Sam Darnold is likely never going to live down the fact that he once said he was "seeing ghosts." That is the last thing any quarterback should ever say, of course. The current Seattle Seahawks QB will almost certainly never make that mistake again.
He said the ghost comment when he was with the New York Jets, and his team was being destroyed by the New England Patriots. Admitting to having struggles is one thing. A quarterback saying he is seeing things that aren't there is quite another.
Darnold might have been forgiven for thinking he was seeing ghosts against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 11. He threw four interceptions, and a couple of them were awful decisions. A viewer sitting on their couch watching the game could have rightly questioned what the quarterback was thinking he was seeing from the LA defense.
Rams safety Kam Curl seems to think he has Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold figured out
What made matters worse is that the game wasn't the first time Sam Darnold struggled against LA. He held onto the ball far too much when Darnold was playing for the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card Round of the 2024 playoffs. The Rams appeared to clearly know how to rattle Darnold, and sacked him nine times.
The teams had met in the regular season as well, and Darnold played well. But in the more meaningful game later in the season, the quarterback was a mess.
Talking to Arena Gridiron, Rams safety Kam Curl didn't mince words in what he thinks about Darnold. What he said is a common narrative still held by many NFL fans and pundits, well after Darnold's game when he "saw ghosts." The quarterback can't win the big games, and Seattle's success is due to other things besides the QB play.
"Our secondary, we know what type of quarterback he is," Curl said. "And our D-line pass rush. Going back to last year in the Wild Card, we got after him. The pass rush got after them when we was in Minnesota. And it's always going to be in the back of his head."
The implication is clear: Curl doesn't believe that Sam Darnold can play the Rams without being afraid to play LA. No one can truly answer that except the quarterback, though.
While the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Rams in Week 16 in overtime, Darnold wasn't very good for three-quarters of the game. He did play well late, and that might allow him to have more self-belief in the NFC Championship game.
The Seahawks are a very good team overall, but a lot of mistakes by Sam Darnold can sink them. Should Darnold play a clean game while making quick decisions on Sunday, though, Seattle will likely be heading to the Super Bowl.