DENVER (AP) — Sam Darnold absorbed 17 hits and endured five sacks by the Denver Broncos' swarming defense Thursday night. Afterward, he beat himself up.
“It’s BS for me to keep turning the ball over,” the Seattle Seahawks QB said after his second interception of the game led to Wil Lutz's winning field goal in a 17-14 overtime loss to the Broncos. "It’s not fair to our defense, not fair to our special teams group, not fair really to the entire team.
I’ve got to be better that way.”
Turnovers have been a recurring theme for Darnold and the Seahawks (3-3) this season. Darnold has now thrown as many picks (seven) as TD passes (seven) through the five games he's played. He didn't find the end zone in Denver (George Holani had a 1-yard TD run).
“No way to sugarcoat it — that one sucked,” said Darnold, whose team's three losses have been by a combined eight points. “There are obviously things that we can get better, but it’s tough to say without looking at the tape.”
High on the list of things to fix are all the turnovers.
Darnold threw a pair of interceptions, including one with around 1:30 remaining in regulation where he tried to get the ball to Tory Horton but was picked off by Kris Abrams-Draine at the Denver 31. The Seahawks got the ball back, though, and were able to send the game to overtime with a field goal.
In OT, Darnold tried to thread a pass to Rashid Shaheed near the Seahawks sideline only to see defensive back Ja’Quan McMillian read it and pick it off, giving the Broncos (4-2) prime field position. It set the stage for Lutz's 53-yard field goal for the win.
“There are a couple plays I'd like to have back,” said Darnold, who finished 27 of 51 for 278 yards. "Unfortunately, that’s sometimes how football goes. But it’s not acceptable for us, for me, to keep turning the ball over that way."
Darnold led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title last season. He thew for 4,048 yards and 25 TDs, with 14 interceptions during the regular season.
He didn't want to compare Seattle's uneven start to last year's success.
“It’s the 2026 Seahawks,” said Darnold, who suffered a glute injury in the season opener that forced him to miss a game in which backup Drew Lock started. “There’s a lot of things that we need to get better at, and I’ll just leave it at that.”
After the game, Darnold addressed the team and took ownership of his turnovers. Receiver Cooper Kupp defended his quarterback, suggesting there's plenty of blame to go around.
“We’re not doing a good enough job offensively to allow him to play in rhythm,” Kupp said. “We’re not doing a good enough job allowing him to get into a flow, turning small plays into big plays. We’re not doing a good enough job in the run game. We’re not doing a good enough job protecting him.
“Sam’s going to wear all that because that’s who he is. We all definitely have a role in what’s going on.”
Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said the team will take the extra time — they host the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 25 — to clean things up.
“We get things figured out, we move forward and we evolve,” Macdonald said after watching his team come up short despite outgaining Denver by 185 yards. "The best teams in this league, they do that, and that’s what we want to be — we want to be one of the best teams in the league.”
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