Sam Darnold & The Seahawks Are The NFL’s BIGGEST Frauds

Sam Darnold & The Seahawks Are The NFL’s BIGGEST Frauds

Can you see the Seahawks winning the NFC? Yeah, I actually can, man. We talked about this yesterday is how they’re underrated and a lot of people are not putting them where they should be. And I just had it to where they will battle the 49ers for the NFC West. But nah, they fighting for the number one seed in the NFC. They got the 22nd ranked strength of schedule. They got a top five offense, top 10 defense. And if you look at what they did yesterday, they played the number one scoring defense who’s been giving up 14 points a game and they put 27 on them. You can do that to them, you can do that to anybody. I don’t care what defense you face the rest of the year. The Texas defense was giving up 14 and they put up 27. And if you look at the defensive side of the ball, they only got to play out of their next 10 games four of the top half of scoring offenses. So, I mean, the sky’s is the limit for them. And the reason being is Sam Darnold, he’s playing with so much confidence. And you seen what happened with Baker and what Baker said. When a city believes in you and an organization believes in you, Sam Darnold, they talked about last night, he said, I know I’m somewhere they want me to be. They want me here. And he’s no stranger to winning a lot of games. He just did it last year with what he did with the Vikings. So with this team, man, I I definitely believe they have a chance to win the NFC. Wow. You want to go? Yeah. Yeah. I’m I’m I’m with Gerald on that. I absolutely believe that they can win the NFC right now for everything that you said, but I do think it’s going to be a little bit tougher in the NFC West. I know that the ners have some injuries right now and that’s hurt them, but they are still contenders in that division and Seattle already has a loss headto-head against San Fran. But what’s good for the Seahawks is that they basically control their own destiny. They still get to play the Rams twice who are all tied in first place right now in the NFC at 5-2 and then they play San Francisco to end the year. So if they can take care of business on the rest of their schedule, those games, you guys know those division games count as two. So they have to win those games. But I I’m all in on Sam Darnold. I’m a believer. I play with him at USC. I’ve been a believer since college. He does have to clean up some of those turnover issues. And you said it before, Skip. That’s been kind of his Achilles heel is that he has had issues in these big time moments making those costly turnovers. It hurt him against the Bucks last night. He got away with it. Had a fumble for a touchdown, had a couple interceptions. That has to be something that he gets fixed going forward if they want to be legit contenders. But there’s a lot to love there. And he’s getting better and he’s improving. And a lot of people were questioning, okay, is he going to pick up where he left off from last year in Minnesota? Can he duplicate that same magic elsewhere? He has shown that he can do that. And a big reason for that is Jackson Smith and Jigba. He is right now, you can argue Puka Nua, but right now he is the best wide receiver in football. I will tell you this, when he dunked over the crossbar, I was impressed. He’s going to get a little fine and a penalty, but we’ll take that for a guy like that and dunking points. He’s the real deal. The other guy that they have to get going a little bit more is Cooper Cup. He compliments in Jigo. Well, I I think he does, but if they can get him going more, that offense is going to be that much more explosive. Did he play last night? He did play. He had one catch for 30 yards. And And he threw a pick. Yeah. And he threw a couple. Yeah. Um run game’s got to get a little bit better with Charmin, with Walker. I think they can improve there. But overall, I feel comfortable right now with that offense. But why I think they can win the NFC is because of that Mike McDonald defense. That defense is legit. It is the real deal. I’ve gone against that defense in the NFL. I’ve scouted that defense when I break down film. It is so difficult, Richie can tell you this, as an offense, to get up there and dictate where to send the protection and who’s pressuring and then you think everything’s coming from the left. I’ll send the line that way. And then you get a safety and a Sam linebacker blitz on the backside and and it’s a nightmare. And you saw CJ Strad struggle with that last night and take some of those hits because his eyes were in the wrong place because of the way they were disguising their coverages and their blitzes. And that’s so tough to go against their 10th right now in total defense. They’re top five in scoring defense, but they have the number one run defense and that travels well. They’re third in the league in sacks, too. Yeah, they’re third in sacks. And if you And that’s because of third down, too. When you get the third and long, you get the third in obvious passing situations, game over against that defense. But they’re first at stopping the run. And in November and December and even into January, and if you want to go to the Super Bowl, you have to stop the run in those cold weather games because that’s where offenses make their money. So, I am I’m all in on the Seahawks right now. I don’t know if I can quite put