Sam Darnold perfect in Seahawks preseason debut, Jake Bobo scores twice against Chiefs

Yahoo

a day ago

Sam Darnold played only one series in his Seattle Seahawks preseason debut, but it couldn't have gone any better.
He completed all four of his passes for 34 yards while quarterbacking a 10-play, 81-yard touchdown drive to start the Friday night exhibition against the Kansas City Chiefs.
'I thought today, first of all, it was awesome just to get out there in front of the 12s,' said Darnold, who signed a three-year, $100.5 million deal with the Seahawks this offseason after leading the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs with a 14-3 record last season.
'And that atmosphere, too, I felt like that was kind of a perfect atmosphere. It felt like it was almost November, December already out there in the rain.'
Granted the Chiefs were sitting a number of starters — namely quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and defensive tackle Chris Jones — but the Seahawks controlled what ended up being a 33-16 win from start to finish at Lumen Field.
Darnold's game-opening drive began with him handing the ball off twice to running back Zach Charbonnet: first for 13 yards and then for 4 more. That was a sign of what was to come for a Seahawks team that rushed for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns on 48 carries.
"Our offensive line dominated, really, most of the game," Darnold said, "which is always great to see. That first group, that second group, even the third and fourth group went out there and played really well together."
On the third play of the game, Darnold went through his progression and fired a 5-yard pass to tight end AJ Barner, setting up a 3rd-and-short, which rookie quarterback Jalen Milroe — a 6-foot-2, 216-pound, third-round draft pick out of Alabama — converted on a tush push.
After a Charbonnet toss play gained 7 yards, Darnold went play-action from midfield and dared the defense vertically before dumping off a swing pass to slot star Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who motioned into the backfield pre-snap before bouncing back outside to get open for the reception.
Following another Charbonnet chunk gain, Darnold faked a handoff and rolled left. That's when he connected with wide-open fullback Robbie Ouzts for a pickup of 13 yards.
Rolling off play-action to the other side of the field, Darnold quickly darted the ball to tight end Elijah Arroyo, who galloped into the Chiefs' red zone.
Charbonnet put a bow on the drive, launching through the trenches untouched for a 15-yard touchdown run.
Each of Darnold's four completions went to a different player.
"It's great to get different guys touches," he said. "That's what we're going to be as an offense," Darnold said with a slight smile. "We're going to be very multiple. We're going to use different guys in the pass game and the run game so that defenses aren't going to know what to expect."
While Darnold didn't throw to third-year wideout Jake Bobo Friday night, the former Duke and UCLA standout made an impression in the Seahawks' offense, too.
He caught a pair of touchdowns from backup quarterback Drew Lock. First he took a screen 12 yards to the house. Then he went up for a grab over Chiefs cornerback Joshua Williams for a 12-yard score in the right corner of the end zone.
"This guy's a Seahawk, man,' Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald said of Bobo, per The Associated Press. "The way he operates and goes and attacks the football."
Seattle spread the ball around Friday night, and Darnold set the tone for a balanced offensive game plan with a perfect preseason debut in front of his new fan base.