SEATTLE (AP) — Sam Darnold connected with a well-covered Justin Jefferson with 3:51 left for his third TD pass of the game, and the Minnesota Vikings outlasted Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks 27-24 on Sunday to keep pace with Detroit for the top spot in the NFC.

After the Seahawks took the lead on Smith’s third TD pass, Darnold led a 30-second drive that was aided by a 15-yard facemask penalty. He stepped up in a collapsing pocket and launched a deep ball that Jefferson hauled in just short of the goal line with two defenders closing in.

Jefferson finished with 10 catches for 148 yards and two touchdowns as the Vikings (13-2) won their eighth straight. If they can beat Green Bay and Detroit to close out the season, they will earn the top seed in the conference and a first-round playoff bye.

Darnold threw for multiple touchdowns for the 11th time this season and more than 200 yards for the 10th. He finished 22 of 35 for 246 yards, helping Kevin O’Connell become the first Vikings coach with multiple 13-win seasons.

Not bad for a veteran who was signed to a one-year deal as a placeholder after the Vikings drafted J.J. McCarthy, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason.

Smith threw for 314 yards and his 4-yard TD pass to AJ Barner gave the Seahawks a 24-20 lead with 4:41 left, but he couldn’t rally Seattle (8-7) after Jefferson’s TD catch. Jason Myers missed a 60-yard field goal try after the two-minute warning, and Theo Jackson picked off Smith with 49 seconds left to seal it.

The Seahawks have lost two straight after a four-game winning streak and fell one game behind the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC West.

Smith also had scoring passes of 25 yards to DK Metcalf and 18 yards to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He was also intercepted twice. Smith-Njigba had eight receptions for 95 yards.

Minnesota improved to 8-1 in one-score games this season.

The Vikings ran a 12-play opening drive, consuming 6:54 on the way to a 7-0 lead on Darnold’s 5-yard pass to Jordan Addison, who was open in the middle of the end zone for his third catch of the series.

Smith found Metcalf in man-to-man coverage with Stefon Gilmore early in the second quarter in the right corner of the end zone. It was Metcalf’s first TD reception since Week 7.

Darnold responded two drives later to make it 14-7 on a 14-yard pass to Jefferson over Tre Brown, who was left in single coverage on the All-Pro’s corner route.

Joshua Metellus pressured Smith on the first play of Seattle’s ensuing drive and Dallas Turner stepped in front of a pass to Noah Fant for an interception that set up Minnesota at the Seattle 31. The Vikings settled for Will Reichard’s 52-yard field goal after Boye Mafe sacked Darnold.

Smith drove the Seahawks 88 yards in 1:05 on five plays to cut the lead to 17-14 with 20 seconds left in the half. He found Smith-Njigba three times on the drive. The first, a 13-yard reception, put the second-year player over 1,000 yards receiving for the first time. The second, for 25 yards to the Vikings 18, drew a biceps flex from Smith-Njigba for the cheering crowd. And the third went for the score.

Receiving milestones

Metcalf shook off a long scoreless streak to catch his 47th career TD with the Seahawks. That helped him pass Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent and move into sixth on the team’s career touchdown list.

Smith-Njigba became the 10th Seahawks receiver to record a 1,000-yard season.

Injuries

Vikings: S Harrison Smith (foot) was inactive, missing a game for the first time since 2022.

Seahawks: Placed LB Trevis Gipson (ankle) on injured reserve. … RB Kenneth Walker III left the game with an ankle injury.

Up next

Vikings: Host Green Bay next Sunday.

Seahawks: At Chicago on Thursday.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

The Seattle Mariners, in need of some help at first base this offseason, are at risk of being left out in the cold.

The M’s have Luke Raley already at first, but he could stand a right-handed hitting platoon partner. In the last few days, several options have come off the board as Christian Walker signed with the Houston Astros, Paul Goldschmidt signed with the New York Yankees, Josh Naylor was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Carlos Santana signed with the Cleveland Guardians.

The Santana news was especially devastating, as it seemed like a reunion with him was essentially a lay-up earlier in the offseason.

Pete Alonso is still on the market, but the Mariners seem unwilling to meet the asking price for him. Thus, the options are dwindling rapidly, with Jeff Passan of ESPN taking stock of where the market is at right now:

Over the last 24 hours:

Christian Walker to Houston
Paul Goldschmidt to the New York Yankees
Josh Naylor to Arizona
Carlos Santana to Cleveland

1B still available in free agency: Pete Alonso, Anthony Rizzo, Josh Bell, Ty France. In trades: LaMonte Wade Jr. and Nathaniel Lowe.

Rizzo is out because the M’s don’t need a left-hander. Again, Alonso is likely out because of money. France, who was DFA’d by the Mariners in July, could be a possibility on the short side of the platoon with Raley. Justin Turner was omitted from that list, but he also remains a reunion possibility for Seattle.

In 48 games with the Mariners after a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays this past season, he hit .264 with five homers, 24 RBI and a .363 on-base percentage. He helped the M’s get to within one game of the playoffs.

For the season as a whole, he hit .259 with 11 homers.

Turner just finished the 16th year of his career with the Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Blue Jays and Mariners. He’s a .285 lifetime hitter who helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 2020. He just turned 40 years old.

As for France, after being acquired by the Mariners during the COVID 2020 season, he was a firm part of the team’s rebuild, earning an All-Star appearance in 2022 and helping the team break the long playoff drought.

However, France slumped to a poor 2023 and also struggled in 2024 before being designated for assignment. He latched on with the Cincinnati Reds for the final 52 games of the season.

Lifetime, France is a .263 hitter. He hit .250 with the Mariners in 2023 but saw his power dissipate, hitting only 12 homers. He had just eight homers in 88 games for Seattle this year. He did hit five in Cincinnati. He’s still only 30 years old.

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The Vegas Golden Knights (22-8-3) won their fifth straight game at home with a 6-2 victory against the Seattle Kraken (15-18-2) on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

HOW IT WENT DOWN
Vince Dunn gave Seattle an early lead with a power-play goal 2:34 into the first period. Victor Olofsson found a wide-open Keegan Kolesar who scored the tying goal to make it 1-1 with 7:21 to play in the period. A little over a minute later, Brett Howden tacked on his 12^th goal of the season to make it 2-1. Nicolas Hague scored his second goal of the season late in the frame to give Vegas a 3-1 lead heading into the second period. After a scoreless second period, William Karlsson tallied a goal 8:09 into the third period. Three minutes later, Noah Hanifin joined the goal party to increase the score to 5-1. Jaden Schwartz scored Seattle’s second power-play goal of the night, but Mark Stone sealed the 6-2 victory for Vegas with an empty-net goal. Ilya Samsonov stopped 21-of-23 shots.

TOP PERFORMERS
Keegan Kolesar: Kolesar tied his career-high goals (8G) with his game-tying goal in the first period. Kolesar also recorded a two-point night (1G, 1A) to have three multi-point games on the season.

Brett Howden: Howden scored the go-ahead goal in the first period increasing his career-high goal total to 12. With two points (1G, 1A) in the game, Howden has recorded back-to-back multi-point games and his fifth overall this season.

Victor Olofsson: With his assist in the first period, Olofsson has recorded seven points in seven games.

Mark Stone: Stone notched three points (1G, 2A) in the win. Stone has registered a point in 17-of-19 games played.

VGK STATS OF THE KNIGHT
Head Coach Bruce Cassidy tied Gerard Gallant for most wins in VGK history with 118 wins.

Pavel Dorofeyev skated in his 100^th career game on Saturday night.

Jack Eichel tallied two assists on the night, bringing his season total to 35. Eichel reached the 35-assist mark in 33 games, surpassing Mark Stone (43 GP) as the fastest player in franchise to hit 35 assists in a season.

Vegas saw six different goal scorers in Saturday’s win. This is the third time this season Vegas has had six different goal scorers in a game (Oct. 26 vs. SJS and Nov. 23 vs. MTL)

ATTENDANCE: 17,862

LOOKING AHEAD
The Golden Knights close out the homestand on Monday when they face off against the Anaheim Ducks at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena. Watch the game on Vegas 34, stream on KnightTime+, or listen live on FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340 and Deportes Vegas 1460.