As expected, the main talking points around the Seattle Seahawks this week has been about Sam Darnold’s awful day in LA against the Rams, and whether he will ever rise up big in big games be it in the regular season, or playoffs. As much as I have wanted to shy away these last few days from podcasts, articles, and on air personalities that I knew would have this be their big talking point, it has proved to be that milk carton in the fridge that I just had to sniff.

While I won’t say that I am necessarily glad that I did, I do feel like a few days away from the Darnold disaster in LA has settled the dust down quite a bit, and after following along with a few different national and local takes on the situation, I have even more conviction in my belief that Darnold and the Seahawks are going to be fine this year, and beyond.

In a sense, I feel like maybe this game in LA was the game they needed to have, and feel in repercussion of, in order to take the next step forward as a quarterback and offense. In fact, with the way defensive leader Ernest Jones quickly came to Darnold’s defense has been the viral F Bomb filled sensation that it has become this week, I feel like perhaps this is more likely going to be game that is going to turn the ship for Seattle in a further positive direction this season, instead of a negative one.

Sam Darnold is a talented young quarterback. He can make every throw required in the NFL with accuracy, he is well sized to play the position, and he has the athleticism to extend and make plays under duress. These are the reasons why he was taken third overall in the 2018 NFL Draft as a 21 year old junior coming out of USC, and why there were people in Seattle’s front office who had a high opinion about him as a prospect.

Physically, he has all the necessary intangibles to run a pro style offense at a high level, but as we know, the game of quarterbacking is not all physical. For many offensive coaches, it is what is between the ears that matters more for a quarterback in the league.

This is where limited athletes at the position, the Peyton Mannings, Tom Bradys, Drew Brees’s, and Brock Purdys have been able to elevate themselves above the pack. I think it is fair to say that, due to their limitations, all of these guys knew they had to become tireless workers in their mechanics, inside the film rooms, and they had to figure out ways in which they could box smart against good NFL defenses in order to thrive.

Sam Darnold is not a stupid person, and I am sure that he is more than aware of what the noise has been about him this week. I suspect that a huge part of the reason why he had the success he did in Minnesota last year, and through nine games in Seattle this year is that, after a year of stepping back as a starter and understudying Brock Purdy for a year in San Fransisco, he has learned to be a much better student of the NFL game, and quarterbacking, in general.

In fact, I think it is fair to say that in defense of Sam, he has learned to box smarter as a QB over the past two and a half years. I also think it is more than fair to say that there are negative tendencies of his that he will have to learn to massage through in order to go from good regular season quarterback status to really good post season quarterback status, which I think is what every Seattle Seahawk fan wants and needs to see out of him, if the team is to stay committed to him long term.

Personally, I think he can, and I am not dissuaded by the anonymous NFL coach who Mike Sando of The Athletic quoted as to say “Sam will always have that in his game” when talking about his latest debacle. This is the opinion of one person, and while it is a damning one, it is simply just an opinion, and nothing more.

Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees all had plenty of games where they have thrown four interceptions, or more. If Sando wants to get into the historic numbers in the bad games Darnold has had in his young career, I invite him to do it for all the big names of QBs over the years. For me, personally, I see a quarterback in Darnold who has only ever had one playoff outing, and while it was a bad one, I see a 28 year old player who still has plenty of playing years ahead of him to get over that particular hump, and he has all the tools to do it.

Darnold has always had a gun slinger mentality. YouTube football content creator Top Billin’ has followed him for years, all the way back to his USC days, and on his film breakdowns of Seattle, he has the nickname Yosemite Sam for Darnold because of this mentality. It is the same mentality that Brett Farve was very famous for in the nineties when he was tossing a bunch of interceptions, and it was the mentality that John Elway had in the eighties when he was tossing INTs to Seahawk great Kenny Easley (Rest in peace, Enforcer). Both quarterback eventually learned to box smarter as they got older, and their teams were better for it.

