Sam Darnold won the Super Bowl and said that he did not play up to his expectations.Seven months later, Seattle Seahawks fans are anxiously awaiting a health update about the team’s veteran starting quarterback.Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold before his season-opening injurygettyWhat happened to Sam Darnold?Seattle held on for a tough 13-10 season-opening victory vs the New England Patriots on Wednesday at Lumen Field.But on a night when the 2026 NFL campaign kicked off with a defense-heavy Super Bowl rematch, Darnold’s early injury shadowed Seattle’s gritty win.“I want to give our team a lot of credit because you know things weren’t really going where we wanted,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said.“We didn’t panic. We still liked our plan. We didn’t need to change what we were doing or anything like that. We just we wanted to stick to what we were doing, and the guys were just really excited to go back out there and play.” Darnold’s troubling injury is the primary reason that things weren’t going the way that Seattle ‘wanted.’Video replays showed the veteran QB going down on the fifth play of the Seahawks’ new season.“That’s why it’s so hard to repeat. One fluke injury can change EVERYTHING,” one fan tweeted.“Can Seattle survive this if Darnold can’t return?” a second fan wrote. Seahawks coach issues Darnold update to fansAs Darnold attempted to escape an intense pass rush from the Patriots, he fell to the ground and was hit by a New England defender.“Sam Darnold is scrambling and Dre’Mont Jones sacks him,” NBC announcer Mike Tirico said.“It doesn’t look like anything when you look at the hips and the lower leg. He kind of limped off a little bit.”Darnold only played five snaps and could have suffered a major injurygettyDarnold was tackled hard by Patriots defender Dre’Mont Jonesx@SMHighlights1The Seahawks were forced to provide a medical update on the Super Bowl QBx@SMHighlights1But it definitely was something, since Darnold only completed 1-of-2 passes for 13 yards.Seattle was held scoreless in the first half, and it took an inspired performance from backup QB Drew Lock (16-of-22 passing, 187 yards, touchdown, 113.3 rating) for the Seahawks to earn their second consecutive victory against Mike Vrabel’s Patriots.“It was a blast,” Lock said. “So proud of everyone around me tonight on the offensive side of the ball. I can’t say enough about the defense turning over the ball.”But the real postgame news wasn’t Seattle beating the same team that it dominated in Super Bowl LX.It was Macdonald updating the media on Darnold’s injury and future playing status for the remainder of the 2026 NFL season.Week 2 in doubt for Darnold after injury “Let’s say it’s good news right now. I know our thoughts and prayers are with Sam — we love him,” Macdonald said. “The guys really pulled through for him. At this point, we were able to rule out a fracture. So there’s some more tests to be done. But that’s what I’m saying when it’s positive. But I know — we’re still working through all that, but right now a fracture is out, which is great news.”Darnold kissing his wife Katie Hoofnagle Darnold at Lumen FieldgettyWith fans fearing a season-ending injury — similar to Aaron Rodgers barely playing for the New York Jets in the team’s 2023 season-opener — Darnold was examined in Seattle’s medical tent before limping to the locker room. He was then transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle to undergo a CT scan on his hip, according to ESPN. Darnold is scheduled for an MRI on Thursday.Lock guided the Seahawks to victory against the Patriots, and there’s a chance that the 2019 second-round pick out of Missouri could be Seattle’s starting QB during a Week 2 contest at Arizona.Missouri QB was the hero for Seahawks There is potential good news for the Seahawks, though.Seattle has a 10-day break before playing the Cardinals, who are widely predicted to be one of the worst teams in the NFL this year.Darnold won the Super Bowl in February and now might miss Week 2 of the 2026 seasonGettyNFL's Greatest......Ranking the top 10......Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and moreTight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?Darnold, 29, was the No. 3 overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft out of USC.He overcame a frustrating beginning to his career with the Jets to make two Pro Bowls and win Super Bowl LX vs the Patriots.Darnold tearfully thanked his parents“I just told my — me and my dad don’t really cry very often. I told my dad and my mom, ‘I’m here because of their belief in me,’ ” said Darnold, in response to a question from talkSPORT.“They believed in me throughout my entire career and I think that’s why I was able to believe in myself almost ad nauseam.“Some people called me crazy throughout my career for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence. But it was because of my parents, because of the way that they believed in me throughout my entire career, and it allowed me to go out there and play free and have a ton of confidence.”Darnold has completed 62.3 percent of his passes for 20,431 yards, 123 TDs and an 86.5 rating in nine pro seasons.Join talkSPORT’s dedicated US Sports YouTube channel The S* Word every Tuesday and Thursday for our brand new NFL shows.On Tuesdays Will Gavin and US senior reporter Brian T. Smith will debate the biggest talking points from the NFL weekend, while on Thursdays Efe Obada joins the crew to talk with players past and present and break down what to look for across the league.