Sam Darnold’s Impressive 2024 NFL Season

The 2024 NFL season has turned out to be a remarkable one for Sam Darnold. After the first-round pick JJ McCarthy was injured, Darnold stepped in as the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. He helped the team achieve a 14-3 record and secure a place in the playoffs. Under Kevin O’Connell’s offense, he set personal bests in several categories, including completion percentage, passing yards, QBR, yards per attempt, and touchdown passes. Darnold also earned his first Pro Bowl selection.

While he may be looking for a new opportunity in 2025, Darnold’s current season is showing a lot of promise.

At the beginning of free agency, Darnold signed with the Seattle Seahawks, giving way for McCarthy to reclaim his starting position in Minnesota. As the Seahawks prepared to face the Arizona Cardinals, Darnold had the chance to improve his record to 3-1 this season.

The Seahawks lost their first game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers by a close score of 17-13. In that game, Darnold threw for 150 yards on 16 completions but didn’t manage any touchdown passes. However, he quickly bounced back, leading Seattle to a convincing 31-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2, passing for 295 yards and connecting on two touchdowns, though he did throw two interceptions.

In a dominating 44-13 victory against the New Orleans Saints last Sunday, Darnold was nearly perfect, completing 14 of 18 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns.

As the weeks progressed, Darnold’s statistics reflected a notable upward trend. In the week one game against the 49ers, he averaged just 6.5 yards per attempt, which improved significantly to 8.9 yards against the Steelers and further jumping to 12.1 yards against the Saints.

But what could be driving this improvement?

During the game against the 49ers, Darnold only attempted two passes using play action and completed one of them for a 21-yard gain. In the aftermath of the loss, questions arose regarding the limited play-action calls from offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. This topic became a hot discussion in radio appearances following that game’s defeat.

According to data from Pro Football Focus, Darnold had a strong performance last season with 16 touchdown passes off play action, the most in the league. His adjusted completion rate of 82.8% ranked fifth among all quarterbacks using play action, and he averaged 10.1 yards per attempt in that category, just behind Jared Goff.

This made the Seahawks fans all the more eager to see how play action would feature in the game plan against Pittsburgh. Darnold executed flawlessly in these situations, completing all six of his attempts for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

In that game against New Orleans, he again completed all his attempts—six for a total of 116 yards—utilizing play action for a touchdown.

As he prepares for the upcoming game, Darnold currently leads the NFL in play-action passing yards, averaging 14.3 yards with a significant difference of 7.0 yards between play action and non-play action attempts, the largest disparity in the league.

This age-old adage—that play actions serve as a sort of “cheat code” for quarterbacks—certainly appears to hold true in Darnold’s case.

Film analysis from the last two weeks supports this narrative, showing consistent trends in his performance.

Darnold’s first touchdown against the Steelers came from a play-action concept in the red zone. He faked a run, cleverly turning away from the defense while scanning the field. This maneuver opened up passing lanes as he navigated through crossing routes from his teammates.

Despite pressure from defenders, he successfully connected for a touchdown.

During the game, another play showcased a different take on the play-action concept. Darnold, using the center play action, hit his receiver at just the right moment.

One of Seattle’s most notable offensive plays featured a strong deep connection from Darnold to his receiver, aided by run action that helped break open a deep post route.

Revisiting successful route combinations from previous games, Darnold once again connected a crucial pass for a touchdown.

The offensive scheme has seen slight variations, yet the underlying play-action strategy remains influential, as Darnold’s production has clearly soared with its increased implementation.

It will be interesting to see how prominently play action is utilized against the Cardinals tonight, as Seattle aims to build on its successful season.