Sam Darnold and the Seahawks look to rebound against struggling Titans

Seattle (7-3) at Tennessee (1-9)

Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox.

BetMGM NFL odds: Seahawks by 13 1/2.

Against the spread: Seahawks 8-2, Titans 4-6.

Series record: Seahawks lead 11-8.

Last meeting: Seahawks beat the Titans 23-20 on Dec. 24, 2023, in Nashville.

Last week: Seahawks lost at Rams 21-19, Titans lost 16-13 to Texans.

Seahawks offense: overall (6), rush (14), pass (4), scoring (5).

Seahawks defense: overall (9), rush (6), pass (14), scoring (6).

Titans offense: overall (32), rush (32), pass (30), scoring (32).

Titans defense: overall (24), rush (26), pass (18), scoring (T-29).

Turnover differential: Seahawks minus-7; Titans minus-4.

RB Kenneth Walker III. The Seahawks' run game is on the right path, topping 100 yards rushing in three of Seattle's past four games. Considering Walker has rushed for 67 yards in back-to-back weeks and Tennessee's season-long woes stopping the run, he could be in line for his first 100-yard game since Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers — if he plays. He is nursing a glute injury.

QB Cam Ward. The No. 1 overall pick has 12 turnovers this season with six interceptions and six fumbles lost. He also had possibly his best drive late last week, driving the Titans 95 yards over 11 plays for a tying touchdown. He threw for 194 yards with a TD and ran for a team-high 33 yards. He leads all rookie quarterbacks with 1,954 yards passing.

The Seahawks' pass rush, which has the fourth-most sacks in the NFL, failed to generate a sack last week against the Rams. Expect that to change against the Titans, as Ward has been sacked a whopping 41 times this season.

Seahawks: G Grey Zabel (knee) is questionable after being in limited in practice the past two days. WR Tory Horton (groin) and LB Tyrice Knight (concussion) both are out. LB Ernest Jones (knee) is questionable after not practicing Friday. Walker (glute) was added to the injury report after being limited Friday and is questionable.

Titans: Rookie WR Elic Ayomanor will miss his first game with a hamstring injury. CB Darrell Baker Jr. (knee) is questionable with S Kendall Brooks (concussion protocol) out and S Xavier Woods (hamstring) missing a third straight game.

This will be Seattle's fourth regular-season game in Nashville. The Titans have won three of the past five between these teams, but Seattle leads the overall series 11-8 thanks to five straight victories and seven of eight starting in the late 1980s to 2005. The Seahawks are 4-5 in road games in this series.

The Seahawks are 7-3 for the first time since 2020. Seattle went 10-7 last season and hasn’t had a losing season since 2021 under Pete Carroll. ... The Seahawks are 3-0 against AFC foes this season, including 2-0 on the road... Sam Darnold threw four interceptions in a game last week for the first time since Oct. 21, 2019, for the Jets against New England. ... Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who led the Seahawks in yards receiving in 2024, leads in the NFL in that category this season. His 1,146 yards are 238 more than Ja’Marr Chase, the NFL’s second-leading receiver. ... Linebacker Ernest Jones IV has a career-high three interceptions this season, tied for fifth most in the NFL. … The Seahawks have 32 sacks, tied for fourth in the NFL, while the offense has allowed just 10. ... Seahawks K Jason Myers went 4 for 5 on field-goal attempts in Seattle’s most recent game. Myers' lone miss came on a 61-yard attempt as time expired. ... Tennessee's Ward has a TD pass in four of his past five games. ... RB Tyjae Spears had a season-high five catches last week. ... TE Chig Okonkwo led the Titans with three catches for 56 yards last week. ... WR Van Jefferson had his first TD catch this season last week. ... WR Elic Ayomanor is one of five NFL rookies this season with two or more catches in at least 10 straight games to start his career. ... LB Cedric Gray has 10 or more tackles in six games this season, tied for most in the NFL. Gray ranks third with 98 tackles overall. ... LB Cody Barton had a sack last week and is one of four LBs with three interceptions this season. ... LB Arden Key had 1 1/2 sacks last week.

AJ Barner has had an up-and-down first season as Seattle's primary tight end, but is coming off his finest game this season. Considering Darnold's struggles passing downfield against the Rams, expect him to once again turn to Barner, who had 10 catches for 70 yards last week.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Van Jefferson, right, celebrates with offensive tackle JC Latham (55) after Jefferson scored a touchdown against the Houston Texans during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis)

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams celebrates forcing a fourth down during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Katie Chin)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) is grabbed by Houston Texans defensive tackle Mario Edwards Jr. (97) during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Seattle Seahawks linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence celebrates a false start by the Los Angeles Rams during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Katie Chin)

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, left, is hit by Los Angeles Rams linebacker Jared Verse for an incomplete pass during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

LONDON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump says he's strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO, ratcheting up his criticism of European allies and exposing a wider rift in the trans-Atlantic alliance — this time over the Iran war.

