Seahawks Instant Reaction: Offense struggles in OT loss to Denver

After a three-quarter slog from the offense, the Seattle Seahawks staged a fourth-quarter comeback to force overtime, but turnovers proved to best costly again in a 17-14 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night.

Recap | Box Score

Sam Darnold threw a critical interception – his second of the game – on the opening drive of overtime and Denver needed to gain just eight yards to set up Will Lutz for a game-winning 53-yard field goal.

The Seahawks fell to 3-3 on the season and the Broncos improved to 4-2.

Here’s the instant reaction to the game from the voices of Seattle Sports.

Seattle Seahawks Instant Reaction

• Mike Salk – Brock and Salk (6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports)

I feel bad for the Seahawks’ defense. It pitched a shutout in the second half and I think could have kept it going in overtime if it hadn’t had to defend such a small area to prevent a game-winning field goal. The only thing it couldn’t do was force a turnover and unfortunately that was what it needed. You simply cannot turn the ball over three times on the road and expect to win against a quality opponent. Ever.

The Seahawks’ offense has a problem. When it plays safe, it doesn’t move the ball. And when it has to take risks, the quarterback is putting the ball in harm’s way too often. The root of the issue might be complex, but the nexus point of Sam Darnold throwing interceptions is making it nearly impossible for this team to reach its potential.

You hate to put a loss squarely on one person’s shoulders, but unfortunately Sam’s decision making makes it a conversation. The sack in the first half leading to the missed field goal, the interception in the fourth quarter which cost them valuable time, and obviously the game-deciding pick which was quite literally the only thing you couldn’t afford to do on that play.

The Seahawks are going to get a mini bye to figure things out. Hopefully, they will get Zach Charbonnet back to bring some life to the running game and help Sam in play action. But this offense is a problem and right now that I focus on the quarterback position.

• Bob Stelton – Wyman and Bob (2-7 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports)

What is there to even say about this one? This is a game the defending Super Bowl champs needed to win. But once again, they did just about everything in their power to lose it. The defense actually played a pretty solid game. It allowed two sustained scoring drives in the second quarter, but shut out the Broncos in the other three quarters.

The Seahawks held the Broncos to 168 total yards, 74 rushing yards, 94 passing yards and 3 of 14 on third downs. They also sacked Bo Nix twice when he had only been sacked six total times in the previous five games.

Once again, the deciding factor in this game was the turnovers. The Seahawks had three of them, and the Broncos none. Seattle now has 12 turnovers on the season, second most in the NFL. As poorly as this game was going, you can argue that if they cut their season total by three turnovers, they’re undefeated.

Sam Darnold has now thrown seven interceptions in the four full games he has played this season. While not all of them are his fault, enough of them are that coach Mike Macdonald has to to start asking himself if having Sam take a seat is a realistic option. This isn’t all on Darnold. The O-line has not looked good for a couple of weeks now, and it appears that the only receiver who can get open on a consistent basis is Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

I don’t know what the answers are to get this turned around, but Macdonald better find them fast. The Hawks are now 3 games behind the division leading 49ers.

• Mike Lefko – Wyman and Bob

It’s officially time to hit the panic button on the Seahawks’ offense – every aspect of it. Fleury’s playcalling, Darnold’s decision-making, the lack of other receiving options, all of it needs to be thoroughly examined in this extra time before next Sunday.

What at first seemed like knee-jerk, rabble-rousing now must be at least a consideration – do you bench Darnold for Drew Lock?

This is a defense that completely shut down the Broncos’ offense in the second half, but it’s all for naught after another abysmal performance by the offense.

• Brock Huard – Brock and Salk

"That was just an inexcusable decision."#Seahawks fall to the Broncos 17-14 in Week 6️⃣, @BrockHuard shares his instant reaction to the game presented by @Puyallup_Tribe. pic.twitter.com/Svajw1ulXr

— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) October 16, 2026

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