Klatt: Super Bowl QBs Darnold, Maye trending in opposite directions

Many thought the key for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship would be for quarterback Sam Darnold to play a clean game and avoid hurting his team.

Darnold did come through on that front, but he also did so much more.

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With many still questioning Darnold’s ability to lead a team to the Super Bowl, the former No. 3 overall pick delivered his best game as a Seahawk on one the biggest stage up to that point. He completed 25 of 36 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers, going throw for throw with MVP candidate Matthew Stafford in a 31-27 victory.

And it came against a team that had given him fits in the Los Angeles Rams, the same team that sacked him nine times in last year’s playoffs when he was with Minnesota and intercepted him four times earlier this season with the Seahawks.

FOX analyst and former college quarterback Joel Klatt has had his doubts about Seattle’s signal-caller, but he was thoroughly impressed with what Darnold did the NFC title game.

“He was elite,” Klatt told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Wednesday. “He played on time. He played on target. He played bold. He didn’t take chances that were unnecessary. He didn’t panic. He was calm and yet he was surgical. And I think it all stems from confidence and command. … You gotta be bold in your decision making, but it stems from a confidence of your command of what’s going on. What are they doing? What are we doing? Why? How? All of those things.”

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Klatt said Darnold’s game against the Rams made him think of a quote from “Field of Dreams” delivered by actor James Earl Jones: “They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it.”

“That’s how you play quarterback. You just kind of – it’s just oozing out of you,” Klatt said. “That’s the way it looked when Sam was playing. It was really beautiful. Probably his best football of his life.”

While Klatt thinks Darnold is entering the Super Bowl playing his best, he couldn’t say the same thing about Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. The second-year signal-caller has been sacked five times in each of his three playoff games and has five total turnovers in those contests. He also went 10 of 21 for 86 yards in the AFC Championship against the Denver Broncos. That game was played under heavy snow for much of the second half, but Maye still struggled before weather became a factor.

“Does he do some things that cause you problems? Yeah, you bet,” Klatt said. “He’s a really good young player, and he might turn into something really special. But right now, man, they are playing around their quarterback.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays form 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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