The Reincarnation of Sam Darnold

 

It has been a rollercoaster of a career so far for Sam Darnold, but in his 8th year in the NFL, he will be competing on the biggest stage for the first time in his career. Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks are headed to the Super Bowl.

Darnold was the 3rd overall pick to the New York Jets back in 2018. After three miserable years in the Big Apple, it was time for a fresh start somewhere else. Darnold packed his bags for Carolina, but that experiment only lasted 2 seasons.

The career changing move for Sam Darnold was signing with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023. Despite Darnold backing up Brock Purdy, it was his first time where he could learn from the sidelines instead of being rushed in too quickly like he was in New York and Carolina.

Darnold learned from the best with Kyle Shanahan as his head coach and Brock Purdy starting for the Niners in their run to the Super Bowl that season. After falling short in the Super Bowl, Darnold's brief stint in San Francisco came to an end, but the start of his career had just begun. 

The Minnesota Vikings signed Darnold to a 1-year deal, thinking that he would backup their newly drafted quarterback JJ McCarthy. Instead, McCarthy suffered a season-ending injury before the season even began, and Darnold was ruled the Week 1 starter and never looked back. 

Darnold lead the Vikings to a 14-3 record, putting up his best career numbers after throwing for 4,300 yards and 35 touchdowns. Yet for some reason the Vikings decided it would be in their best interest to not renew Darnold's contract and let him walk. 

Seattle ended up signing Darnold in the 2025 offseason to a three year, $100.5 million deal. Darnold put up yet another career year with over 4,000 passing yards and 25 touchdowns. Like in Minnesota, Darnold led Seattle to a 14-3 record, but this time around it came with a first-round bye and home field advantage. 

On the other hand, Minnesota finished their season with a 9-8 record and missed the playoffs as well. 5 less wins and no playoff berth, I think Minnesota wishes they rethought their decisions. 

Fast forward to this past weekend, Sam Darnold played possibly his best game of his career in the biggest game of his career as he propelled the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl berth in over a decade. 

Sam Darnold's career turnaround is one of the most remarkable NFL stories in some time. To go from absolutely rock bottom in New York and Carolina, to earning an $100 million contract and winning an NFC Conference Championship. But if you ask him, he's right where he's meant to be. 

NFL Playoff Preview: Rams vs Seahawks

 

The NFC Championship comes down to two NFC West divisional opponents as the Los Angeles Rams head north to face off with the no. 1 seeded Seattle Seahawks. 

These two teams met twice in the regular season and split both matchups in dramatic fashion. The Rams victory over Seattle in November was a narrow 2 point victory, and Seattle's win in December was a 1 point win off of a game-winning two-point conversion. 

In both matchups, LA lead by a sizable margin and allowed Seattle to creep their way back into each game. The first game LA was able to hold on, but the second game was the opposite story. 

Seattle comes into this matchup after a total beatdown of the San Francisco 49ers. The game was decided 13 seconds in as San Francisco was unable to respond back to the Seahawks opening kick return touchdown. Seattle ended up winning by a whopping 35 points, the largest victory out of any team this postseason. 

On the other hand, the Rams divisional matchup was slightly closer. Los Angeles was able to narrowly pull out a gritty win over the Chicago Bears in overtime. That being said, Los Angeles didn't play anywhere near their best brand of football. Going up against Seattle, they must come ready to play early and often. 

It will be fascinating to see this Rams offense against this Seattle defense. LA comes into this matchup with one of the highest scoring offenses in the NFL, while Seattle comes in with the highest scoring defense in the NFL. One of these groups will have to give. 

This matchup will feature arguably the two best wide receivers in the sport in Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Nacua played a huge role in the Rams dramatic victory over Chicago, while JSN didn't have to do much during Seattle's domination. 

A lot of people have been saying that the winner of this game will be the heavy favorite in the Super Bowl. Both of these teams have beyond what it takes to represent the NFC in the biggest game of the season, but who will prevail on Sunday?

NFL Playoff Preview: Patriots vs Broncos

It really is 2016 all over again, as for the first time in a decade, the Patriots and Broncos will meet in the AFC Championship with the opportunity to go to Santa Clara to play for the Super Bowl. 

