What Sam Darnold said about Seahawks' ugly Monday night win over Texans

The Seattle Seahawks have been one of the more impressive teams in the NFL to start the 2025 season, but one wouldn't be able to tell based on the way they played in Week 7.

Yes, the Seahawks defeated the Houston Texans 27-19 in a late "Monday Night Football" game, and held them to just 254 total yards and 2-for-15 on third down. However, they turned the ball over four times, one of them being a fumble by quarterback Sam Darnold that Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. returned for a touchdown. Darnold and wide receiver Cooper Kupp also threw an interception each, and the Texans blocked a Jason Myers field goal just before halftime.

Considering Seattle was so efficient earlier in the season, a sloppy performance like this is quite surprising.

As Darnold stated after the game, the Seahawks know that they have to be far better than what they showed on Monday.

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold — Oct 20, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) greet each other after the game at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

"What a weird game," Darnold told reporters, per the Seahawks' website. "Obviously I think the first half was really solid for us as an offense, then the second half, it was just a different story. I think we just got to hold onto the football. We can't turn the ball over like that. I can't turn the ball over like that.

"Again, our defense and special teams stepping up tonight was huge. So when you come out of here having a game like that offensively, and you still win the ballgame, can't ask for more than that. We're just going to continue to learn from our mistakes and get better."

The good news is, the Seahawks know that they can play at a far higher level on offense. Darnold specifically brought up their Week 5 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when they scored touchdowns on five-straight drives - four of them on passes from Darnold - in a losing effort.

"When we execute, when we do our job every single play, the results kind of speak for themselves," Darnold said. "We just can't keep shooting ourselves in the foot the way we have. I think Tampa, in that loss, was a pretty consistent performance from us. Still had some minor detail things that happened there.

"We just got to clean up the details. We will. We'll watch this tape, get better from it, enjoy this bye week. It's going to be huge for us to get some guys back and get healthy. We're going to enjoy the bye week and come back swinging in a couple weeks."

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