Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald is standing behind Sam Darnold as the team's starting quarterback despite his seven interceptions over the past four games.
"I think we have a lot of faith in Sam," Macdonald said Friday. "Sam's played great football for us. He's done a lot of great things this year but obviously turned the ball over more than we want to. I feel like there's things on our end that can help him play better football, and I think he's definitely part of the solution rather than the opposite."
Just four days after having two passes intercepted in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Darnold had passes picked off in the fourth quarter and overtime of a 17-14 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night.
Back-to-back defeats have dropped the reigning Super Bowl champions to 3-3.
Darnold ranks 26th in Total QBR (43.8) since Week 3, when he returned from a glute injury that he suffered on the fifth play of the season opener. Backup Drew Lock posted the league's fourth-best QBR (84.7) over the first two weeks and did not turn the ball over while filling in.
Macdonald was first asked on his radio show Friday morning whether he was at all considering a change at quarterback.
"No. No," he told Seattle Sports 710-AM. "I understand we have a great backup quarterback in Drew, and Drew is a tremendous quarterback. He's a starting-level quarterback and we didn't turn the ball over when Drew played and that we've had takeaway issues. But right now, I think these things, we have to attack as if they're in our control and that we can move it forward.
"Sam's played great football for us this year the majority of the time and there's other times where -- and he'll be the first to tell you -- he needs to take care of the football. But I think these are solutions that we can find with Sam as our quarterback. I believe that."
The Seahawks' offensive problems go beyond Darnold's interceptions.
They've committed five other turnovers via fumbles, including one by wide receiver Rashid Shaheed on Thursday night. The run game has struggled to produce consistently with its top two options -- rookie first-round pick Jadarian Price (chest) and Zach Charbonnet (knee) -- sidelined.
Darnold also has been sacked five times in each of the last two games, some of which have been the result of breakdowns in pass protection and others because of the quarterback holding onto the ball too long.
"I think there's things that we can all do to help Sam play better football," Macdonald said. "We trust Sam, we believe in him, and we definitely feel like he's part of the solution in terms of us playing better football on offense and the Seahawks style of offense that we all envisioned ..."
Macdonald said right guard Anthony Bradford (hip/knee), who remains on injured reserve and has missed the last five games, has a "really good chance" to play in Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Price has to miss at least one more game while on IR, but Macdonald said he's "doing great" and that he should be back "sooner rather than later" following the Chiefs game. There was no update on Charbonnet, who has been practicing since Oct. 1 and will have to be activated off the physically unable to perform list by next Thursday.