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INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 16: Grey Zabel #76 of the Seattle Seahawks walks off the field due to an apparent injury during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Inglewood (Brooke Sutton / Getty Images)
RENTON, Wash. - The Seattle Seahawks received good news on Monday when testing on left guard Grey Zabel's injured left knee showed no significant issues.
"Really fortunate we avoided a significant injury which is positive," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "The words I heard were day-to-day and you know how that goes. It could be day-to-day, it could be a week, could be more than that, but nothing significant, which is a huge positive."
Zabel was injured on Ken Walker III's touchdown run in the fourth quarter when left tackle Charles Cross fell on the back of his left leg. Zabel immediately collapsed to the turf and reached for his left knee and needed assistance from trainers to leave the field.
Seattle's first-round draft pick has been incredibly steady during his rookie season, helping solidify an offensive line that has had issues for years. Second-year guard Christian Haynes replaced Zabel for the end of the game for his first action of the season after activated from injured reserve over the weekend.
"For Christian not having been active in seeing his first football action, I thought he did a good job. There are some things he's going to clean up, and he'll do that," Macdonald said.
With Zabel going down and center Jalen Sundell already on injured reserve with a knee injury, the Seahawks have lost two-fifths of their line over the last two weeks. While Zabel's injury isn't significant, it could still keep him out this week against the Tennessee Titans.
Olu Oluwatimi got his first start of the season in place of Sundell Sunday in Los Angeles.
"I thought Olu did a tremendous job," Macdonald said. "Stepping in, being ready to go, decisive with his calls. Again, things that we need to clean up as a front, as an offensive line, but it's not for a lack of effort and we'll get those things fixed."
Mike Macdonald on Sam Darnold's four interceptions
As we covered in our takeaways from Sunday's game, Sam Darnold's four interceptions were the deciding factor of Seattle's 21-19 loss to the Rams.
Darnold and the offense played fairly well – outside of the turnovers – and the defense delivered a dominant effort in shutting down Matthew Stafford and the Rams for most of Sunday's contest. But the four interceptions were just too massive to overcome.
Darnold did lead a touchdown drive late to pull the Seahawks' within two, and then moved the team from their own 1-yard line into position for a fringe field goal chance for the win.
Mike Macdonald said that Darnold needs to keep with his aggressive mindset while understanding the balance of when to just take a sack and move to the next play.
"I think the majority of them came late in downs where we just need to get to the next play," Macdonald said. "Sam's played in time and in rhythm a lot this year, and he's made a lot of plays for us doing that, and he's also made a lot of plays off schedule. So, again, you don't want to take the playmaker out of him, but you also understand when we need to be able to get to the next play versus putting the ball in jeopardy down the field. We'll learn from it, and we'll grow from it, but that's really what we saw."
Darnold wasn't sacked once in the loss to the Rams, and his 10 sacks this season are the fewest of any starting quarterback in the NFL. But pressure did lead to three of the four picks on Sunday.
Kamren Kinchens first of two interceptions of Darnold came with center Olu Oluwatimi getting pushed back into Darnold's face, which blocked Darnold's view of Kinchens as he tried to force a throw into Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Byron Young then came free on a stunt on Seattle's opening drive of the third quarter, leading Darnold to throw off his back foot and get picked off by Cobie Durant along the sideline.
The final interception of the day came on a third-and-3 after the Rams extended the lead to 21-12 following the third interception. Darnold tried to escape a collapsing pocket as Kinchens hit him as he stepped up away from Jared Verse and Poona Ford. A leaping throw for Elijah Arroyo was snagged by Darious Williams with Seattle in field goal range.
Darnold was sacked nine times in a playoff loss to the Rams last January with the Minnesota Vikings. Sunday's effort somewhat seemed like an over-correction for Darnold in trying to make sure he avoided sacks by getting rid of the ball in every instance possible.
It's a bump in the road for Darnold and not something that should be viewed as a fatal flaw. He's still improving as a quarterback and has been exceptional for Seattle for most of the season. Linebacker Ernest Jones IV raced to back up Darnold after the loss on Sunday, and Macdonald said it's a sentiment the whole team shares.
Well, I think he speaks for the whole team, I think that's the way everybody feels," Macdonald said. "We fell short yesterday. There’s no other way to slice it. The Rams won the game; they won it fair and square. They played better than us and coached better than us and that's what happens. It's a tough one but all these losses, you can't let them beat you twice. You’ve got to go back. You’ve got to take it on the chin. You’ve got you got to move forward. You’ve got to learn from it. That's what we've done today, and that's what we intend to do."
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
MORE SEAHAWKS NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE
Seattle Sports Live for Sunday, 11/16
Takeaways from Seattle Seahawks 21-19 loss to Rams
Seahawks fall to Rams 21–19 after last-second missed field goal
Sam Darnold throws four interceptions as Seattle Seahawks lose 21-19 to Rams
Seattle Seahawks legend Kenny Easley dies at 66
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