Rams Break Seattle’s Heart in the Final Moments, Exposing Takeaways That Change Everything for the Seahawks. DH

After playing nine mostly-exceptional games, Sam Darnold laid an egg against the Rams – and it will diminish much of the reputation building he’s done this season.

First impressions and last impressions tend to color our perceptions more than anything else. So, even though Sam Darnold balled out at an elite level the first nine games this season, all anyone is going to remember for a while is the atrocious performance he put in today against the LA Rams.

To be sure, there are no excuses for Darnold’s game.

The Seattle Seahawks probably would have won decisively against one of the best teams in the NFL if Darnold had thrown only two interceptions to go with his zero touchdowns, but Darnold went for four – something no Seahawks quarterback had done since Russell Wilson threw five in their epic NFC title game comeback against the Green Bay Packers 10 years ago.

As such, you can expect Darnold’s critics and haters to be particularly salty this week, as ESPN’s Mike Greenberg warned after the game.

It’s a shame, because Darnold really was playing exceptionally well coming into this week. Of the six inerceptions he had thrown before today’s game, two of them were pretty fluky – bouncing off the helmets of his teammates before landing in his opponents’ hands.

There was nothing fluky or unlucky about the four picks Darnold threw against the Rams, though. In all four cases they were bad reads and bad throws, even if rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo could have run his route a little better on the third one.

The good news is that this will almost certainly motivate Darnold to put his best foot forward and be determined to never have another game like this for the rest of the season.

If Darnold can manage to do that and play clean ball from here on out, it’s going to be extremely tough to beat this team. It was extremely tough for the Rams even with Darnold’s four INTs, mind you. If not for a one-in-a-million punt to pin them at the one-yard line to start the final drive, Seattle probably would have won today despite the turnovers.

The future is still very bright for this team – and Darnold is still a very good quarterback. To be continued…