Sam Darnold given 2 things to improve on after Seahawks debut

The Seattle Seahawks have rested their hopes on Sam Darnold, trading away Geno Smith (who had a spectacular Week 1 outing) and bringing in the free agent quarterback to guide their offense for the next few years. In Week 1, the Darnold era got off to a really rocky start.

Darnold was 16/23 for just 150 yards (124 of which went to Jaxon Smith-Njigba) and lost a fumble in the red zone while trailing by four. The entire offense was pretty dismal in Week 1, and Darnold wasn't very good, so one insider has two things that the QB has to improve on in Week 2.

"The Seattle Seahawks placed a lot of trust in Sam Darnold to be the quarterback he was last season with the Minnesota Vikings. His Week 1 performance didn't live up to those expectations, but he wasn't terrible by any means, either," Bleacher Report's Brent Sobleski wrote.

The first is not honing in on only one pass-catcher. Sobleski said, "First, Darnold must do a better job spreading the ball around to his receivers... Cooper Kupp had only 15 yards on two catches."

The second is a little more important. Darnold has to take care of the football. "Seattle had a red-zone opportunity to take the lead with less than a minute remaining, but Darnold was stripped of the football," Sobleski said.

Of course, it was star edge rusher Nick Bosa who demolished right tackle Abe Lucas, but Darnold just has to hold onto the ball. "At the same time, Darnold had a man open and patted the ball before trying to uncork the pass," the insider wrote.

"These instances may be little things right now, but the Seahawks ended up on the wrong side of the ledger when they expected their new quarterback to bring a different approach to the team," Sobleski concluded.

If the Seahawks are going to win in Week 2 and beyond, they need Darnold to get other players involved. They also need him to avoid such destructive turnovers in key moments. Had he held onto the ball or thrown it first, the Seahawks could've lived to fight another down or two to win the game.

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