Sam Darnold: “It’s Important To Evolve As An Offense” | Seattle Seahawks

Sam Darnold: “It’s Important To Evolve As An Offense” | Seattle Seahawks

Doing good. Doing good. Um, yeah, another another good challenge this week. Um, you know, obviously going against this team, coach Coach Morris and Coach Hull over there have a really good scheme um with really really good players. So, um, just, you know, another week for us to to be sharp, have a really good week of practice and and go out there and execute. Every blitzing team, how do they do it differently in Minnesota? Yeah. Um, you know, they are they are a really good blitzing team. I think, you know, just rush and coverage all kind of working together. Um, but again, you know, kind of like Minnesota and, you know, any team that pressures well um and gets to the quarterback, they um they’re really smart um you know, they’re tied together in the back end and with the pressure. So, um again, we you know, kind of like I just said, we got to do a really good job during the week of preparing for everything and um going from there. you guys working out against the Yeah, I think just overall communication is the biggest thing. Um, making sure we’re all on the same page. Um, especially in a in a loud environment being on the road. Um, so we just got to continue to improve that and um, going from there. You had to throw the ball a ton in the second half because you’re playing from ahead, but did you feel like did you like the adjustments you made to some of what Minnesota’s doing and they’re bringing? Yeah, I thought we made some good adjustments at the half for sure. Um, you know, just again, like I said, we just got to, you know, got to continue to improve on things that we can improve and and for me that’s, uh, you know, understanding, you know, when I’m going to be hot. Um, you know, when to when to get the ball out of my hands. Seems kind of crazy that any quarterback manages to hold on to the ball when one of these guys hits them. As hard as you guys get hit. Uh, is it just kind of luck when it falls out or are there strategies to hold on to it more? Yeah, I think I I think it’s all the work, you know, that you put in the in the offseason. Um, you know, offseason including, you know, working in Orange County when I’m at home. Um, and then it’s it’s when we get here in April, when we get here in training camp, and then throughout the week, like just being really good about, you know, keeping two hands on the ball at all times, you know, when whether I’m trying to escape the pocket or I’m in the pocket. Um, you know, there’s some things you can’t avoid. Um, but again, you know, just being really hard on myself. Uh, you know, I gotta continue to to hold on to the football. Look at some of their young guys up front. How much of it is their talent, their skill versus the scheme they’ve been put in to get some of those sacks? Yeah, I think, you know, it all works together, like I said, but they got they got really good talent. Um, just, you know, watching it on tape, like the speed and the power um that that they rush with. Um, like I said, it’s going to be a really big challenge for us. Um, you know, I think step one is communication, like I said, and um, kind of rolling from there, just after after communicating, all being on the same page, and then, uh, being able to use obviously fundamentals and technique to to get them blocked up. When you looked at the film, what did you see of how they defended JSN and what you guys would kind of need to do to counter that in the future? Yeah, I think, you know, um whether it’s rolling a safety over the top, just d straight up doubling, um you know, and and some of the certain techniques that they were playing, you know, just kind of understanding when that’s happening. Um you know, having a plan for it, understanding what routes he might be able to get open, you know, on those certain things. Um but also for me having a good understanding of when to move on in the progression. A lot of folks focus on, you know, downfield throws and the difficulty of completing those. Um, what are some of the unique challenges of of the screen game timing and getting pass around all the traffic? Yeah, you know, I think again it’s it’s something that you got to work on. You got to work on the screen game, especially going against different looks on third down. Um, you know, they they have different fronts and different pressures. Um, you know, running screens against man coverage are a lot different than running screens versus zone. Um, so it’s just being ready for all those things and again going through all that, you know, throughout the week and um, yeah, just just being ready for all the different looks in the spring game. How do you feel like the connection with Rashichi’s been coming as you guys had the least amount of time to kind of get on the same page compared to the other guys? Yeah, you know, it’s it’s great. You know, I think just being able to work, you know, as consistently as we can throughout the week to get full speed reps. Um, and we’re not, you know, when we’re not able to get, you know, all the reps, just being able to talk about the routes. Um, and I think the dialogue and just being able to talk to each other really, really helps out with kind of my understanding of where he’s going to be and for him to understand kind of what I’m thinking with certain routes. Going back to how they defended Jacks, Mike McDonald uh, mentioned Cody’s catch as an example of like, all right, they do this to Jacks, somebody does their thing. What was from your view what was different about or what worked well I guess on Cody’s catch there versus maybe some of the other times that they were giving attention to Jackson. Yeah, I think you know just for me it’s it’s playing fast and and understanding kind of what what the coverage is and and when to to move on in pro progression not only when it’s jacks but you know when it’s somebody else as well and and you know understanding when to move on I guess um in the progression you know and um that goes for everyone like I said like if we’re running a concept versus you know we want single high and it’s cloud like just being able to just being able to move on and go through my progressions like I would in training camp. How do you avoid a situation where I mean you guys are the number three scoring team in the NFL. You’ve been really successful. You have the one game against the Rams since things went wrong. How do you avoid like overcorrecting and like kind of losing what was all working up until? Yeah, I think you know um just understanding our identity um you know what got us to this point. Um you know just understanding that and and being able to work and and continue to to grow. It’s it’s what I said kind of in the