them ahead of the Lions. That’s who I picked going into this season was the Lions winning the NFC, but right now the Seahawks are making a legit case. Yeah, Seahawks look good. I mean, they’re a well coached team. Sam Darnold, JSN connection is very strong. Sam looks great. He carried over what he had going last year in Minnesota playing at a high level. They talked last night about he’s in a place where he wants to be and he’s been humbled by the NFL. He’s been punched in the face over and over and over. I think that’s what it takes to have success at this level. You know, it’s a constant humbling. It’s a constant kind of building the foundation, building the house, and then after the season, you burn it down, build a new foundation, and get bigger and bigger and bigger. Really impressed with Sam Darnold, really impressed with JSN. And that defense, they are a nightmare. They got a bunch of guys up front that could stop the run. And then their pressure package is second to none. I mean, simulated pressures, guys coming from all different spots. You know, they could have rushed four last night and got after Houston’s O line. battle line is terrible, but they were able to bring a lot of pressure. And what I really liked about them, and why I say they’re well coached, you see their DBs. A lot of long PI penalties now are, you know, DBs in a trail position, receiver down the field, coming back to the ball, and we see a lot of guys getting those pass interference calls. With Seattle’s defense, you see those corners, they’re smart. They’re downfield, and they’re getting close to those receivers, and they’re looking back. So they have every right as much to that ball as a wide receiver. So really well coached. I think the path for them to win the NFC West is obviously they got two games with the Rams. They got to get one of those if not get both of those. And if they were to win the NFC West and get the number one seed, I think homefield advantage. We talked about it yesterday. Those twelves up there, they go nuts. And that’s like playing in a jet engine. So I’d like to see a little playoff football with the Seahawks getting homefield advantage. M I love you guys and I respect everything you just said, but I cannot see Seattle winning the NFC or the NFC West. And I was not impressed with what I saw last night. Even though I will be the first to admit I did pick Houston to win last night at Seattle in part because Mike McDonald Seahawks at home going into last night were 4 and8 at home under Mike McDonald. 4 and8 at home. And I thought that Seattle gave Houston every opportunity to steal that game last night. None of which the Houston offense was capable of taking advantage of. So what did I see from Houston? Well, they they had two weapons, Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz, my ex-cowboy, and both of them got hurt in the second half and were out. So all of a sudden he’s thrown to that little null kid, the little rookie. And that’s it. That’s that’s all he’s got. And they were going nowhere slowly. They were going backward for most of the night because to your point, they couldn’t block anybody. And and I don’t know, it’s not just Seattle they can’t block. I’m not sure they can block anybody anywhere, any night, any time. So I watched the team that you guys said could win the NFC go two for 14 on third down and win the game. two for 14 is pretty horrible to me. It’s It’s going to lose you a lot of football games. And I watched the home team turn it over four times and get away with it because Houston’s not capable of capitalizing on any of those four turnovers. I watched Seattle at home have 12 penalties which will lose you a lot of close football games, but Houston couldn’t even make it close. And I watch Sam Darnold and you know how I feel about him and I’m sure he’s a great guy that this isn’t about how good a guy you are. This is about your your ability to play at the highest level in the biggest moments. Yeah. I I sat right here and said Sam Darnold will lose to Baker Mayfield because Sam Darnold will make a late mistake and he did and they lost. And they had also lost obviously their opener to the 49ers at home with the twelves. So So they haven’t been invincible at home. And then right on schedule last night when it was still a football game in the third quarter, 7:24 left, he he just goes deer in headlights. I I don’t know. He’s you you just obviously you know this from Pop Warner. You you just have to get rid of the football from the end zone and he just freezes up and not only does he go down, but he loses the football. But you’re in that play, you’re still in the pocket. So, you know that you can’t just try to force something or throw it because then you get a safety if you get intentional grounding. But I’m with you. You got to put two hands on the football to his left and he tried to he tried to do something with it. Get out of the pocket. And and then there’s another play with three minutes left. Same Darnolds as I call him and he he almost gets trapped for a safety. He they gave him the one foot line and it was really close and it would have made that game very weirdly interesting if you get him down in the endzone and they get the ball back on a punt kickoff. Yeah. So I I just look at the big picture of this and and Houston was so pathetic on offense. Look look at what they did that they they gave up the ball