Seahawks PFF grades: Sam Darnold sharp, Cooper Kupp & Riq Woolen struggle

Sometimes the narrative coming out of a game is 100% wrong. Such is the case for Sam Darnold after his debut with the Seattle Seahawks. Yes, he lost a fumble in the clutch that sealed the loss, but Darnold had played well up until that point under extremely difficult circumstances.

That's what our eyeball test said, anyway - and it sounds like the analysts at Pro Football Focus agree. Darnold graded out as the best player for Seattle's offense this week. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball one cornerback shined while another was near the very bottom of the list. Let's break it down.

Sam Darnold leads offense

The box score indicates Darnold didn't do much against the Niners, yesterday. Truth is there wasn't much that could be done against a defense that's clearly resurgent with Robert Saleh calling their plays once again. Up until the fumble Darnold played mistake-free ball and took what was given. For his efforts, he earned an 82.6 overall grade from PFF, the highest for the Seahawks offense this week.

Cooper Kupp bottoms out

At the other end for Seattle's offensive grades was the disappointing debut for veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who totaled just two catches for 15 yards. Kupp also dropped his other target, which came on the heels of a big turnover forced by the Seahawks defense. Had he held onto that pass the end result might have been different. Kupp's 48.2 overall grade was the lowest for Seattle's offense.

Josh Jobe, Ernest Jones top defense

Defensively the Seahawks got a ton of pressure on Brock Purdy, who delivered some really impressive throws in spite of it. However, he also threw two ugly interceptions, one to cornerback Josh Jobe and another to middle linebacker Ernest Jones. That helped those two post the highest PFF grades for Seattle's defense this week. Jobe earned a 90.2 coverage grade and a team-best 89.9 overall, while Jones got a 73.7 in coverage and a 78.7 overall.

Ty Okada, Riq Woolen finish last

At the bottom of PFF's grades for the Seahawks defense were two DBs. Backup safety Ty Okada only played six snaps, but it was enough to give up a crucial touchdown to George Kittle. His 30.0 overall grade was the lowest on the team this week. Star cornerback Riq Woolen wasn't much better, though. Woolen posted a 34.9 grade in coverage and a 37.4 overall after giving up two huge completions to Ricky Pearsall and the game-winning touchdown to a backup tight end.