While Trump's talk of a possible NATO pullout dates back years, the comments to The Telegraph newspaper in the U.K., published Wednesday, were among the clearest and most disparaging yet — suggesting that the fracture has deepened perhaps to a point of no return.

Asked whether he would reconsider U.S. membership in the alliance after the conflict in the Middle East ends, Trump replied: “Oh yes, I would say (it’s) beyond reconsideration."

NATO didn't provide immediate comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government was “fully committed to NATO” and called it “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.”

Many European leaders have felt political pressure over the war, which faces opposition in their countries and has sent petroleum prices soaring as Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes.

“Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I am going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions I make,” Starmer said Wednesday.

The U.K. is working on plans that could help assuage Trump, and Starmer said military planners will work on a postwar security plan for the Strait.

On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will host a virtual meeting of 35 countries that have signed up to help ensure security for shipping in the Strait — after the fighting ends.

Iulia-Sabina Joja, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, alluded to Trump's exhortation on Tuesday for allies to “go get your own oil” — in a social media post insisting it wasn't America's job to secure the Strait.

“The Europeans are not keen to go into an active warfare situation, to so-called ‘get’ their energy out of the Strait,” said Joba, a former deputy project manager at NATO Allied Command Transformation in Virginia.

Long-simmering tensions within the alliance have bubbled up again over the war.

As energy prices have spiked, Trump has been desperate to get countries to send their ships to the Strait of Hormuz. He has called NATO allies “cowards."

Even since his first term, Trump has urged the allies to assume greater responsibility for their own security and spend more on defense. He has argued that the U.S. has done more for them than the other way around.

A U.S. pullout would essentially spell the end of NATO, which flourished for decades under American leadership.

Speaking Tuesday on Fox News, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “I do think, unfortunately, we are going to have to reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose.”

Rubio raised questions with interviewer Sean Hannity about whether NATO has “become a one-way street where America is simply in a position to defend Europe — but when we need the help of our allies, they’re going to deny us basing rights and they’re going to deny us overflight.”

The criticism from Rubio could raise concerns in the alliance about whether the U.S. under Trump may no longer consider NATO as worth the time, money and personnel that Washington has invested in it.

The very mention of a pullout could weaken the alliance’s deterrence, particularly with Russia: It relies on ensuring that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes NATO will retaliate if he decides to one day expand Moscow's war in Ukraine.

NATO is built on Article 5 of its founding treaty, which pledges that an attack on any one member will be met with a response from them all.

As the Iran war has spread, missiles and drones have been fired toward NATO member Turkey and a British military base on Cyprus, fueling speculation about what might prompt NATO to trigger its collective security guarantee and come to their rescue.

The alliance hasn't intervened or signaled any plan to. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte — who has voiced support for Trump and Washington's role in the alliance — has been focusing mostly on the Russia-Ukraine war since Ukraine borders four NATO countries.

NATO operates uniquely by consensus. All 32 countries must agree for it to take decisions, so political priorities play a role. Even invoking Article 5 requires agreement among the allies. Turkey or the U.K. can't trigger it alone.

The U.S. can’t just simply walk away all that easy.

A Defense Act passed under U.S. President Joe Biden in 2024 prevents an American president from withdrawing from NATO without support of two-thirds of the Senate or under another act by Congress. It is unclear whether the Trump administration, which during his first term claimed broader authority on the matter, would challenge that law.

European leaders have called for the Middle East conflict to stop and want the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program, which Washington and Israel see as a threat.

The vocal opposition in Europe to Trump's war against Iran has started to turn into action.

Spain has closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the war.

Early last month, France agreed to let the U.S. Air Force use a base in southern France after receiving a “full guarantee” from the United States that planes not involved in carrying out strikes against Iran would land there.

The government of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, long seen as one of the European Union leaders with the best personal ties with Trump, denied permission for U.S. bombers to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily for one mission related to the Middle East.

Franco Pavoncello, a professor of political science at Rome’s John Cabot University, said that decision might cost Meloni a lot of her political capital in Washington.

But he said: “The Italian government could not be seen by the European allies as too submissive to American interests, as it would have very negative repercussions both at home and in the EU.”

U.S. relations with Europe had already soured in recent months over Trump's call for Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of stalwart NATO ally Denmark — to become part of the United States, prompting many EU countries to rally behind Copenhagen.

Jamey Keaten reported from Geneva. Lorne Cook in Brussels, Giada Zampano in Rome, Sam McNeil in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Matthew Lee in Washington, contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)