Contrary to popular opinion, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold did not lead the league in interceptions this season. He did throw 14 of them, which was the third most, and I’m sure if you ask him, he’d say he’d rather not have done that. No one wants to throw interceptions.
But to hear analysts discussing the upcoming Super Bowl between Seattle and New England, you can be forgiven if you think that Darnold was throwing the ball to the other team every other snap. Former coach Eric Mangini was the latest to hit on this topic when he appeared on FS1’s First Things First earlier this week.
“I don’t trust Sam Darnold to have a clean game,” Mangini said. “New England brings a lot of different looks.”
How important is it that Sam Darnold play a clean game in Super Bowl LX?
Let’s set aside the two teams Seattle beat to reach the Super Bowl for a moment. We’ll ignore that San Francisco’s defense was led by coordinator Robert Saleh. (He is no longer the coordinator in San Francisco because he is now the head coach in Tennessee.)
And we’ll ignore for now the fact that the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator, Chris Shula, was being talked about as a potential head coach as well. (That all went away after Darnold and the Hawks hung 31 on the Rams in the conference championship game. Now Shula is a bum.)
It’s obvious that Mike Vrabel and Terrell Williams have the Patriots defense playing well and that they intend to challenge the Seahawks by showing them all those looks. So far, they have befuddled Justin Herbert (playing behind a ragtag offensive line), stymied C.J. Stroud (in a torrential downpour), and suffocated backup Jarrett Stidham (in a blizzard).
Mangini noted that New England will force Darnold to make post-snap decisions. They will disguise defenses. It is a high-risk/high-reward approach because playing like that can lead to communication breakdowns and big plays. It can also lead to mistakes by the quarterback.
I’ve been saying this all year. Well, maybe not all year, but at least as long as the Seahawks have been a serious contender and experts have been saying that Darnold’s tendency to make mistakes at big moments might be their one Achilles heel.
Sam Darnold doesn’t have to play a clean game. He has to play a productive game. He has to make big plays, as he has done throughout the season. If he makes enough of them, a couple of bad plays will not matter. If he fails to make those positive plays, the game could be in jeopardy.
Let me take you back three years. Matthew Stafford won his first, and thus far, only Super Bowl. In that game, he threw two interceptions. His opposing quarterback, Joe Burrow, threw zero. But Stafford also threw three touchdowns to Burrows’ one. The result was a Rams’ championship.
The last two Super Bowl-winning QBs, Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes, each threw an interception and won the game.
Sam Darnold does not have to perfect.
Each of those teams won because they had very good defenses that picked up the QB after he made a mistake. The Rams sacked Burrow seven times. The Eagles intercepted Patrick Mahomes twice last year.
Seattle has a good defense. They will give Drake Maye and the Patriots' offense problems. But they will not completely shut them down. Maye has proven to be too good. His team will put up some points.
Darnold just has to put up more. To do that, he has to take some chances and make some plays. That comes with risk, but he has shown the ability to rise above a mistake or two and lead his team to victory.
One of the hosts of First Things First, Nick Wright, hit on the truth when he pushed back on both Mangini and fellow host Chris Broussard (who echoed Mangini’s concerns). Wright said that even though he didn’t trust Darnold to play a clean game, it simply may not matter.
The Seahawks and the Patriots have been the two best teams in the league this year when it comes to overcoming multiple turnovers and winning the game. Both have managed that repeatedly in 2025.
So if you – like coach Mangini – don’t have confidence in Sam Darnold to play a clean game, I’m not sure that really matters.
If you don’t have confidence in his ability to make several big plays, that is a much more worrisome situation.