But Darnold, [whose up-and-down career journey has helped him develop a consistent, level-headed approach to his play and his leadership](https://www.seahawks.com/news/how-sam-darnold-s-seven-year-nfl-journey-prepared-him-to-lead-the-seahawks-offense-in-year-8), was unfazed by those two first-half turnovers, and was able to come through big in the second half, not just on that game-clinching drive, but also on a touchdown drive to start the half in which he completed all four pass attempts, the last of them a touchdown to Barner.
"He had some adversity early," Macdonald said… "I'm looking at him, and the guy's stone cold out there and just keeps playing. When we finally close it out there at the end you saw the emotion, saw the excitement. He deserves it. He played a really good game."
Said running back Kenneth Walker III, "He's just a great leader. He kept his head on straight, he didn't really pout over the interceptions or anything. He stayed positive, then he started throwing touchdowns."
Cooper Kupp, who like Darnold is new to the Seahawks this year, was also impressed by his quarterback, who completed 22 of 33 pass attempts for 295 yards and two touchdowns, including seven completions to Kupp for 90 yards.
"He was just steady," Kupp said. "Obviously he's going to be hard on himself, but his ability to just bounce back from that, knowing we need him to be—you can't be fragile, you've got to be able to have that callous that says, 'I'm going to still pull the trigger when it's time to pull the trigger, and be aggressively smart.' I thought he did a great job just continuing to play the game at the high level after things didn't go his way early on. I thought he was able to play a really good game as it progressed."