thought we played efficiently. I thought we protected him well. I thought he played fast,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “What Sam does in the clutch, we put ourselves in position to win, and the dang football slipped out of his hand. Just kind of go from there.”
No one will consider this anywhere near a good offensive game by the Seahawks, which only adds to the overall unknown of how this group led by Darnold and new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak will come to be defined this season.
They finished with 230 total yards, but was under 200 for the game until the final drive. The Seahawks ran only 50 offensive plays in part because they finished 3 of 10 on third downs. Last season, when the Seahawks had significant bouts of inefficiency with the offense, they ran 50 or fewer plays in a game only once.
At times, the Seahawks looked like they would have the ability to run the ball and play the possession style of football to compliment the defense. Zach Charbonnet looked the part of the best running back to fit the system and averaged nearly 4 yards per carry.
But overall, the Seahawks gained only 84 yards on the ground and averaged 3.2 yards per rush.
Kubiak also tried a couple of gimmicks that didn’t work, whether it was an across-the-field screen, or a throwback lateral by Smith-Njigba that he ended up sailing out of bounds.
“I thought we did a pretty good job running and throwing, mixing it up,” Smith-Njigba said. “That’s the kind of the offense we want to have — a good balance. And we just didn’t get the job done.”
Darnold’s final stat line looked OK at 16 for 23 passing for 150 yards, no interceptions and no touchdowns. But nine of his completions and 13 of his targets went to Smith-Njigba. Kenneth Walker III had three catches for 4 yards and Cooper Kupp had two grabs.
Darnold had six completions of 10 yards or more to Smith-Njigba, but the Seahawks didn’t have another offensive play longer than 9 yards.
“I thought he was confident he was communicating well, handling the flow of the game really well,” Kupp said of his QB. “I know there’s stuff that he wants back, but shoot we’ve got to make plays too.”
Darnold was just the third different quarterback to start a season opener for the Seahawks over the past 13 years. And whatever the reason, all three first games were fraught with stress and not decided until the final moments.
In 2012, a rookie named Russell Wilson couldn’t get the Seahawks into the end zone on four snaps inside the 10-yard line inside the final 40 seconds and ended up losing 20-16 to Arizona.
In 2022, Geno Smith was excellent in the first half of his debut and the Seahawks held on for a memorable 17-16 win over Wilson’s new team in Denver when Brandon McManus missed a 64-yard field goal attempt with 20 seconds left.
Darnold had the chance to write his own winning conclusion in his debut and do what Wilson couldn’t and what Smith didn’t need to do. There’s not much better than leading a game-winning touchdown drive in your first game with a new team.
Instead, he was left hoping that the opener is looked back upon later in the year as a growth moment that led to further success.
“I think for us we knew right away after we came off the field, after I came off the field. After the game, I knew that wasn’t our standard,” Darnold said. “That’s not how we do things. And we knew that. I knew that personally, I talked to some of the guys already, and we’re just going to continue to grow and get better from it.”