Sorry, Sam – you are indeed ‘the man,’ one not scared of ‘ghosts’

SEATTLE – Sam Darnold was just minutes removed from securing his first Super Bowl trip – as a starter, more on that important distinction later – and he’d already wrangled an apology out of me.

In the aftermath of a drama-filled, 31-27 defeat of the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game, which gave Darnold’s Seattle Seahawks the rubber match in their epic thrill-ogy of games against their NFC West rivals this season, I asked him about his personal journey from the New York Jets quarterback who infamously admitted “seeing ghosts” amid a four-interception debacle against the New England Patriots on “Monday Night Football” more than six years ago into the two-time Pro Bowler he’s blossomed into over the last year-plus – and ahead of a much bigger game against the Pats.

“Yeah, I almost forgot about that. So thanks,” Darnold cracked back good-naturedly.

Sam, I am sorry. (And you most certainly weren’t sorry in what was probably the best football performance of your life.)

“No, you’re good,” he smiled, while indulging my question with a moment of reflection.

“There was a lot that I didn’t know back then, so I’m just going to continue to learn and grow in this great game. There’s a lot of stuff that I can do better from today – I feel like I’m missing throws out there that I shouldn’t miss, there were some things offensively that I feel like we can do better. We’re always looking to get better, I’m always looking to get better. So, that’s the great part about this game – you win an NFC championship, and you win games throughout the season, but there’s always ways you can look to get better.”

It’s a very Darnold answer for a guy who’s overcome so much adversity in eight NFL seasons – upbeat, hopeful, forward-leaning. All it was missing was a dollop of credit to his teammates, but he doled out plenty of that Sunday night as well.

I never could logically grasp why the Jets gave up on an obviously talented, always centered young guy − one who’s basically been beloved in every locker room he’s graced. Why draft Zach Wilson in 2021 − I know, reset the QB contractual clock − when you could have actually built something around Darnold, maybe by taking Penei Sewell or Ja’Marr Chase or Micah Parsons instead. But nope, Darnold was dealt to the Carolina Panthers for a package that included a second-round pick and a whole lot of nothing else that never made the perpetually rebuilding Jets any better.

After struggling in Charlotte − along with Baker Mayfield, which tells you about those Panthers − Darnold had cups of coffee with the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings, who miraculously didn’t re-sign him following his 2024 breakout season. Oops.

The Seahawks were only too happy to reel in the perennial castoff who whipped an excellent Rams defense Sunday, 346 yards and three TD passes spilling off his right arm – with nary a turnover in the signature performance of his career. And it was achieved with a lingering oblique injury suffered before Seattle’s divisional playoff round victory over the Niners.

“I’m not a quarterback expert, but that’s some high-powered quarterbacking going on in that game by number 14. For sure,” said Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, who said Darnold barely threw the ball in practice in the days leading up to ‘Hawks-Rams, part three.

“It should go down as one of the best performances in playoff history.”

And it might.

There was Darnold’s 51-yard completion to Rashid Shaheed on Seattle’s opening drive that set up Kenneth Walker’s 2-yard touchdown run. There was the 42-yard shot to Darnold’s favorite target, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, that preceded a 14-yard TD strike to JSN three players later – staking Seattle to a 17-13 halftime lead it would never relinquish.

When the Seahawks seemed to stall after opening the second half with the ball, Darnold made the Rams pay for their latest special teams error – a muffed punt – by hitting rarely used Jake Bobo for a 17-yard TD on the very next play. And though LA wouldn’t go away, neither would Darnold, who hooked up with ex-Rams Super Bowl hero Cooper Kupp for one more TD later in the period.

“He showed us exactly who we always thought he was,” said Seahawks defensive lineman Leonard Williams, a USC product like Darnold and a teammate of his with those lowly Jets. “I mean, since Day 1, I think this whole organization, this whole team, everybody in this locker room trusted him – regardless of the doubts or ups and downs or anything like that we’ve had throughout the season. That’s one thing that’s always stayed true is our trust in our quarterback. He’s a great leader and, I mean, he really saved us today.

“I’m so happy for him,” Williams continued. “To show up in a game like this, when there’s so many doubters, it’s big time for him.”

And now Darnold is truly headed for the big time as Seattle prepares to face New England in Super Bowl 60. It’s an opportunity for the third overall pick – by the Jets – of the vaunted 2018 QB draft class to become the first passer of that crop to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Not Josh Allen. Not Lamar Jackson. Not Mayfield. Sam Darnold.

Asked how it felt to be the first QB from that group to reach Super Sunday, Darnold remained in rare form with another postgame zinger.

“I actually made it in ’23 as well, when I was in San Francisco. So …,” he grinned, referencing his one-year stop in Kyle Shanahan’s halfway house for QBs, where Darnold backed up Brock Purdy.

“No, it’s unbelievable. Obviously those are great players. But it’s more so the team, just the hard work that we’ve put in throughout the season. … We take it day by day, and then that’s the beauty about this team and these guys in that locker room, this coaching staff.”

And speaking of that staff, you can bet there’s no one they’d rather have than Darnold, who’s galvanized this group from the moment he signed with Seattle last March, when he replaced Geno Smith.

Macdonald left nothing to the imagination when I asked him about the narrative of the Seahawks being a dominant team – so long as Darnold doesn’t undermine them with costly mistakes, like another four-INT game he had in a loss to the Rams in Week 11.

Macdonald responded to my query by exclaiming: “Everyone wants to make a narrative about this guy. But it’s like, he’s been the same guy since he walked in the door.

“You don’t want me writing the stories, because I would not write the narratives that are out there. I’d be really boring. This guy’s the man. And his teammates love him. And he’s competitive as crap. And he’s tough. And he’s really talented. And he’s a winner – that would be the story, so don’t let me write the story.”

I’ve got this one, Coach. Hopefully it’s not boring. And it stands to reason Darnold won’t be, either, two weeks from now – when he gets his biggest opportunity yet to certify those ghosts are exorcised and that he is indeed “the man.”