Darnold’s return to the starting ranks with the Vikings and Seahawks has led to a lot of good things and a lot of wins, but it has also seen him unable to maintain a high level of play in the most important moments of the season. Darnold played poorly in consecutive losses that cost the Vikings a division title and knocked them out of the playoffs last season, and he threw four interceptions in a 21-19 loss to the Rams in Los Angeles earlier this season.
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However, on Thursday night things ended up being the other way around. Darnold was 8 of 12 for 101 yards, two touchdowns and two two-point conversions after his second interception and the Seahawks came back for a 38-37 overtime victory that put them in first place in the NFC West with two games remaining in the regular season.
“I have had games like this “In the past, I didn’t necessarily play my best football or turn the ball over, but at the end of the game you see yourself on the other side,” Darnold said, via the team’s website. “It’s not great when you have interceptions and turnovers. You want to limit that. But all you can do is defend yourself. For us, I was just going to continue to attack, get the ball to the wide receivers and check my reads.”
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said after the game that “our story has remained the same from day one” when it comes to Darnold’s abilities, but his previous results in big games had left many other doubts. Thursday night will erase some of them and a long playoff run would put almost all of them to bed.