The main headline in this matchup is the Broncos quarterback situation. Late in their divisional round matchup against Buffalo, Bo Nix fractured his ankle and was ruled out for the remainder of the playoffs. One of the most brutal blows that a team has ever suffered this late into the season.

With Nix sidelined, backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham will take over the reins for Denver. Stidham has not started an NFL game since 2023, making this even more unprecedented. The 29-year-old entered the league in 2019 when he was coincidentally drafted by the team who he will face on Sunday. 

Despite losing Nix, I believe that Denver still has a good fighting chance at coming out of this game with the victory. This game being in the Mile High City is very significant, and additionally Denver's defense is no joke and is going to give Drake Maye nightmares.

Coming off of a sloppy victory over the Houston Texans, the Patriots are coming into this game very confident. Their offense shut down all of the rumors that the Texans defense was too much for New England to handle and their defense balled out as well.

However, New England did rack up a couple of injuries in their win this past weekend. Significant names such as Treyveon Henderson, Hunter Henry, Harold Landry, and others all landed on this week's injury report. Being the AFC Championship, I expect these guys are going to do whatever it takes to play, but none of them are going to be 100 percent healthy. 

Last time it was Manning vs Brady. This time it's Stidham vs Maye. Despite the injuries, this game is going to be one for the ages. The top two teams in the AFC will compete for the right to go to the Super Bowl this Sunday in Denver. 

 

NFL Playoff Preview: Texans vs Patriots

 

After both teams prevented their opponents from scoring a singular touchdown in the Wild Card Round, the Houston Texans will travel north to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round. 

Houston comes into this matchup after a dominant showing in Pittsburgh last Monday. They sent the Steelers into the offseason, and possibly Aaron Rodgers into retirement, after a 30-6 beatdown. Like most of the season, it was the defense that did the talking after putting together not one but two defensive touchdowns. 

In addition to the two defensive scores, the Texans recorded 4 sacks, 8 tackles for loss, and an interception. New England is going to face a tall and treacherous task going up against this unbelievably well put together defense by DeMeco Ryans. 

However, on the other side of the ball, Houston did struggle to put up efficient numbers. Quarterback CJ Stroud fumbled the football 5 different times, while fortunately only losing the ball on two of those occasions. Stroud and the Texans are going to have to do a better job at holding onto the football in yet another hostile environment. 

The Texans will also be without their star wide receiver Nico Collins. Collins suffered a brutal concussion during their win against Pittsburgh and has yet to clear concussion protocol. After putting up monster numbers last game, Christian Kirk will once again be a heavily relied upon target for CJ Stroud. 

New England is also coming off of a no sweat victory. In their 16-3 victory against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Patriots racked up 5 sacks and an enormous amount of pressures on opposing quarterback Justin Herbert. 

If it wasn't for an early Drake Maye interception, the Patriots would have possibly shutout LA. Like Houston, while New England's defense thrived, the offense was stuck in the mud. For success against this brutal Texans defense, the Patriots will need to establish the run game early and often. 

The Patriots come into this matchup with a mostly clean bill of health as they look to get to their first AFC Championship since 2019. Along with Bears head coach Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel is the only other remaining first year head coach alive in the playoff picture. 

Houston is looking to make history with the possibility of making their first ever AFC Championship appearance as a franchise with a win over New England. It should be a fun one in Foxboro as the Texans and the Patriots meet in the playoffs for the first time since 2017. 

NFL Playoff Preview: Bills vs Broncos

A rematch of last year's AFC Wild Card matchup, except this time the roles are reversed as the Bills will head to Denver to take on the no. 1 seeded Broncos. Denver locked down home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs for the first time since 2015 when they took home the Lombardi Trophy. 

Just a season ago, the Bills welcomed rookie Bo Nix and the Broncos into the playoffs with a dominant 31-7 win at home. Since that matchup, the Broncos have only gotten better. Nix has asserted himself as one of the league's top quarterbacks and the defense has not and will never let the foot off of the pedal.

After defeating Jacksonville in dramatic fashion last weekend, the no. 6 seed Bills will have to face one of the toughest home field advantages throughout the NFL. Not only will the fans and altitude make a huge difference, but the Bills will be going up against the NFL's best defense to offer.

