Sam Darnold didn't have a great Super Bowl, but he'll still get his ring.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Sam Darnold, Super Bowl championship quarterback.
Whatever other chapters that are yet to be written about Darnold’s career — keep in mind, he’s still just 28 years old — what happened in Super Bowl LX will be the biggest part of it. Not being called a bust with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers. Not even the year in which he was very good with the Minnesota Vikings but that was washed away due to two bad games to end an otherwise fantastic season.
We remember the quarterbacks who win Super Bowls. Darnold is in that club now after the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13.
“Unbelievable story. I don’t know if there’s a quarterback in NFL history that’s done what he’s done. ” Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp said. “To go through the things he had to go through the first, whatever, five years. To believe in himself, to overcome everyone who told him he wasn’t that guy anymore, to say he couldn’t be a starter or productive quarterback, to come back to work and commit to his process, and then go out there in the biggest moments this year, over and over again, show up.
“It’s an unbelievable story.”
Darnold admittedly wasn’t at his best on Sunday against the Patriots. He was just 19 of 38 for 202 yards. But he was good most of the season, including a 346-yard, three-touchdown game in the NFC championship game that helped Seattle get to the Super Bowl.
After the long odds Darnold faced just to be a regular starter again, much less a Super Bowl champion on his fifth team in just eight seasons, the white Super Bowl champions hat and black Super Bowl champions T-shirt he wore after the game fit just fine.
“The reason I’m here is because of my journey,” Darnold said. “Because of the ups and downs, especially the downs I went through early on in my career. I learned so much about myself, about football.
“It’s funny how it works.”
Sam Darnold keeps believing
Darnold said after the Seahawks’ win over the Patriots was done, he had an emotional moment with his parents and his fiancee.
“I think that’s what got me a little bit,” Darnold said. “Me and my dad don’t cry very often.”
Things were bleak for Darnold’s career. Usually quarterbacks who fail in their first two stops and then hit the backup phase of their career don’t rebound to have success stories. But Darnold said, in that moment after the game, he let his parents know how important they were to his comeback story.
“I’m here because of their belief in me,” Darnold said. “They believed in me throughout my entire career, and that’s why I was able to believe in myself. Some people called me crazy throughout for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence, but it was because of my parents.”
Sunday wasn’t Darnold’s finest moment, and he admitted that. Neither team scored a touchdown until the fourth quarter, but his 16-yard touchdown to A.J. Barner gave the Seahawks a 19-0 lead. Darnold struggled to generate much offense, but he also didn’t turn it over during a game in which the defense was stifling.
“Offense, I feel like we didn’t play as good as we could have,” Darnold said. “I certainly didn’t play as good as I could have.
“I didn’t have my best stuff but our team had my back.”
Darnold joins a select list
The list of quarterbacks who have started and won a Super Bowl is fairly small and serious football fans remember every name. There have been some very good quarterbacks through the years who have been forgotten, but names like Trent Dilfer, Jeff Hostetler, Nick Foles, Doug Williams and Brad Johnson will always be associated with their Super Bowl championship teams.
That will be Darnold from now on, and he still has plenty of time to add to his legacy. And it’s a pretty good Seahawks team he’ll be associated with. The Seahawks went 14-3 in the regular season, with the losses by a combined nine points. They punctuated the season with a dominant performance over the Patriots. That win was driven by the defense, but don’t diminish what Darnold meant to the Seahawks all season just because he didn’t have a great Super Bowl.
“Put some respect on it! He’s the best!” Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said, cutting into a Darnold interview in the locker room. “We’re not here without that guy.”
Many of Darnold’s teammates through the week and after Super Bowl LX talked about how easy he is to root for, understanding the adversity he went through.
“Everyone in that locker room believes in me,” Darnold said.
Darnold has plenty of critics who won’t let go of the reputation he built early in his career, after he didn’t pan out as the third overall pick to the Jets. When this season is brought up they’ll mention that he was carried by a great defense and in the Super Bowl he didn’t have the type of performance we typically equate to the winning quarterback.
And, who cares? Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson haven’t been to a Super Bowl yet. Neither has Justin Herbert or Dak Prescott. Joe Burrow hasn’t won one. Some of the greatest quarterbacks ever, like Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, only won one Super Bowl. Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Dan Fouts are among the great quarterbacks to never win one.
Darnold has one. That’s all a legacy needs.
“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” Darnold said. “But it’s special.”
Category: General Sports
