Seahag fans overtook the 49er fans for the most delusional. They seem to think Darnold is one of the best. He's better than he used to be but he's not top ten. They wanted him to be a game manager in the playoffs and let the defense win it. He had a good game against our putrid secondary. But the other 3 were more journeyman like performances while special teams and defense did their thing.
I'm pretty sure the defense is gonna take a step back this year. They lost several starters. And is the hunger still there after winning it all? That is a hard thing to maintain when you've already won. They gonna have to rely more on Darnold. I just don't see him being up to the task for a whole season.
49ers are always the team I hate most. But the Seahawks are inching closer for me.
I hate them both.
Concerning Darnold, he's good but it's the team that makes him better. Particularly, it was the defense that saved him last year and in 2024. The Vikings led the NFL in takeaways (33; tied with Pittsburgh). Last year Seattle was 6th in takeaways (25). Their defense is still going to be good IMO, but will the takeaways be plentiful? Darnold is going to give it away because he's a turnover machine.
In years when he's started at least 10 games (6), he's got 78 picks and 21 fumbles lost. That's 99 turnovers in 84 games. Last year he had the second most picks (14) and the most fumbles lost (6) in his career. Many QBs splits won't look good when they're trailing and Darnold is no different.
Last year in the first half of games he had a 108.0 QB rating. In the second half it was 89.1. He had 4 picks in the first half and 10 in the second half. When he's tied or trailing it's worse.
Tied < 2 min >>>> 24.4
Tied < 4 min >>>> 67.1
Trailing < 2 min >>>> 85.2
Trailing < 4 min >>>> 81.0
Compare that to a great QB like Stafford. 1st half 98.6 (normal temp

). 2nd half 120.5.
Tied < 2 min >>>> 125.0
Tied < 4 min >>>> 118.3
Trailing < 2 min >>>> 41.1
Trailing < 4 min >>>> 93.5
The formula for Darnold's success? Don't try to do a lot.
In his first postseason game last year, he threw 17 passes for 124 yards and a TD; 0 turnovers. Defense had 3 takeaways.
In the Superbowl he was 19 of 38 for 202 yards and a TD; 0 turnovers. Defense had 3 takeaways.
He had a great game vs the Rams. Got to give him credit for that. In 2 regular season games vs the Rams he had 6 picks. We'll see if his defense is going to be able to bail him out this year.