Seahawks’ Darnold bounces back from trio of shaky games, stands out in 2nd half against Falcons

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.

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

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)

NEW YORK (AP) — Secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case can be made public, a judge ruled Wednesday, joining two other judges in granting the Justice Department’s requests to unseal material from investigations into the late financier’s sexual abuse.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman reversed his earlier decision to keep the material under wraps, citing a new law that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell. The judge previously cautioned that the 70 or so pages of grand jury materials slated for release are hardly revelatory and “merely a hearsay snippet” of Epstein’s conduct.

On Tuesday, another Manhattan federal judge ordered the release of records from Maxwell’s 2021 sex trafficking case. Last week, a judge in Florida approved the unsealing of transcripts from an abandoned Epstein federal grand jury investigation in the 2000s.

The Justice Department asked the judges to lift secrecy orders after the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month, created a narrow exception to rules that normally keep grand jury proceedings confidential. The law requires that the Justice Department disclose Epstein-related material to the public by Dec. 19.

The court records cleared for release are just a sliver of the government’s trove — a collection of potentially tens of thousands of pages of documents including FBI notes and reports; transcripts of witness interviews, photographs, videos and other evidence; Epstein’s autopsy report; flight logs and travel records.

While lawyers for Epstein’s estate told Berman in a letter last week that the estate took no position on the Justice Department’s unsealing request, some Epstein victims backed it.

“Release to the public of Epstein-related materials is good, so long as the victims are protected in the process,” said Brad Edwards, a lawyer for some victims. "With that said, the grand jury receives only the most basic information, so, relatively speaking, these particular materials are insignificant.”

Questions about the government’s Epstein files have dominated the first year of Trump’s second term, with pressure on the Republican intensifying after he reneged on a campaign promise to release the files. His administration released some material, most of it already public, disappointing critics and some allies.

Berman was matter of fact in his ruling Wednesday, writing that the transparency law “unequivocally intends to make public Epstein grand jury materials and discovery materials” that had previously been covered by secrecy orders. The law “supersedes the otherwise secret grand jury materials," he wrote.

The judge, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, implored the Justice Department to carefully follow the law's privacy provisions to ensure that victims' names and identifying information are redacted, or blacked out. Victim safety and privacy “are paramount,” he wrote.

In court filings, the Justice Department informed Berman that the only witness to testify before the Epstein grand jury was an FBI agent who, the judge noted, “had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.”

The agent testified over two days, on June 18, 2019, and July 2, 2019. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow and four pages of call logs. The July 2 session ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein.

Epstein, a millionaire money manager known for socializing with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and the academic elite, killed himself in jail a month after his 2019 arrest. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 by a federal jury of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of Epstein’s underage victims and participating in some of the abuse. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Maxwell’s lawyer told a judge last week that unsealing records from her case “would create undue prejudice” and could spoil her plans to file a habeas petition, a legal filing seeking to overturn her conviction. The Supreme Court in October declined to hear Maxwell’s appeal.

Maxwell’s grand jury records include testimony from the same FBI agent and a New York Police Department detective.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer sought to temper expectations as he approved their release on Tuesday, writing that the materials “do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor.”

“They do not discuss or identify any client of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s,” wrote Engelmayer, an appointee of President Barack Obama, a Democrat. “They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s crimes.”

Follow the AP’s coverage of Jeffrey Epstein at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein.

FILE - This photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein, March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)