SEATTLE (AP) — Sam Darnold and Seattle’s offense didn’t get off to the start it wanted on Sunday, though the Seahawks quarterback certainly rounded into form in the second half.
Darnold threw three touchdown passes, all in the second half, of a 37-9 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. It was Darnold’s most touchdown passes in a game since Nov. 2, when the Seahawks (10-3) beat the Washington Commanders 38-14.
“We did a great job in the second half,” Darnold said, “of coming back and finishing the game strong.”
Seattle found itself deadlocked in a 6-6 tie at halftime because of the Seahawks’ inability to convert red zone chances into touchdowns. One of Jason Myers’ three field goals in the afternoon, a 22-yarder, came after Darnold tossed a pair of incompletions and a false start.
In the second half, Darnold more closely resembled the quarterback the Seahawks were used to before a three-game stretch in November in which he threw two touchdown passes against four interceptions.
Darnold passed for 182 of his 249 yards after halftime in addition to his three touchdown passes, the last of which required him to step up in the pocket before delivering a strike to the NFL’s leading receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, from 4 yards out. Darnold said he’s sought to become better at escaping up in the pocket, rather than up and out.
“I just felt like the other edge rushers were getting around a little bit, so I just tried to get up the middle and obviously made a play,” Darnold said. “And ‘Jax’ did a great job of getting open.”
So did plenty of other Seahawks receivers on Sunday. Five players had at least 20 yards receiving, including relative newcomer Rashid Shaheed, who had his most yards in a game (67) since the Seahawks acquired him from the New Orleans Saints ahead of the NFL trade deadline.
In Darnold’s opinion, the Seahawks’ offense, which ranks second in the NFL in points per game (29.3), is doing a fine job of moving up and down the field. That’s thanks in no small part to his play.
“I feel like we’re in a good spot,” Darnold. “We’ve just got to continue to harp on the details of everything. We know that in the locker room, and we’ll do a good job of that throughout the week.”
All-pro cornerback Devon Witherspoon has been hampered by injuries in his third NFL season, and isn’t putting up eye-popping stats quite like he did in 2023. Witherspoon did have his first interception of the 2025 season on Sunday, though, as well as two of his five passes defended this year.
Fellow cornerback Riq Woolen commended Witherspoon for what was arguably his finest performance of the season.
“Having (Witherspoon) out there, you know he’s going to be there,” Woolen said. “He’s loud, but his play speaks for itself as well. Ball-knowers know, football players know and people around the league know that he’s a great player. When he’s out there, he’s a force multiplier.”
Darnold has only been brought down 17 times through 13 games, but the Seahawks’ offensive line has shown some cracks as of late. He was sacked twice on Sunday after being brought down four times in a 26-0 win against the Minnesota Vikings.
Though Darnold emerged from the game relatively unscathed, keeping him upright will be paramount to the Seahawks’ prospects for the postseason in 2025.
Not only did Shaheed have his most receiving yards in a game with the Seahawks on Sunday, but he also returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. It took a few weeks, but trading for Shaheed is looking like a shrewd move with each passing week.
Running back Kenneth Walker III was in a groove in November, rushing for at least 56 yards in four out of five games. The fourth-year tailback started December with a dud, though, galloping for just 29 yards on 10 carries. His 2.9 yards per carry were his fewest in a game since the season opener, when the 49ers’ defense limited Walker to 20 yards on 10 carries.
TE Elijah Arroyo went down in the first half of Sunday’s game with a knee injury. Macdonald said this week is probably in jeopardy for Arroyo to play. C Jalen Sundell, who has been sidelined with a knee injury, should be back at practice this week, per Macdonald.
423 — Days in between Seahawks kickoff returns for touchdowns. Wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. – who is currently a free agent – returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown in a 36-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers last year.
The Seahawks host two games next week. The Colts come to town on Dec. 14, and the Rams will arrive in Seattle for a key matchup with NFC West title implications on Dec. 18.
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Seattle Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon celebrates a fumble recovery against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold points to fans after a victory over the Atlanta Falcons in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Iran fired missiles and drones at targets across the Gulf including oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and a ship off the coast of the Emirates, while Israeli and the United States struck targets across the Islamic Republic. Saudi Arabia and other states said they intercepted multiple drone attacks.
Six members of the Iranian women’s soccer team will remain in Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Wednesday, while one of the squad members who was previously granted asylum changed her mind and planned to return to Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in social media posts there were no reports of Iran planting explosives in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil is shipped. The U.S. said it took out more than a dozen minelaying Iranian vessels Tuesday to help prevent any attempt to close the waterway.
Iran's vow not to allow any oil through the strategic strait has led to market volatility and fears of shortages, especially in Asia, which is dependent on oil shipped from the region.
Israel struck a building in the center of the Lebanese capital Beirut as part of its campaign against Hezbollah. The Lebanese group has been carrying out attacks against Israel in support of Iran.
Here is the latest:
Speculation over the health of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei grew Wednesday after the son of Iran’s president mentioned hearing news about him “being injured.”
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is the son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mojtaba Khamenei long has been a secretive figure within Iran. His father and wife both were killed in an Israeli airstrike Feb. 28 that started the war.
