DETROIT — It was deafening inside Ford Field as Sam Darnold began bootlegging to his right, then throwing all the way across the field to his left. And you worried that the roof might blow off Ford Field when safety Quandre Diggs returned the pick-six 37 yards.
So it took exactly one play — one humbling, horrific pass — for Sam Darnold to realize that he wasn’t quarterbacking San Clemente High School against Dana Hills anymore, he wasn’t quarterbacking USC against UCLA anymore, this was no longer preseason.