Mike Macdonald on the message Seahawks gave Sam Darnold after awful game

Sunday was the biggest test of the 2025 NFL season to see if the Seattle Seahawks were ready to officially be at the top of the NFC and the NFC West. The Seahawks overcame a large assemblage of mistakes to come down to a 61-yard field goal attempt that was ultimately wide right, resulting in a 21-19 loss in Los Angeles.

Several factors contributed to the close and disappointing road loss, including poor performances from some young players and less effective play from others. One player who had a surprisingly disappointing game was quarterback Sam Darnold, who threw four interceptions.

Darnold fell victim to the Rams’ dime packages while rarely seeing blitzes or heavy pressures. He often threw into double coverage or to areas where the defenders beat the Seahawks’ pass-catchers’ routes.

This was a game where Darnold finally had a chance to silence the critics and trolls on his New York Jets’ career, which includes the infamous ‘seeing ghosts’ game, where he also threw for four interceptions. Instead, Darnold gave them more ammunition to unleash the jabs and critiques as more analysts will jump on board, ultimately downplaying the stellar game that the Seahawks’ defense played.

This loss is going to sting for the Seahawks as they hear about not only the loss to their rivals, but also Darnold’s four-interception performance. The loss isn’t a killer for the NFC Playoff picture as it is in the NFC West Divisional chase, but it's definitely demoralizing.

After the game, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was asked about the interceptions and what made Darnold process his decision to throw the questionable passes:

Here was the start of Mike Macdonald’s postgame presser.

He was later asked what his message is to Sam Darnold after he threw four interceptions and gave Seattle a chance at a game-winning field goal.

“Keep ripping it, man. We love you and we’ve got your back.” pic.twitter.com/ehGbyp1oUT

November 17, 2025

"Yeah, I'm not sure, it's probably a combination of multiple things. So we keep attacking it and figure out what we can do to not put the ball in jeopardy. That's what I told them, given everything that happened, being pinned back at the one-yard line, its a heck of a punt by the guy. We just kept battling and Sam put us into position to possibly win the game so, but we'll look at it tomorrow from there."

Ultimately, this team’s bond is tight; they will defend each other through the small things to all the big mistakes. Inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV defended Darnold to the max, asking him not to take the blame while also having an NSFW response to the critics who say this loss is on Darnold.

Later in the press conference, Macdonald was asked what message he had for Darnold after the four-interception performance against the Rams:

“Keep ripping it, man. We love you and we’ve got your back.”

The Seahawks (7-3) are still one of the teams to beat this season and if they can limit or stop the turnovers, they will be scary. This team took it down to the final, tough but manageable field goal attempt to knock off the Rams in Los Angeles. This defense is scary, and when Darnold wasn’t throwing interceptions, he found some good connections in tight coverages. There is time for the team to learn from the mistakes and grow, starting in Week 12 against the worst team in the league in the Tennessee Titans (1-9).

Oct 20, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald walks onto the field prior to the game against the Houston Texans at Lumen Field. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

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