Seahawks 33, Chiefs 16
Q. How did it feel out there?
SAM DARNOLD: Good. I thought today was -- first of all, it was awesome to just get out there in front of the 12s in that atmosphere, too. I felt like that was kind of a perfect atmosphere. Felt like it was almost November, December already out there in the rain out here. It was an incredible atmosphere too. Again, like I said last week I think to you guys, just the way the fans came out during the preseason game, it's incredible to see.
Football-wise I think offensive line dominated really most the game, which is always great to see. That first group, that second group, even the third and fourth group went out there and played really well together.
Yeah, it felt really good to get out there in front of the 12s.
Q. When you're running the ball like that what's that do for the offense, big gain after big gain?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, it's huge. Whenever you can get a big gain and just stack that up and play-action, run some keepers off it, makes my job a lot easier as a quarterback.
Q. Just pace, it's only August of course, but how close is that to the script or mentality you want to play with?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, the way we were able to run the football like we talked about, mixing in keepers and play-action and even some dropback there on second down early in the drive, it was our style of football. It's the style we wanted to create in OTAs and even training camp. We started to find our identity that way.
Can kind of see to come to life. Like you just mentioned it's August, so there is still a long ways to go in terms of where we want to be as an offense. It was really good to get out there and just take the field as a unit the way we wanted to.
Q. Sam, on the passing game, you only threw four, but four different receivers. Talk about that.
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, it's great. Great to get the guys, different guys touches. That's what we're going to be as an offense. We're going to be very multiple. We're going to use different guys in the pass game and the run game so that defenses aren't going to know what to expect.
Q. We've seen Klint get you and Drew outside the pocket quite a bit, and that's been a part of his offenses in the past. What do you like about that?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, I think whenever you go run the football, that's always going to be a threat, to be able to get outside the pockets on movements and keepers and be able to stress the defense that way horizontally.
We are going to stress them vertically as well, but when you can put that stress, run some wide zone, inside zone, and different gap schemes and all of a sudden you're running keepers off those plays, makes it very tough on defenses.
Q. I know it's just August, but you mentioned the variance in the run game. You guys had two big runs in the first preseason game that were coming off the gap teams, and today you're getting the horizontal displacement. For this stage of the season do you feel pretty darn good about where that is in terms of what the line is able to do with all those different types of schemes?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, I think we've been playing solid as an offense. I feel like we've made strides during training camp, but there is always ways to improve. I think just continuing to get in and out of huddle, personnel getting in and out, you know, moving the football down the field, me being very discipline in the pass game. If it's not there down the field, getting to my check down.
There is always ways to be able to get better, and we're going to look at the tape and continue to grow as an offense.
Q. Mike Macdonald mentioned to us how quickly you're getting the ball out in practice and he went up to you and said you're a pain in the butt now to try to pressure. Where has your evolution been from the start of the training camp to now in that regard?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, I think as I've grown as a quarterback the more experience that I gain, you know, it's always on first and second down, that's the goal: get the ball out as fast as possible. Whether that's to your No. 1 target organize whether that's to your check down.
The faster you can move through these progressions, kind of understand what coverages they want to play and understand what's going to be open. Like, okay, concept won't be open versus certain coverages. They're playing that coverage. How fast can I get to the check down.
Just having that understanding of the system and what defenses want to do to us, that can only help me as a quarterback and also us as an offense.
Q. How much of what Macdonald is throwing at you in practice is going to help you for what you'll see in the season?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, exactly. That's kind of what I was getting at. It's just trying to get the ball out as fast as possible with coach's defense; our defense does a great job being able to mix in different looks, and the more that I can see that as training camp continues to go -- I know we're going Green Bay to play the Packers in joint practice, but in these practices leading up to the season, it's always a challenge to be able to figure out where I want to go with the football and what kind of coverage our defense is playing, what pressures they're bringing. Am I hot, am I not.
That whole cat and mouse game that our defense likes to play, and that we kind of fire back with as an offense. It's been really fun in training camp and I've learned a lot about the system and where my certain outlets are on certain plays.
Q. How much of the trust aspect plays into that, the growing trust with your receivers like Jaxon knowing he's going to be prepared?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, I think our receivers have been doing a great job first of all of learning, understanding the system, kind of making it our own. You know, it's one thing run a route like it says to on paper, but when you get a certain coverage you might have to widen out a little bit to get this guy to sluff off and come underneath a linebacker and maybe field zone.
Whereas the paper just says five yards up, five yards in. For guys to be able to make this offense our own I feel like our receivers, tight ends, and running backs have all been doing a great job of kind of taking ownership of the system.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports