PITTSBURGH—Before the Seahawks built a double-digit cushion late in the fourth quarter, then sealed the game with an interception, they were still locked in a close game looking for their offense to close things out.

And staring down third-and-9 from their own 28-yard line, the Seahawks were in danger of having to punt the ball back to the Steelers and giving them a shot to tie the game with a touchdown.

That's when Sam Darnold made arguably the best play in a game full of them. With the Steelers sending pressure on third-and-long, linebacker Patrick Queen had a free run at Darnold, but Darnold was able to spin away from the blitzing linebacker and escape to his left where, with Nick Herbig bringing additional pressure, he flipped a pass to tight end AJ Barner, who picked up 19 yards and a first down.

On the very next play, Darnold hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba deep for a 43-yard gain with Jalen Ramsey in coverage, sucking the life out of the crowd at Acrisure Stadium, then three plays after that, Kenneth Walker III sprinted 19 yards for a score to put the finishing touches on an impressive 31-17 Seahawks victory. On a game full of big plays for the Seahawks in all three phases of the game, Darnold keeping the play alive and covering on third-and-9, turning a possible punting situation into a long touchdown drive, was one of the most significant.

"It was a critical play in the game," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said of Sam Darnold's third-down play. "That's the Sam we know and love. That's the guy that shows up on tape. He's done it his whole career, and he's doing it for us. And really, a heads-up play. AJ understood to uncover and get in the scramble drill, I thought that was a tremendous play. It really changed the tide of the game, frankly, because we went down and scored."

As Macdonald noted, Barner also had a big part in the play, recognizing a scramble situation and getting off his block to be available to Darnold.

"AJ Did an incredible job of feeling me scramble, even though he was kind of chipping his way out, and I was able to get him the ball," Darnold said.

Those two big plays down the stretch on a game-clinching touchdown drive were just part of what was an impressive but eventful day for Darnold in his second start as a Seahawk. Darnold and the offense were sharp early, marching down the field on the opening drive, with Darnold hitting rookie receiver Tory Horton for a 21-yard touchdown to put the Seahawks up 7-0. But on Seattle's next possession, and Darnold's next pass attempt, he was intercepted by Ramsey when a deep, play-action shot to Cooper Kupp was slightly underthrown, allowing Ramsey to undercut the route.

That interception led to a Steelers field goal, then later in the half Darnold was intercepted again on fourth-and-1 when veteran defensive tackle Carmeron Heyward tipped Darnold's pass attempt, allowing Nick Herbig pick it off and return it 41 yards to Seattle's 21-yard line. That turnover set up a 2-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf, and with a successful 2-point conversion, the Steelers had a 14-7 halftime lead despite gaining just 69 yards and six first downs while averaging 2.6 yards per play in the half.

But Darnold, whose up-and-down career journey has helped him develop a consistent, level-headed approach to his play and his leadership, was unfazed by those two first-half turnovers, and was able to come through big in the second half, not just on that game-clinching drive, but also on a touchdown drive to start the half in which he completed all four pass attempts, the last of them a touchdown to Barner.

"He had some adversity early," Macdonald said… "I'm looking at him, and the guy's stone cold out there and just keeps playing. When we finally close it out there at the end you saw the emotion, saw the excitement. He deserves it. He played a really good game."

Said running back Kenneth Walker III, "He's just a great leader. He kept his head on straight, he didn't really pout over the interceptions or anything. He stayed positive, then he started throwing touchdowns."

Cooper Kupp, who like Darnold is new to the Seahawks this year, was also impressed by his quarterback, who completed 22 of 33 pass attempts for 295 yards and two touchdowns, including seven completions to Kupp for 90 yards.

"He was just steady," Kupp said. "Obviously he's going to be hard on himself, but his ability to just bounce back from that, knowing we need him to be—you can't be fragile, you've got to be able to have that callous that says, 'I'm going to still pull the trigger when it's time to pull the trigger, and be aggressively smart.' I thought he did a great job just continuing to play the game at the high level after things didn't go his way early on. I thought he was able to play a really good game as it progressed."