Sam needs to learn to accept the check down. It is really as simple as that. I could have simply written that sentence, and it could have concluded this piece.

Tom Brady won an absurd amount of Super Bowls because he was paired with great defenses, and he was quite egoless about taking the check downs when available, and needed. People will forever discuss Russell Wilson’s interception at the one yard line of Super Bowl XLIX as the reason why Seattle lost to the Patriots, but the deeper truth to that fateful game is that when New England trailed Seattle in the fourth quarter, Brady decided to take the small check down gains against Seattle’s dominant cover three defense. He struggled through most of the game, and then decided he needed to box smart in the end to win it. It was the right decision, and one that probably came with age and experience.

Against the Rams, I think Sam got caught up in his head again against a fierce pass rush, and the Rams felt like they knew where he was going to go with the ball over the middle. Rams players said as much post game. Okay, that is really good on them. They got to Yosemite Sam again. Now it is time for Yosemite to box different in the next matches down the line. He and Klint Kubiak should know what to expect, and outlet receivers should always be made available.

I think the truth about this game against these two divisional opponents is that had Seattle called a more conservative offense, if Darnold had been willing to avoid the downfield throws against contested coverages, taken more check downs, or tossed the ball away more, or even eaten some sacks, the Seahawks probably would have taken that game from the Rams. The drive charts, the time of possession, the defensive efforts all, more or less, favored Seattle.

I am not saying that the Seahawks need to turtle up on offense and play conservative the rest of the way through seven games in order to make the post season. I don’t think Mike Macdonald will ever want to take the playmaker aspect of Darnold away from him, and the offense.

I just think that it has to be clear to Sam how to box against certain opponents, and when to go for the kill shots. When we get into those games at home against Indianapolis, and the LA Rams again, when we finish the season out in Santa Clara against the 49ers in an opportunity for a rematch, taking what those defenses are willing to give underneath, or with the run game will be critical.

In tough matchups against really good teams, the Seattle Seahawks have the defense to prevail. They just need their veteran quarterback to demonstrate the unselfishness of vintage Tom Brady in those type of matches. For as prolific as Brady was as a passer, he never really was that much of a gunslinger. In actuality, I think it is fair to argue that he was the greatest game managing quarterback of all time.

I think this is where Darnold needs to go. He certainly has better physical tools than Brady ever had. If he can adopt more of Brady’s mentality in high duress situations, I think the sky is the limit for him as a passer.

Colin Cowherd has rightly compared Darnold to Andrew Luck on many occasions, and did so again this week in the wake of the LA debacle. They are similar physically in size, and athleticism, and arm talent, and as Cowherd demonstrated through graphs on his show, they have put up similar passing numbers throughout their careers in the league. The difference is that Luck had immediate success and Darnold has not.

Luck, as we know, decided to not have a long career, and shockingly retired early after getting severely banged up playing for the Colts. We never got the chance to truly see the superstar he could have been, sadly.

With Sam Darnold, however, there is still time. He can still get better. He should get better. He can rewrite this narrative about him in big games.

The truth of the matter is that for seven and a half years in the league, he really has not had a lot of big game moments yet. While I think it is fair to pump the breaks on crowning him the next big franchise quarterback for Seattle, I also think it is more than fair to say we should pump the breaks on declaring that he will never get there.

We do not know the full story on Darnold simply because that story is not fully written yet. The anonymous coach that Sando used in his Athletic piece this week is free to have his negative views on Darnold. Sam Darnold is also free to further evolve as a passer and shake those views in the minds of his critics.

Take the check down, Sam. Take your shots downfield when you feel pretty good they are there against the mediocre to bad defenses in the league, but don’t be afraid to take the Brady check downs against the good ones when it really matters.

You’re a smart dude. You’re working hard, and I can see that out of you. Keep evolving and let the doubters continue doubting. You are the only one who can write the real story about yourself. I still like your chances.

Go Hawks.