beginning of the year. I feel like I got kind of redundant in these interviews, but just saying like, you know, we’re always, you know, chasing that edge of like what gets us um to the next step, but also understanding like who we are as an offense. Um but you’re always trying to evolve and the coaches do a really good job of creating schemes that put us in really good positions at the end of the day. So for us, it’s just about going out there and executing um executing the play. Sam, coming out of the Rams game, I know you were like talking at the time about how not all sexs can be awful. Like sometimes they’re the right thing. I know Mike said this weekend that he thought a couple of the ones you made were good decision to kind of see that maybe take that step in that regard where you have a couple go down just what you kind of make of that for for you this week is Yeah. You’re talking about uh like looking at the tape from last week or going into this one last week and taking a couple more. Yeah, I think Yeah, I think sometimes you know um it can be a good thing. Um, it’s definitely better than, you know, turn the ball over, but um, you know, I think there all are sometimes as well, you know, I can even if a guy’s covered or doubled, you know, in Jax’s case, like I can throw it at his feet or, you know, find a way to throw it away because you’d rather throw it away than take a sack. Um, but if there’s nowhere to throw it away and I’m in the pocket, like sometimes a sack is the best play. So, it’s just evaluating every situation as its own. Julian was named the team’s man of the year nominee. I know he hasn’t been able to play a ton this year because injury, but he’s he’s around. Yeah. Doing everything. What is his presence being around? What what does he mean to the team? Yeah, Julian’s he’s an incredible leader. Um, you know, he’s he’s someone that, you know, everyone can look to and he’s always it always seems like he’s doing the right thing. You know, he’s always in the right spot and, um, whether it’s on the field or off the field. Um, you know, he’s he’s just doing everything that he can to, you know, for right now just get healthy and and be on the field with his brothers and um, you know, he’s he’s just a really good leader um, in all aspects of of the game. and you know as a person off the field. How have you seen your guys run game evolve as the season’s progressed and specifically with Ken as he starts to look better and better each week it feels like? Yeah, I think just communication. I think continuing to um continuing to get better, you know, as a group. Um understanding kind of what we’re looking for in the run game and uh our offensive line doing a great job as they have all year of of you know opening great running lanes. Um, and uh, yeah, I just feel like our backs are continuing to um, to see the offense the, you know, the the best way possible and, uh, kind of understand the flow of the defensive line, you know, what gaps they want to take away and and when they hit that cut that they are very confident in it and, uh, you know, as they always have been. kind of the last things that end up coming together when you’re working with a new receiver like choice routes or versus zones and sitting down like what are the things that take the longest to get on the same page with? Yeah, I think it’s it’s it’s kind of the uh the you know look where you know you got maybe a guy pressuring off the side of the choice route and you got a a guy come you know a safety maybe um coming over the top trying to trying to defend him. um is trying to understand that leverage as a receiver and as a quarterback like you know you want to try to stay patient with them but you also you also need to be able to throw it in the timing of the play. So um there’s a you know that that can be sometimes the hardest look for those type of routes but um it’s it’s being able to talk about it you know throughout the week and getting on the same page so that you’re not you know second guessing yourself out there on the field on Sunday. Big picture how you guys are tied with the Rams. 49ers have nine wins as well. It’s kind of five games left. How how do you sort of do you pay a lot of attention to that? What else is kind of going on or how do you kind of look at that with Yeah, I mean, you know, I’m not evaluating it like crazy, but you definitely, you know, understand the big picture of of the things and the um the playoff picture, all those things in and the division. Um yeah, I’m always paying attention to that stuff, but um at the end of the day, like that doesn’t necessarily matter with what we want to do today. Um, you know, I’m just going out there trying to have a good practice today, communicate and and kind of go from there and get ready for Sunday. 12 games into the season. Everybody’s stuff is on tape at this point. You kind of do what you do. How how how much more challenging is this closing stretch of the season when there’s not really going to be many surprises out there? Teams kind of know what’s giving you problems and how does that change down the stretch of the season? Yeah, I think, you know, it’s kind of like what I said before. It’s it’s being able to evolve as an offense. Um, understand where teams are, you know, exploiting us maybe. Um, and being able to adjust off of those looks and it’s I think it’s as simple as that. You haven’t played much before this with Timmy. What’s he shown you? What are you surprised by? What was his full name? Well, I’m not That was good though. Um, no, Olu’s Ol’s been awesome. And, you know, I was able to get a ton of reps with him in training camp. you know, him splitting reps with Sundell. So, um you know, that was that was good um for us to be able to get those reps in training camp together. But Aloo is a stud and he’s a veteran. Um a guy that you can fully trust when he gets in there. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you.

Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold discusses the team’s offensive strategy and challenges for the upcoming game. He emphasizes the importance of communication (0:56) and preparation against a strong blitzing team. Darnold talks about adjustments made during the Minnesota game (1:18) and strategies for ball security under pressure. He addresses the team’s success as the #3 scoring team in the NFL (5:19) and the evolution of their run game with Kenneth Walker III’s improving performance (7:46). Darnold also mentions the leadership of Julian Love, the team’s Man of the Year nominee (7:13), and discusses the challenges of the closing stretch of the season with five games left (9:46). He highlights the importance of evolving as an offense and adjusting to opponents’ strategies (10:04).

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