The honeymoon phase of the Sam Darnold era appears to have ended.
The Seattle Seahawks’ new starting quarterback wowed for much of the early parts of the season as a surprisingly explosive passer who was a darling for advanced stats. But the problem that’s followed the former No. 3 overall pick throughout his career has started to rear its head.
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Darnold has accounted for 14 of Seattle’s league-high 20 turnovers this season, and those miscues have been piling up of late. He has at least one turnover over each of his past four games and a whopping 11 in total over the stretch.
The giveaways weren’t under the microscope all that often during the first three of those contests as the Seahawks came out on top of each one. But in an important NFC West showdown with the Los Angeles Rams last week, Darnold’s four interceptions were a major factor in a narrow loss and the center of much of the conversation in the aftermath of the game.
Darnold on Thursday reflected on his rough day and spoke about the importance of recognizing coverages once the ball is snapped and going through his progressions.
“I think just having a better understanding when the ball is snapped of just what the coverage is and when a guy’s gonna come open and when he’s not,” Darnold said. “When I say get stuck on a progression, I mean just seeing one side of the field and feeling like there’s a chance that someone’s going to get open over there rather than just moving on and clicking through my progression as I normally do.”
Darnold’s comment stuck with former NFL quarterback Brock Huard. During his Blue 88 segment Friday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, Huard highlighted how better post-snap recognition can help Darnold limit his mistakes.
“For Sam to play the way he has this year with so much anticipation, he’s done a phenomenal job. How many times have you seen him hit that back foot and he is ripping it and the window is small?” Huard said. “… Where he’s gotten himself, and as he speaks to there, in some of the trouble finding answers is that post-snap movement, making sure that what you see pre-snap declares itself post-snap.”
Post-snap adjustments from defenses could be something Darnold continues to see more of as defenses adjust to Seattle’s offense. For most of this season, the Seahawks have faced heavy boxes to try and counter their heavy personnel sets that feature two tight ends, a fullback or both. But the Seahawks have excelled at passing out of those sets more than they have running, giving defenses reason to get away from loading the box.
Huard pointed to how the Rams’ usage of more packages with five or six defensive backs made it easier for their defense to disguise their coverages pre-snap and give Darnold trouble.
“The Rams played a lot of nickel (five defensive backs) and played a lot of dime (six defensive backs), and when you play that, you know what you can do? A lot of pre-to-post-snap confusion and illusion,” Huard said. “You can move guys. They can get to two different areas. They can start in one look, but because their speed, they can get to another. Whereas if it’s linebackers and base defense or heavy defense, it’s a lot harder to have that disguise. So yeah, pre-snap (and) post-snap recognition will be a big part of this deal on Sunday.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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