on downs three times in the fourth quarter where they just couldn’t that they had it third and one and fourth and one at their 41. You just have to go for it. You You can’t get Talk about the tush push. You you you can’t get a half a yard. You can’t get anything then with with what was it? Uh five minutes left that they have it second and goal at the one yard line. Second and goal at the one. Now you if you if you cash it, if you get seven, it’s it’s kind of an interesting football game. and they can’t they go they go backwards into a fourth and five and he can’t find anybody in the endzone because he can’t he doesn’t have time to find anybody in the end zone. So I I don’t know I I respect Mike McDonald and I I agree with all your points. They’re very well coached, but I’m not sure last night was any measuring stick where you say, “Wow, look, the Seattle is a force.” Like right now, and we haven’t talked about them, but the the Indianapolis Colts to me are a force. That that looks like a force to me where they have arrived and and and No, you don’t think so? Boy, I do. I just do. I think that’s legit. You’re saying you’re not buying on the Colts? No. And I had them last week as my number one team. I’m not. You did? Yeah. And why would change? Because of who they played. Who have they played? That’s right. I could go in on that. I got I could go in on that. Six wins. Four of them of their wins. Got a total of five wins combined. Yeah. But how are they winning those games? They’re out scoring their blowing everybody out. 145 to 75. That’s blowing everybody out. And then that quarterback that everybody loves, when he had to go on a drive versus the actual defense they played, he threw a pick to end the game. When they played Denver, another top against the Rams against the Rams, he threw a pick and then they played Denver to go down and get the field goal. They had eight plays, seven runs, one pass. It was a short pass. He missed the field goal and it was a BS penalty. Otherwise, they would have lost that, too. But you’ve got to be in contention to win the game for that to even matter in the first place against that defense. This is the NFL. It’s a game of inches. So like they So is a penalty. A 15 yard penalty is part of the game of saying but we talking about them as a force. It’s like yeah they are playing well right now but a force has been wait a second. Do you respect the Rams? Because I’m sure you do cuz they came out here to the Rams. The Colts did and lost. Okay. But you’re saying wait wait wait wait wait. How did they lose? AD Mitchell has a 70ard touchdown and is going in for a 17-13 lead in the third quarter and he showboats the football and drops it after 70 yards. He dropped it or they’re going to be at 17 to 13. And then it’s 20 all late in the game on the last Rams possession and the slot corner on 22 Atwell falls down at the snap. Literally fell down and they only had 10 guys on the field. And they had 10 guys on the field and it’s an 88 yd touchdown. 88 and that’s how they won the game 27 to 20 over a force. I got I got one last point on the Houston Texans. Everyone’s asking what’s wrong with CJ Strad. The offensive line is literally holding back the entire organization. The whole team that defense is ready. I still believe in CJ Stroud. I still believe in Nico Collins. They have the playmakers. But watching that offensive line play last night, that is terrible. We talk about the third and short, the fourth and short. They can’t get any. They’re getting blown off the ball backward. I’m watching them getting blown out of the water. They lost everywhere up front. Everywhere up front. They ran a naked. Uh, naked is literally the easiest play in football. When offensive linemen were on a drive and they call naked, it’s a playoff. It’s elephants on parade. All five guys run this parade. We love it. They can’t even block it naked. They have pressure coming off both edges. Well, he can’t get naked. He takes two steps. He’s like, I all over him. Yeah. So, it’s it’s not what’s wrong with CJ Stout. It starts and ends with that offensive line. And they got rid of Laramie Tunel. They got rid of one of the best left tackles in the game and replaced them, you know, with not a bunch of great guys. So, this is on the offensive line. That was one of the worst offensive line performances I’ve seen. And the Seahawks, I’ll say this to Skip, they got to go on the road. Yeah. Six of the last 10. Two are division games. The other four, Commanders, Falcons, Panthers, Titans, they going to win all of them. Yep. And then the teams they play at home, y’all’s force and the Colts. If you going to play a force, you want to be at home, right? Yeah. Yeah. Then you got to play the Vikings. You want to be at home for that. They got the Cardinals at home, you know. So, if we look at their their schedule, the Seahawks have a ve a very favorable schedule to win a lot of these games. If you going on the road, you want to play a bunch of these Ducks. And that’s that’s what they that’s what they do. That’s what I’m saying. You know, if we’re talking about them winning the NFC, I think that they have a path to get enough wins to get that number one seed. Yeah. So Gerald, five and eight at home under Mike McDonald. You like that? You impressed? That’s the 12. I’m not I’m not I’m not impressed by that, but it’s how they’re playing and how they look right now and what they’re doing totality at home. So if you have what they have, Sam Darnold’s barely getting touched. He’s only been sacked nine times, so he’s being protected. That’s what you going to need against the Colts when they come into town. That’s what you going to need against the Vikings who can draw it up. I know that Philly just picked them apart, but Brian Flores still can draw it up. So, that’s what you need. And then you need to be able to counter any other group that can get to your team’s quarterback, and that’s what they defense can do. You got to play great defense at home. That’s what you got to do. Use it to your advantage. With the twelves, the advantage of being at home is the crowd noise. So, they have to go on the silent. And when you got a defense like that at home, it’s good to go, man. And that defense travels. Baker got 38 on them at Seattle. 38 to 39. Five and eight at home. That’s unacceptable cuz it is. It’s my favorite place to play in the NFL. It’s It’s like playing in a jet engine. They have to capitalize on those opportunities at home with the twelves and they’re up on the West Coast. You got a lot of teams coming cross country. So they they got to capitalize. They got to they got to win at home. Yeah. And they have a shot. Not saying they will, but they definitely are in the mix to win the NFC. And the one thing though I will stick with is they got to get the run game going. Yeah, that’s where Sam Darnold gets in trouble. I love Sam. He can make big time plays. He can make all the throws on the field. When you protect him well, he could pick you apart. But when you put the game in his hands and you put all that pressure on his right arm and you don’t give him a two-dimensional offense, you’re almost forcing him to make mistakes. So, they got to be able to get the run game going. But, but yeah, like Gerald said, like they’re going to get to the tournament. I believe that that they have a path to get to the tournament. It’s just what are they going to do once they get there? If they get home field advantage despite the record, it plays in their favor. But there are some other good teams in the NFC. But again, I’m not saying they’re winning it, but I think we can all agree we can see a path to where they get to an MC championship game and find a way to win. You guys can I can’t How many How many home games do you win when you lose the turnovers four to one? Not Not very often. Just don’t. They got they got a thing with winning up there. But to your point though, Skip, what? And look, they’ve got to correct the things from last night, but doesn’t that impress you a little bit more that they had all of those mistakes the way they did in the NFL, one of the best defenses in the NFL and still put up 27 and won that game. If I looked at that stat sheet at the end of what the Seahawks did alone, I would say how much did they lose this game by? They still found a way to win. You can blame it on the Texans offense, them not getting going, but the Seattle Seattle’s defense is equally to blame for how much they struggled on the offensive side of the ball. over that’s one of Richie’s favorite words. The Texans offensive line is ass, right? Ass. I mean, that that is ass. That was I mean, come on. I was jumping out of my chair watching them. I mean, they’re just not technically sound. They can’t get it going. To build off what you said, they got to get the run game going. They got two studs. They got Charbonet and Walker. Those guys are ready to go. They got some young pieces up front. Shout out Grey’s Ael, rookie offensive lineman. I I watched him in the preseason play my Raiders. This kid’s a stud. So, they got some parts that’ll come together, but they definitely got to get the run game going if they want to make a deep run. And I thought you were back on the 49ers bandwagon in the West, right? Of course I didn’t say I support the Seahawks. These boys say I can’t support the Seahawks. Are you kidding me? They also lost to the Ner. So, you didn’t support the Bucks. I know he’s blaming the Bucks loss on me because I took them. Oh, come on. But yeah, the SE Seahawks didn’t beat the NerS, so how are they going to win the NFC? I’m sorry. And they still have to play after they got to play him again. They got to play him again. But we’ll see what I’m with Skip on this one. But let’s talk about a team that in your words um is also

Sam Darnold & The Seahawks Are The NFL’s BIGGEST Frauds according to Skip Bayless as Skip & The Arena Gridiron Crew react to Sam Darnold leading the Seattle Seahawks to an impressive 5-2 start in his first season since leaving the Minnesota Vikings and debate if they believe in Darnold & Jaxson Smith-Njigba as legitimate threats to win the NFL’s NFC Conference.

The Arena premieres every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET.

Sign up for Underdog HERE with promo code GRID and play $5 to get $100 in bonus funds or bonus entries https://play.underdogfantasy.com/pc-fmSelmHdZ1

SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAvjYgmwadC682OoC4Cc6TQ

Join the Underdog discord for access to exclusive giveaways and promos!
https://discord.gg/underdog

Must be 18+ (19+ in AL, NE; 19+ in CO for some games; 21+ in AZ & MA) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.ncpgambling.org; NY: Call the 24/7 HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY or Text HOPENY (467369)