Sam Darnold returned to the scene of a disaster on Thursday night.
This time around, he was merely a bystander as another catastrophe seemingly unfolded when Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals tied up a ballgame that had seemed to be an easy Seattle Seahawks win in the making.
Darnold, playing at State Farm Stadium for the first time since losing an NFC Wild Card game as a member of the Minnesota Vikings last season, was able to come up clutch this time around, though.
Taking over with 28 seconds to play on his 40-yard line following a Cardinals kickoff gaffe, Darnold connected on a 22-yard pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba to set up Jason Myers' game-winning field goal as Seattle defeated Arizona, 23-20, on Thursday Night Football.
"Sam's playing out of his mind right now," head coach Mike Macdonald said after the Seahawks (3-1) outlasted the Cardinals (2-2). "You see him and he's just like such a cool customer. He's a guy on a mission. He's so determined for us to be a great team and a great offense. He's doing a great job leading us."
Darnold's one and only season with the Vikings ended with a playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams last season. The game was played in Glendale, Arizona, due to wildfires in Southern California. Darnold was woeful in the 27-9 postseason loss, taking nine sacks and turning it over twice. Despite the story arc, Darnold didn't worry much about the venue he was playing in 254 days after his last game with Minnesota.
"To be honest, not really. It's just another game, obviously, it's in the same stadium but it's Week 4 and we did a good job today," Darnold said. "There's a lot of stuff that we can clean up but I'm going to enjoy this three-day break or whatever we got and watch some Ryder Cup (golf)."
On Thursday, Darnold hardly lit up the stat sheet in a largely ho-hum game, but he was efficient. He finished the game completing 18 of 26 passes for 242 yards, a 16-yard touchdown to AJ Barner in the first half, a 111.4 passer rating and no turnovers.
Perhaps stunning to some, Darnold's rally was his seventh game-winning drive since 2024, tied with Patrick Mahomes for the most in the NFL in that span. Prior to last year with the Vikings, Darnold had just five game-winning drives total across the first six seasons of his career with the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers.
Though it wasn't pretty, the Seahawks owned a 20-6 lead in the fourth quarter, having dominated in a manner not accurately represented on the scoreboard.
With just under six minutes to go in the game, the Cardinals finally found life -- and the end zone -- when Murray hooked up with Marvin Harrison Jr. for a 16-yard touchdown.
Now leading by seven points, Darnold and Co. responded. On third-and-6, Darnold found Smith-Njigba in man coverage on a deep ball that went for a 36-yard gain -- the game's biggest play. Now set up at the Arizona 38-yard line, Seattle got ultra conservative, running the ball on three straight plays. Myers then missed a 53-yard field goal to leave the door open for a Cardinals comeback.
Murray walked right through, leading a 57-yard game-tying touchdown drive.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Cardinals' Chad Ryland booted the ball short of the landing zone, giving Darnold possession at his 40. Still, only 28 seconds were on the clock.
It turned out to be just enough after Darnold found Smith-Njigba again.
Throughout much of the game, Darnold had spread the ball all around, ending the game with completions to eight receivers. Smith-Njigba, amid a stellar start to the season, was largely absent from contributing.
Darnold found his go-to target when the game was on the line, though.
"We were fortunate with the kick not being in the landing zone," Macdonald said. "Sam and Jax were just lights out and just a great job overall."
When Darnold walked away from State Farm Stadium last year, it concluded a campaign in which he resurrected his career only for his last two games -- equally disastrous -- to cast a pall over all the positives prior. His future was uncertain.
This time around, Darnold left Glendale a victor, his Seahawks soaring and the future with his new squad looking promising.