Every single pass Sam Darnold throws this season is under scrutiny. Whether it's from his coaches, USC fans, the media or NFL scouts, Darnold is being examined as closely as a meeting between Rick Pitino and a shoe salesman in a dark alley somewhere.

People just want to find flaws. It's a natural reaction. Darnold's name was thrown out so frequently as a possible No. 1 overall pick in next spring's NFL Draft that many look for a reason not to take him in that spot. Through four games this year, Darnold is giving his doubters plenty of ammunition.

Yes, USC is undefeated, and Darnold is completing 67.1 percent of his passes, averaging 8.4 yards per attempt. These numbers are impressive, as are Darnold's nine touchdown passes.

The problem comes when you look at that interception column and see a seven.

After throwing nine interceptions in 336 pass attempts last season (an INT rate of 2.7 percent), Darnold has thrown seven interceptions in his first 146 attempts of 2017. That's an INT rate of 4.8 percent. To think of it another way, 14.5 percent of Darnold's incompletions this season (seven of 48) have been interceptions.

Darnold is turning the ball over too frequently. There's no argument otherwise.

There is a silver lining, though.

While you don't want to see Darnold making as many questionable decisions as he has been, he's not making them at the worst time. When the USC offense has been in the red zone, Darnold has become another quarterback entirely.

Through four games this season, Darnold is 9 of 13 in the red zone for 77 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. That's a 69.2 percent completion rate with a 38.5 percent touchdown rate. These are solid numbers, and obviously, the lack of interceptions is great.

Of course, it's also a limited sample size. You never want to take 13 pass attempts too seriously, but Darnold's red zone efficiency isn't a new phenomenon. He dominated in that area last season as well.

In 2016, Darnold threw 51 red zone passes, completing 32 of them with 23 touchdowns and one interception. Yes, the completion percentage drops to 62.7 percent, but the touchdown rate climbs to 45.1 percent.

And then there's that lone interception.

In his entire college career, Darnold has thrown 64 passes in the red zone and has 28 touchdowns to one interception. That's the kind of TD-to-INT ratio a coach can live with -- happily.

It also leads me to believe that this early run of turnovers is more of an outlier than a reality for Darnold going forward. I see a quarterback that knows he has a strong arm trying to do a little more than he should -- possibly a result of the attention -- but locking in and taking care of business when he's needed most.

All of which bodes well for Darnold over the rest of this season, and beyond.