Sam Darnold’s redemptive rise began before he joined the Seahawks last year, but the quarterback hit new heights in the last few weeks.
An overtime win over the Rams in Week 16 and a Week 18 wipeout of the 49ers made Seattle the NFC West champs before a rout of the 49ers sent them to the NFC Championship Game against those same Rams. Darnold dealt with an oblique injury all week, but went 25-of-36 for 346 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-27 win that will go down as his finest NFL hour.
It didn’t take long for a reminder of his earlier struggles to surface, however. Darnold began his career as the third overall pick by the Jets in 2018 and the lasting memory of his three years with the team was a four-interception game against the Patriots on a Monday night in 2019. Darnold wore a microphone for that game and was captured telling coaches he was “seeing ghosts” on the field during the 33-0 loss.
During Sunday’s postgame press conference, Darnold was asked about the journey from that point to facing the Patriots again in Super Bowl LX.
“I almost forgot about it, so thanks. No, you’re good,” Darnold said, via a transcript from the team. “I think for me, there was a lot that I didn’t know back then, so I’m just going to continue to learn and grow in this great game. There is a lot of stuff that I can get better from today even. I feel like I missed some throws out there that I shouldn’t miss. There were some things offensively that I feel like we can do better. So we’re always looking to get better. I’m always looking to get better. That’s the great part about this game is you win an NFC Championship and you win games throughout the season, but there is always ways that you can look to get better.”
No one was predicting trips to the Super Bowl for Darnold when he was melting down against New England or when he was struggling with the Panthers, but the door opened for him with the Vikings last year. A late-season swoon marred that comeback, but Darnold kept getting better in Seattle and he could finish his improbable career reinvention at Levi’s Stadium in two weeks.
In the days leading up to the AFC Championship Game, one of the big questions was how Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham would fair in his first start since Week 18 of the 2023 season.
Stidham hit a deep shot to Marvin Mims on the second offensive possession of the game to set up a touchdown pass and provide hope that the moment would not prove to be too big for him. That feeling faded in the second quarter when Stidham was pressured by Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss on a third down play. Stidham backpedaled furiously and tried to throw the ball away, but wound up throwing it backward and the Patriots recovered on Denver’s 12-yard line to set up their only touchdown of the afternoon.
The Broncos had shut New England down on defense until that point and Stidham said after the 10-7 loss that he “probably should have just eaten the sack.”
“Obviously, I can’t put our team in a bad position like that,’' Stidham said. “I was trying to throw it away. ... The pressure, he just got up on me real fast and I was just trying to get rid of it. Like I said, I just can’t put the ball in a position like that. That was completely on me.”
The Broncos had a lot of other chances after the Patriots tied the game 7-7, but their offense never clicked before or after the weather turned treacherous in the second half. There’s no way to know if things would have been any different with Bo Nix in the lineup and the Broncos will now have to start all over after falling short at the worst possible time.
The Patriots’ AFC Championship Game victory in Denver was their ninth win in nine road games. That’s unprecedented in NFL history.
Prior to this season’s Patriots, no team in NFL history had ever gone 9-0 on the road. The Patriots went 8-0 on the road in the regular season and then added a win in their only road playoff game on Sunday.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft gave head coach Mike Vrabel a game ball in the locker room after Sunday’s win over the Broncos and pointed to that achievement as the reason.
“No other team in the history of the NFL has gone 9-0 on the road,” Kraft told the Patriots’ locker room.
Three other teams have won nine road games: The 2007 Giants actually won 10 road games, and the 2020 Buccaneers and 2005 Steelers each won nine. But those teams all lost games on the road, too. The Patriots are the first team ever to play at least nine games on the road, and win them all.
The Seahawks are the favorites in Super Bowl LX.
Seattle opened as a 3.5-point favorite over New England, and the line quickly moved to 4.5 points as bets came in on the Seahawks.
The Seahawks moneyline is -230, meaning a $230 bet on the Seahawks to win the game would earn $100 if the Seahawks win, while the Patriots are at +190, meaning a $100 bet on the Patriots to win the game would return $190 if New England wins.
The total is set at over/under 46.5 points.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is the betting favorite to win Super Bowl MVP at +130. He’s followed by Patriots quarterback Drake Maye at +235, Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba at +550, Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker at +600 and Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson at +2500.
Both Super Bowl teams were preseason long shots. Entering the season, the Seahawks’ odds to win the Super Bowl were 60-1 and the Patriots’ odds were 80-1.
The first half of Sunday’s AFC Championship included an officiating error that robbed the Patriots of a defensive touchdown. And while they still ended up with possession (and scoring on a 12-yard drive), the officials mistakenly ruled a backward pass to be an incomplete forward pass.
After the game, referee Alex Kemp spoke to pool reporter Jeff Legwold. And Kemp took responsibility for the mistake.
Here’s the full transcript:
“Q: What were the dynamics of the second quarter ruling that changed the call from an incomplete pass to a backward pass recovered by New England?
“Kemp: I initially ruled it as a forward pass, which was incorrect. I proceeded to go through the administration of an intentional grounding foul. The down judge and the umpire came and talked to me and provided more information. The down judge explained that he extended his right arm to signal that he had a backward pass and at that point we determined that New England had picked up the then backward pass. We awarded possession to New England with no advance, because at that point we are not allowed to permit an advance.
“Q: Was there an inadvertent whistle?
“Kemp: The whistle stopped the play, but it was after the New England player picked up the ball.”
They got it right, after they got it wrong. But the play should have kept going, and the Patriots should have had a touchdown. The safer approach is to let it keep going, because replay is available to turn the mistaken ruling of a backward pass into an incompletion.
It would be irresponsible to downplay the moment or excuse the mistake because the Patriots eventually scored. With replay not available to keep the play alive, plays like that should be kept alive.
Especially in a game of that magnitude.
