Seahawks' Darnold to play through oblique injury for rest of playoffs

Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold told reporters after Seattle's dominant 41-6 divisional round victory over the San Francisco 49ers that he'll have to manage his oblique injury for the rest of the postseason.

The Seahawks had listed Darnold as questionable heading into Saturday night's contest. He was a limited participant in Thursday's practice, and backup signal-caller Drew Lock took some first-team reps leading up to the game.

Darnold started the matchup despite the injury, completing 12 of 17 throws for 127 yards and a touchdown, including a beautiful pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the back of the end zone. His 110.9 passer rating marked his ninth game of the season with a rating over 110.

"Obviously, I didn't go out for the non-padded warm-up," Darnold said. "I think that kind of stirred some questions, which was funny. I got to throw in here and did the same thing, did my routine in here. Once I put the pads on and got that padded warm-up, I wanted to be rolling."

He added: "I didn't want to waste any time getting warm on the field and coming in, having 40 minutes to get warm again and then go back out. I just wanted to get warm once and then go back out there in the pads. So that was why I did it that way."

Veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who led the Seahawks on Saturday with 60 receiving yards, was impressed by Darnold's performance.

"There were quite a few throws he made that were like, 'Man, he's letting it rip,'" said Kupp postgame, according to Seattle reporter John Boyle. "He was consistent, he was the same Sam that he's always been, leading the huddle, being a steady leading force for us.

"And he made some unbelievable throws - the one rolling out to the left that he threw to Jax (Smith-Njigba) in the end zone, those are unbelievable throws that he was making today."

The Seahawks will host the winner of Sunday's contest between the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears next weekend.