Sam Darnold threw a pair of touchdown passes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba as the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Tennessee Titans 30-24 on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.
Smith-Njigba, the NFL’s leading receiver, had eight catches for 167 yards. Darnold, who threw four interceptions in a 21-19 loss last week to the Los Angeles Rams, was 16-of-26 for 244 yards. Kenneth Walker III rushed for a game-high 71 yards on 11 carries.
Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in this spring’s draft, was 28-of-42 for 256 passing yards and a touchdown and rushed for a team-high 37 yards and a score for the Titans (1-10), who suffered their sixth straight defeat.
Ward threw a 1-yard TD pass to Chimere Dike with 43 seconds remaining, but the ensuing onside kick didn’t go 10 yards and Seattle ran out the clock.
The Seahawks (8-3) received the second-half kickoff and went 76 yards in three plays, with Darnold hitting Smith-Njigba for a 56-yard gain down the left sideline on the initial snap. Following a 7-yard run by Walker, Darnold found Smith-Njigba for a 13-yarder in the back of the end zone to give Seattle a 23-3 lead.
Dike returned a punt 90 yards for a score and Ward tallied on a 6-yard run later in the third quarter to bookend a 5-yard TD run by the Seahawks’ Zach Charbonnet.
The Seahawks took a 16-3 halftime lead thanks to a 63-yard scoring strike from Darnold to Smith-Njigba and three field goals by Jason Myers.
The Titans, who have failed to score a touchdown on their opening possessions this season, nearly ended that streak. They took the kickoff and marched 63 yards on 15 plays, burning 9:09 off the clock, before Ward was sacked by Patrick O’Connell on third-and-goal from the 3-yard line, which forced Tennessee to settle for Joey Slye’s 22-yard field goal.
O’Connell was elevated from the practice squad and started at middle linebacker for the injured Ernest Jones IV (knee).
The Seahawks answered with a 47-yarder by Myers to tie the score at 3-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Darnold found Smith-Njigba on a deep ball down the right sideline and he shrugged off a defender and backpedaled into the end zone to make it 10-3.
Myers added 30- and 36-yard field goals, the latter on the final play of the half, to extend Seattle’s lead to 16-3.
