Seahawks' Sam Darnold gets honest about oblique injury after Super Bowl win over Patriots

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold dealt with a painful oblique injury that he picked up during a practice on Jan. 15 over his team's final two games of the season. In the end, that issue didn't prevent Darnold from helping the Seahawks earn an impressive 29-13 Super Bowl LX win over the New England Patriots on Sunday night.

Following the victory, Darnold opened up about the physical issue that he and others within the Seahawks had downplayed over the past few weeks. 

Sam Darnold: Playing with oblique injury was "not very fun"

"Yeah, it wasn't fun by any means," Darnold said about the injury, per Brady Henderson of ESPN. "It was pretty banged up. Still, I don't really want to go into too much detail because I don't understand why I would. But it hurt really bad. You guys can imagine, left oblique strain for a quarterback is not very fun."

Despite the discomfort, Darnold passed for 346 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Seahawks' 31-27 NFC Championship Game win over the Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 25. He didn't need to be heroic against the Patriots, as the Seattle defense dominated most of the contest and caused New England quarterback Drake Maye to commit three turnovers (one fumble, two interceptions).

In total, Darnold completed 19-of-38 passes for 202 yards and one touchdown en route to becoming a Super Bowl champion. 

Sam Darnold had "crazy" confidence before redemption tour

The Darnold redemption tour became a much-discussed storyline ahead of the Super Bowl, as the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft was seen as somewhat of a journeyman roughly 11 months ago. While the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings previously moved on from Darnold in different ways during his career, he never stopped believing he could one day get his hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy. 

"Some people called me crazy throughout my career for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence," Darnold added. "But it was because of my parents, because of the way that they believed in me throughout my entire career. And it allowed me to go out there and play free and have a ton of confidence."

Perhaps such confidence will result in Darnold building upon his first season with Seattle and becoming a top-tier player at his position as soon as during the 2026 campaign.