Sam Darnold did not look for excuses after throwing two interceptions in Seattle’s 17-14 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night. The Seahawks quarterback said the turnover that ended the game in overtime was squarely on him, part of a pattern of Darnold accountability for Seahawks turnovers that has followed him through the first six weeks of the season.
“No way to sugarcoat it, that one sucked,” Darnold said after the game, addressing the overtime interception that set up Denver kicker Wil Lutz’s 53-yard, game-winning field goal.
The Main Development
Darnold threw two interceptions against Denver, one in the final two minutes of regulation and one in overtime. The first came on a pass intended for Tory Horton with about 1:30 left, picked off by Kris Abrams-Draine at the Denver 31-yard line. In overtime, Darnold tried to fit a throw to Rashid Shaheed near the Seattle sideline that Ja’Quan McMillian intercepted, setting up Lutz’s winning kick.
Darnold described the overtime throw bluntly. “Just got greedy,” he said. He went further in addressing his teammates after the game, telling them he owned the mistakes that cost Seattle the win.
“I just think it’s BS for me to keep turning the ball over,” Darnold said. “It’s not fair to our defense, it’s not fair to our special teams group, not fair really to the entire team. I’ve got to be better that way.”
What It Means For Darnold’s Play
The interceptions against Denver pushed Darnold to seven picks against seven touchdown passes through five games played this season, according to the Houston Chronicle. He finished the Denver game 27 of 51 for 278 yards while absorbing 17 quarterback hits and five sacks.
Head coach Mike Macdonald backed up his quarterback’s self-assessment without softening the message. “We have to take care of the ball,” Macdonald said. “Sam knows that, he told the team that. Gotta take care of the ball.”
Darnold had already identified the problem before Denver. After Seattle’s 32-29 loss to San Francisco in Week 5, a game in which he threw two more interceptions, Darnold said he developed a plan with offensive coordinator Brian Fleury to cut down on turnovers, according to The Seattle Times. “For me personally, I’m going to try to be as decisive as I can be and go through my reads and trust what I see, trust my feet, all those things,” Darnold said.
“But can’t have turnovers, got to protect the football in this league. And if you don’t, you’ll pay.”
Context: A Recurring Issue
Turnovers were a problem for Darnold even before this season. He threw 14 interceptions and lost a league-high 11 fumbles, losing six of them, during last season’s regular season, per Yahoo Sports. Darnold declined to draw a comparison to that stretch, choosing instead to frame the current issues as specific to this year’s team.
“It’s the 2026 Seahawks,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that we need to get better at, and I’ll just leave it at that.”
Receiver Cooper Kupp pushed the conversation beyond Darnold’s turnovers alone, pointing to larger issues on offense. “We’re not doing a good enough job offensively to allow him to play in rhythm, we’re not doing a good enough job allowing him to get into a flow, turning small plays into big plays, not doing a good enough job in the run game, not doing a good enough job protecting him,” Kupp said. “There’s a lot of things that need to improve.”
Team Impact
Seattle fell to 3-3, with all three losses coming in close games. The Denver defeat marked the second straight game in which Darnold threw multiple interceptions, following a 18-of-29, 195-yard, two-interception performance in the loss to San Francisco the previous week. Darnold acknowledged the difficulty of staying even-keeled during the stretch.
“For me, it’s easy to overthink things when you’re not having as much success as you’d like,” he said. “So for me it’s just continuing to do what I do.”
What’s Next
Darnold and the Seahawks will look to address the turnover issue as the coaching staff continues implementing the plan Darnold and Fleury discussed after the 49ers loss. Seattle’s next game has not yet been detailed in available reporting beyond the Denver result.
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