Sam Darnold was doing it all summer.
The Seahawks’ new quarterback frustrated his head coach and defensive play caller with how quickly he was throwing the ball after the snap in training-camp practices. Mike Macdonald called Darnold “a pain in the butt” to pressure last month, because he was getting the ball out so quickly.
For most of his first game last weekend as Seattle’s guy, Darnold was again throwing quickly. That allowed his offensive line to protect him against the San Francisco 49ers’ pass rush.
Then, with the season opener on the line and the Seahawks in the red zone in the final minute down by four points, Darnold ...
Held onto the ball too long.
The 49ers got to him for one of the only times all day. The Seahawks lost the game.
“Yeah, I thought the pro was awesome all day,” Darnold said Thursday. “Obviously, that last play I feel like I could have got the ball out a little bit quicker, to be honest with you.”
On second and 5 from the 9-yard line with 42 seconds remaining and his team trailing by four points, Darnold was looking to throw a check-down pass to running back Kenneth Walker. San Francisco Pro Bowl pass rusher Nick Bosa pushed Seattle right tackle Abe Lucas back into Darnold. As the QB raised the ball to throw it, it hit Lucas’ back. Darnold lost the ball. Bosa recovered the fumble to seal the Seahawks’ 17-13 loss.
“If we checked that ball down,” Darnold said, “who knows what happens.”
Darnold completed 16 of 23 passes but for only 150 yards in his Seahawks debut. That’s not what they were expecting when they gave him a three-year, $100.5 million contract to replace traded Geno Smith this spring.
How did his offensive coordinator and play caller assess Darnold’s play in week one?
“I was impressed with Sam,” Klint Kubiak said. “I thought he did, with the opportunities that we gave him, a great job. The offensive line (was) protecting him really well.
“Sam’s going to keep getting better as we go along.” Sunday will be his first career start at Pittsburgh. He’s been in the Steelers’ stadium before, for the opener to the 2023 season. But he did not play as back up 49ers starter Brock Purdy.
So what can Darnold and the Seahawks improve to win Sunday at Aaron Rodgers’ Steelers (1-0) (10 a.m., FOX television, channel 13 locally)?
“I can be a lot better on third down,” Darnold said. “Just being able to find some completions and let the guys be able to run with the football, just be better in that area.”
Third down has been the focus all week around the Seahawks offense. Seattle was 3 for 10 converting third downs against the 49ers. That was the sixth-lowest rate in the NFL in week one.
Darnold was 5 for 7 on third downs in the opener. That sounds good. Yet those five completions went for only a total of 22 yards.
Just one of those five completions on third down resulted in a first down. That was to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 16 yards late in the third quarter. Two plays after that, Smith-Njigba lost a fumble after catching a pass from Darnold on a bubble screen.
“Just figuring out the details, understanding what led to some of those incompletions, how I can get on the same page with the guys,” Darnold said of passing on third downs.
He said they “already ironed out” the issues, in film study Monday of the 49ers game.
“We already worked on a ton of stuff (this week), and we’ll continue to work (into the weekend) on just some route concepts and different things that we like,” Darnold said.
“But I think it’s all about the details right now. And we’re just going to continue to put our best foot forward in terms of finding rhythm, being able to play with rhythm and find those completions when they’re there.”
Here’s the other way to improve Darnold’s and Seattle’s converting third downs: Be better on first and second downs. That would make third downs shorter and easier to convert.
That means run the ball better.
Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet running
Lead backs Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet combined for just 67 yards on 22 rushes. That’s 3.05 yards per rush. That is not how new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s offense is to operate this season.
“I saw flashes of some good things,” Kubiak said of the run game last week, “but we have to be able to sustain it throughout the entire game. The guys did a good job in that third quarter, but it’s just something that we have to stick with and finish games with.” Charbonnet had more snaps, more carries and more yards than Walker, the team’s lead back for four seasons. That’s led to questions this week on who will be the number-one back Sunday in Pittsburgh.
The inability to run on early downs, the inability to convert long third downs, resulted in the Seahawks running just 53 plays against San Francisco. Seattle had only two games with fewer offensive snaps last season: a home loss to Buffalo and the ugly, 6-3 win at Chicago last December.
Of those 53 playa against San Francisco last week, only one was a true play-action pass, off a fake handoff.
That’s also not what Kubiak’s offense is supposed to be. Macdonald hired Kubiak this winter then they signed Darnold to be their quarterback largely because of the play-action pass game. He was one of the league’s best play-action passers last season while going 14-3 with the Minnesota Vikings.
“That’s definitely something that we can utilize more, and our guys are good at it. Sam’s really good at it,” Kubiak said.
The play caller also said: “I think we’re going to be a good running team.”
They might be Sunday. The Steelers allowed the Jets 182 yards rushing and New York’s Breece Hall 107 yards on 19 carries (5.6 yards per rush) in week one. Tackling, particularly down the field past the line of scrimmage, was a problem for Pittsburgh’s defense in week one.
Expect that to be the focus for Darnold, Kubiak and the Seahawks to begin this game.
“It’s trying to get the run game going and all those things,” Darnold said. “We have to convert more on third downs. We need to have more efficient plays on first and second down and be in a good position to where we can run more plays.”
Kubiak said: “I think overall, having only made 53 offensive plays, if there’s not enough snaps, you have to get more snaps by staying on the field more on third down and not turn the ball over. Those numbers go up when you get more turns.”