If Buffalo can get out of Denver alive, there is no reason why they shouldn't be in Santa Clara in early February competing for their first Super Bowl. This is the first year where Josh Allen doesn't have to worry about facing Patrick Mahomes, who he has yet to beat in the playoffs.

There has been a ton of criticism surrounding Denver this season despite their league-best 14-3 record. 11 of those 14 wins came by just one score or fewer. In addition, 10 of those 14 wins came against non-playoff teams. So are the Broncos really that good, or have they not faced any legitimate competition yet?

The defensive numbers speak for themselves as Denver has let up the least amount of touchdowns out of any team this season. On the other hand, the Denver offense has been nothing better than average. The Broncos rank towards the middle of the league in both their passing and rushing offense. 

The saying is that "Defense Wins Championships", and if the Broncos are to advance to the AFC Championship and further, then this saying will definitely hold up. It should be a fun one to kick off the divisional round as the Buffalo Bills head to the Mile High city looking to upset the Denver Broncos. 

NFL Playoff Preview: 49ers vs Seahawks

 

The lone matchup between teams coming from the same division will take place in Seattle this Saturday as the 49ers battle the Seahawks in one of the most hostile environments throughout the NFL. 

These two teams met in the final week of the regular season when Seattle took down San Francisco en route to clinching the no. 1 overall seed in the NFC. After a week off, Seattle looks to fend off a hungry 49ers team that just flew across the country and beat the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles in Philadelphia. 

In addition to their Week 18 matchup, Seattle and San Francisco also met in Week 1 where the 49ers actually came into Seattle and started off their season 1-0. Both matchups were very low-scoring as both teams failed to score 20 points respectively in both games. 

San Francisco comes into this matchup extremely injured. They just lost George Kittle to an achilles tear last week in Philadelphia, and that is without mentioning the absences of Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, and others. 

Despite the injuries, the Niners have continued to prevail and fend off the doubters throughout their adventurous season. San Fran comes into this matchup winners of seven of their last eight games with their sole loss coming to Seattle, leaving a bitter taste in their mouths. 

On the other hand, Seattle enters the divisional round of the playoffs after an historic regular season. They finished the campaign with a 14-3 record and the three losses each came by just one score each. The Seahawks have not dropped a game since mid-November. 

The connection between Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba was absolutely magical to watch this past season. JSN lead the league in receiving yards with nearly 1,800. Sam Darnold impressed in his first year in the Pacific Northwest, despite his 14 interceptions. 

Seattle's defense is not one to be reckoned with coming off a great season. It's very tough to score on this defense and the stats prove it. Seattle allowed just around 17 points per game to opposing offenses, ranking no. 1 in the NFL.

In the two matchups with San Francisco, the Seattle defense let up just 20 combined points. I am expecting another defensive bloodbath between these two NFC West foes with a trip to the NFC Championship on the line this Saturday. 

NFL Playoff Preview: Rams vs Bears

After both the Rams and Bears capped off dramatic victories this past Saturday, the two teams will now match up in the Divisional Round of the NFC Playoffs in Chicago. 

For Los Angeles, it was a back and forth battle in Carolina as they eventually took down the Panthers. Los Angeles was trailing late, but Matthew's Stafford game-winning drive heroics put them over the top and onto the next round. 

For Chicago, it was a different story and a little more dramatic. After facing an 18 point deficit in the second half, the Bears scored 25 fourth quarter points to catapult them over their division rival Green Bay Packers. 

Despite being the no. 2 seed, the Bears have played their best football when trailing late in games. Caleb Williams and Chicago have had seven come from behind victories this season, proving that Chicago can physically and literally never be counted out of any game. 

After facing off with Green Bay for the third time this season, Chicago will face a Rams team that they have yet to see. The Rams are arguably the most explosive and experienced team left in these playoffs. It wasn't too long ago when Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford lead Los Angeles to a Lombardi Trophy. 

This game will be experience vs youth, as Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams will each enter only their second career playoff games as head coach and quarterback respectively. 

I'm looking forward to see if the Bears can put together a complete game of football. Coming behind from that large of a deficit in one quarter isn't always going to work out, especially against Los Angeles. 

The winner of this anticipated showdown will face the winner of the opposite matchup in the NFC featuring the 49ers and the Seahawks. I expect this to be another thrilling game that will once again come down to the wire.