After picking up the first Super Bowl win of his career in February, you’d think that Sam Darnold would have pleasant memories of Seattle’s 29-13 win over New England in Super Bowl LX. Apparently, that’s not the case.
During an interview on the most recent episode of the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast, Darnold admitted he was “kind of bummed” with the way the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, and that’s mostly because he doesn’t feel like he played very well.
“Not to be a friggin’ douche, but I didn’t play great in the Super Bowl,” Darnold said in an interview with former NFL players Taylor Lewan and Will Compton.
Darnold completed 50% of his passes in the game (19 of 38) for 202 yards and a touchdown. Those aren’t great numbers, but they’re not horrible, either. So why was he so upset with himself? He explained in full detail on the podcast.
Why Darnold was upset with the way he played
After completing 67.7% of his passes in the regular season, that number cratered in the Super Bowl. It’s pretty clear Darnold feels like he didn’t do enough to help his team win.
“I missed way too many throws, and we still won, our defense balled out, and I didn’t turn the ball over, which helped,” Darnold said. “But dude, to win the Super Bowl that way, I was kind of bummed.”
Although the Seahawks put up 29 points, that wasn’t good enough for Darnold.
“I want to freaking score like 40 points, you know what I mean,” Darnold said. “I want to go out there and ball out, and it’s just, ‘Dang, I didn’t play my best football in the Super Bowl? That sucks.'”
Darnold pointed to three specific throws that bothered him in the game, including a pass in the first quarter that likely would have gone for an 86-yard touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
“It was a third down, we were beat in protection, so I had to scramble and make a play and Jaxon was wide open. It was a tough little throw, I had to put some touch on it, but just overthrew him a little bit, it would have been a touchdown.”
Let’s check out the throw.
It’s easy to see why Darnold was upset with himself for this throw: Smith-Njigba had six yards of separation on the closest defender and would have coasted in for a touchdown if the ball had been put anywhere near him. If the Seahawks had scored on this play, they would have gone up 10-0 in the first quarter of a game during which they didn’t end up scoring a touchdown in the first half.
Darnold also pointed to another throw at the end of the game when he missed Rashid Shaheed.
“They played zero in the fourth quarter,” Darnold said. “I had a big post to Rashid Shaheed and I just overthrew him. Too juiced up.”
This play came on a third-and-11 from Seattle’s own 41-yard line in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks were ahead 19-7 at this point, and a completion here would have been a dagger. With a better throw, the worst-case scenario would have been a diving 44-yard catch by Shaheed; the best-case scenario would have been a 59-yard touchdown.
Darnold was also upset with himself for a poor throw he made to Cooper Kupp on a short pass in the third quarter.
“Then there was an out route on the right side to Coop,” Darnold said. “It was against zero coverage and it was an easy out route. It was like, ‘How am I going to miss these throws right now? Are you kidding me?'”
Darnold was asked if he’s quickly able to put the play behind him after a near miss or if it sticks with him. For the bigger misses, it sounds like they stick with him for a few seconds.
“Right away, it was like how the f–k did I miss that,” Darnold said.
Darnold was so upset with how he played in the Super Bowl that he didn’t go back and watch the game until recently.
“Right before OTAs, I watched it,” the QB said.
If Darnold’s two incompletions to Smith-Njigba and Shaheed had gone for touchdowns, that would have given him 347 yards and three touchdowns, and with numbers like that, he probably would have been voted Super Bowl MVP — an award that ended up going to Kenneth Walker. When you consider how close he was to making those two throws, it’s easy to see why this has been haunting him.
For the first five years of his career, it looked like Darnold was going to be an NFL Draft bust, but then he went to Minnesota and saved his career by having a huge season with the Vikings in 2024. One year later, he landed in Seattle, and the rest is history.
With a career arc like that, you’d think Darnold would have been thrilled to win the Super Bowl no matter how it happened, but that’s not the case. Due to his performance in the Super Bowl, it sounds like Darnold is going to play with a chip on his shoulder this year.