Khamenei has not been seen since, nor has he given any statement since becoming supreme leader on Monday.
In an overnight post on the app Telegram, Yousef Pezeshkian, the son of President Masoud Pezeshkian, wrote: “I heard news about Mr. Mojtaba being injured. I asked friends who were in contact. They said, thank God, he is healthy and there is no problem.”
He did not elaborate.
The Iranian women’s soccer team is in a hotel in Malaysia awaiting travel arrangements to return home, officials said Wednesday.
Iran’s embassy in Malaysia confirmed the squad members landed in the capital Kuala Lumpur early Wednesday and are expected to depart when flights are available and Iran’s airspace reopens, according to the Bernama news agency.
“They want to return home,” the embassy told Bernama.
The Asian Football Confederation said the team is staying at a Kuala Lumpur hotel in the meantime and will receive support from the confederation until their travel arrangements are confirmed, a spokesperson said.
Six women from the Iranian squad will remain in Australia on humanitarian visas after accepting offers of asylum shortly before their scheduled return home.
Some tankers, believed linked to Iran, are continuing to get through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
Some of the ships getting through are so-called “dark” transits, meaning they aren’t turning on their Automatic Identification System tracks, which show where vessels are.
Vessels carrying sanctioned Iranian crude often turn off their AIS trackers.
The security firm Neptune P2P Group said Wednesday that seven ships had passed through the strait since March 8. Of those, five were linked to Iranian-associated shipping, it said.
The commodity-tracking firm Kpler said Iran has restarted crude exports through its Jask oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman.
A tanker loaded roughly 2 million barrels at Jask on March 7, the firm said.
A projectile hit a cargo ship Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, setting the vessel ablaze after the United States targeted Iranian minelaying vessels that could target the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, said the vessel had been hit just north of Oman in the strait.
It said the crew was evacuating the ship.
Iran did not immediately claim the attack though it has been targeting ships in and around the strait, disrupting a waterway that sees a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded pass through it.
The UKMTO earlier reported on another attack targeting a vessel off Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
Qatar issued a warning to the public Wednesday morning of a possible Iranian attack.
An Associated Press journalist in Qatar heard explosions as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over Doha, the country’s capital.
Qatar says it won’t serve as a mediator for Iran as it remains under attack from Tehran.
Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs, made the statement to the Qatari-funded satellite news network Al Jazeera in an interview aired Wednesday.
He noted both Qatar and Oman had been attacked even though they worked to “build bridges between Iran and the West.”
“We will not be able to fulfill that role under attack, and that’s something the Iranians need to understand,” al-Khulaifi said. "The regional countries are not an enemy of Iran, and the Iranians are not understanding that idea.”
Russia said its consulate in the Iranian city of Isfahan was damaged in airstrikes targeting the central Iranian city.
The state-run Tass news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying there were “no casualties or serious injuries” in the strike Sunday, which targeted the nearby governor’s office in the city.
“Windows were shattered in the office building and residential apartments, and several employees were thrown back by the blast wave. Fortunately, there were no casualties or serious injuries,” Zakharova said.
Videos circulating online and broadcast by local news channels from an apparent strike site in the densely populated Aicha Bakkar area of central Beirut show two floors of a multistory building engulfed in flames.
The strike came without warning. There were no immediate reports concerning who was targeted or the number and extent of casualties.
The structure that was hit is several buildings away from Dar al-Fatwa, the country’s highest Sunni Muslim religious authority.
The strike was in an area far from Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings earlier in the renewed conflict with Hezbollah.
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said early Wednesday it destroyed five drones heading toward the kingdom’s vast Shaybah oil field in the Empty Quarter desert. It added that it intercepted and destroyed two drones in the Eastern Province.
Kuwait said it downed eight drones over the tiny, oil-rich nation.
Two more members of the Iranian women’s soccer team were granted asylum in Australia before their teammates departed the country, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Wednesday, but one of the women changed her mind and plant to return to Iran.
Six women from the Iranian squad will remain in Australia on humanitarian visas after accepting offers of asylum shortly before their scheduled return home, Burke said. The names and photographs of the team members initially granted asylum have been widely published, including by Burke, and it was not immediately clear which of the women reversed her decision.
The rest of the team’s departure from Sydney, Australia, happened late Tuesday during fraught and outraged protests at the delegation’s hotel and the airport. Iranian Australians sought to prevent the women from leaving the country, citing fears for their safety in Iran.
A projectile hit a container ship early Wednesday morning off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Strait of Hormuz, the British military said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center issued the warning, saying the attack happened off Ras al-Khaimah, the UAE’s northernmost emirate on the strait.
The center said the “extent of the damage is currently unknown but under investigation by the crew.”
Ships have effectively halted movement through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded passes.
A boy runs inside cement pipe turned into a bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strike in Michmoret, Israel, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A man passes in front of a destroyed building that housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a non-bank financial institution run by Hezbollah, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Protesters wave Iranian flags and hold a portrait of the late Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to support his selection as the new Iran's Supreme Leader in Baghdad, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A displaced woman holds a child as another stands beside her between rows of tents at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, which has been turned into a shelter for people displaced by Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
