Sam Darnold Dispels Another Narrative with Telling Statistic From NFC Title Game

In the game of football, quarterbacks play worse when put under pressure. It’s a more or less universal rule that applies to virtually every signal caller that has ever played, at any level, and it certainly applies to the NFL. If you can apply some disruption and distraction, maybe even a little violence, to a quarterback, their play will suffer.

Sam Darnold is no exception to this, but for him, the narrative seems especially strong. There was a belief that, despite Seattle getting the top seed in the NFC and advancing to the conference championship game, everything would unravel if a team could apply some meaningful pressure to him. The 49ers couldn’t do it, but perhaps the Rams could.

For the most part, they did. I wouldn’t suggest that Darnold was under a never-ending deluge of pressure, but there was a fairly consistent amount of it throughout the game. Sam was sacked three times, and hit him seven times according to ESPN. Despite it all, Darnold played a remarkable game, throwing for nearly 350 yards and 3 touchdowns.

But it goes beyond just the raw box score. According to Next Gen Stats, Darnold threw all three of those touchdowns when under pressure, something he had never done before in his career. In fact, it was something no quarterback had ever done in a playoff game since Next Gen Stats started up in 2014. Well over a hundred playoff games, and Darnold was the first.

When pressured in the two regular season games against the Rams, Darnold threw no touchdowns and three of his six interceptions. So it was understandable that the Rams felt like pressure was the key to flipping the game. But Darnold proved he could excel even when under fire, and the Seahawks needed every bit of it to win last night.

During the regular season, Darnold’s QB rating when pressured was 72.4 according to Pro Football Focus, which is roughly identical to the rating of J.J. McCarthy, the man who replaced him in Minnesota. He completed just 52.1% of his passes, with 10 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He was 3-for-6 for 26 yards and a touchdown against the 49ers last week.

I’d prefer Darnold get to throw from clean pockets going forward, especially in two weeks against the New England Patriots. But it’s good to know he can work through it to this degree, delivering in the clutch with the season on the line and most of the rest of the team breaking down around him.

Darnold hitting his targets under pressure is why he's holding this trophy. — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) celebrates with the trophy on the podium after defeating the Los Angeles Rams. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

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