Sam Darnold, Seahawks Have ‘Hands Full’ Facing Stingy Texans’ Defense
RENTON, Wash. - Preparing to face an elite defense isn’t anything new for Sam Darnold, who has gotten off to a fast start in his first season with the Seattle Seahawks while playing against several talented opponents along the way.
Looking back at Seattle’s past three games, Darnold and company have squared off against an Arizona defense that ranked fifth in scoring (17.0 points per game) rolling into a Thursday Night Football divisional matchup and a Jacksonville defense that ranked eighth in scoring (20.0 points per game) last Sunday. But neither of those teams have been as relentless and unyielding as Houston, who has given up a league-best 12.2 points per game through Week 6, more than four points per game fewer than any other team, leaving the quarterback catching himself playing a broken record leading up to a Monday matchup against the Texans.
“Another great defense we’re playing against. Houston and coach DeMeco Ryans over there have those guys rolling,” Darnold said. “Their defense is playing really well, they’re playing at a high level, and the offense is too obviously. All the guys they have on defense, they have great personnel, all the guys up front, the linebackers, the secondary, they fly around, they know their scheme inside and out, and they do a good job. Whether they want to play coverage, pressure, or man-to-man, they do a really good job. We’ve got our hands full this week, but like I say all the time, we’re excited about this opportunity.”
To this point, Darnold hasn’t been slowed down playing against other top units, emerging as a potential MVP candidate for the 4-2 Seahawks. He threw for 242 yards and a touchdown in a 23-20 win against the Cardinals in Arizona and nearly hit the 300-yard mark with a pair of touchdown tosses against the Jaguars in Jacksonville, not turning over the football a single time in two tight road games.
For the season, Darnold has been among the best signal callers in nearly every major metric orchestrating coordinator Klint Kubiak’s offense, whether via traditional or advanced statistics. Per Pro Football Focus charting, he entered Week 7 ranking in the top five in passing yards (1,541), touchdowns (11), yards per attempt (9.6), completion rate (70.8 percent), and passer rating (116.0) while also ranking fourth in Big Time Throws (13) and first in turnover-worthy play rate (1.1 percent).
But Darnold will face a different animal in the Texans, who have made life as tricky on quarterbacks as any defense in the NFL. For starters, anchored by standout pass rushers Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter up front along with a shutdown cornerback in Derek Stingley Jr., they have given up only three passing touchdowns and a 70.4 passer rating to opposing signal callers, both the lowest marks in the league. Even with one less game than most teams after a Week 6 bye, they also rank eighth with five interceptions and have given up the eighth-fewest passes of 16 or more yards (20).
Interestingly, Houston has managed to post such impressive numbers limiting opposing passing attacks without the presence of a vaunted pass rush. While Anderson and Hunter both rank in the top 30 in pressures individually and have done their share of damage rushing off the edge, according to PFF, the team sits near the bottom of the league as a team in sacks (12), quarterback hits (25), and pressure rate (34.1).
How have the Texans managed to hold opponents in check so well without a top-10 pass rush? With Ryans calling the shots on defense and Darnold seeing a unit that fits the personality of their coach, they have been efficient getting opponents off the field on third down with a 36.07 percent conversion rate, eighth-best in the league. Incredibly, opponents have punted 2.6 times per touchdown or field goal against them, more than a full punt ahead of the second place team on average, signaling their dominance keeping teams from advancing deep into their own territory.
“I feel like their defense, they fly around, they hit, they play really hard. They do all the things that you're coached to do as a defense,” Darnold commented.
It’s also worth noting that sack and quarterback hit totals only paint part of the picture for Houston’s ability to disrupt a quarterback. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, the team ranks first for fastest average time per pressure (2.42 seconds), so they have proven to be consistent turning up heat on the pocket in rapid fashion.
If there’s a silver lining for Darnold and Seattle, however, it wouldn’t be difficult to argue that Houston’s success has been elevated with inflated numbers in part by the quarterbacks they have faced during a two-game winning streak. After starting off 0-3 with three close losses in low-scoring games, Ryan’s defense feasted on Tennessee rookie Cam Ward and Baltimore backup Cooper Rush, giving up a combined 10 points to two teams that have combined to win two total games this season.
While Darnold made sure to note on Thursday that the Texans made a few personnel changes during the offseason and added some schematic wrinkles in 2025, the quarterback diced them up while quarterbacking the Vikings last season. Throwing four touchdowns on just 17 completions in a one-sided rout, his second-most in a game in 2024, he led Minnesota to a 34-7 blowout victory, posting a 119.2 passer rating in the process in one of his finest performances on the way to his first Pro Bowl selection.
To come anywhere close to replicating that success for the Seahawks on Monday night, Darnold will have to be decisive with his reads against a Texans defense that plays a wide variety of coverage schemes. According to TruMedia, they have leaned heavily on Cover 3 (40.6 percent), but Ryans also runs extensive Cover 4 “Quarters” (19.2 percent) and Cover 6 (11.4 percent), mixing up both middle of field open and middle of field closed coverages by ranking in the top 10 in usage of all three of those variations.
Though Houston sits in the middle of the pack for blitz rate, Ryans also will sprinkle in pressure packages a fair amount, including sending aggressive nickel cornerback Jalen Pitre 22 times already this season with six pressures coming off those blitzes. Darnold will have to keep his head on a swivel to be ready for pressure from the slot and an occasional blitz sending linebackers E.J. Speed and Henry To’oTo’o while communicating protection with his offensive line accordingly pre-snap.
Holding much respect for what the Texans have accomplished to this point, Darnold expects the Seahawks will face their biggest challenge yet. And at the same time, he and his teammates have been playing with great confidence and they aren’t going to let that challenge alter how they game plan and operate offensively, bringing their own difficult attack to the equation that the opponent will have to prepare for.
