NASHVILLE—Drew Lock, a second-round pick in 2019, was a starter early in his career in Denver, and has also played well in occasional fill-in starts during his time as a backup with the Seahawks and Giants.

And throughout this summer in training camp and preseason games, Lock has demonstrated over and over again that he has starting-caliber stuff despite being Seattle's backup quarterback. That was especially true on Sunday when, with Lock and the rest of the Seahawks' No. 2 offense starting the game, Seattle got off to a great start against Tennessee's starting defense to score two touchdowns and a field goal on the way to a 16-3 first-quarter lead.

The second half didn't go as well for the Seahawks and they eventually lost to the Titans 19-16, but Lock's strong first half was a good reminder that the offense is in good hands even if starter Sam Darnold isn't on the field.

"He's a starting quarterback," said running back Jacardia Wright, who rushed for a team-high 81 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown. "Let's be honest, he can go out there and be out there with the ones. He has definitely been impressive for our twos that we had out there today. He just brings the energy every day in practice, it's shocking."

Lock completed his first 10 pass attempts before throwing his first incompletion, and finished his day 12 for 14 for 103 yards, one touchdown and a 121.1 passer rating, doing most of that damage against the Titans' starting defense.

Lock's touchdown came on a play-action pass to tight end Elijah Arroyo, who thanks to the defense biting on the run fake to Wright, as well as a coverage bust that had two players covering fullback Brady Russell in the flat, found himself wide open down the seam for a 36-yard touchdown.

"Drew's a dog," said Arroyo, who also had a 14-yard catch to covert a third down one play before his touchdowns. "I'm glad he's putting everybody on notice with his performances throughout the preseason. I'm excited for him."

Arroyo joked he saw, "a whole lot of green grass" on his touchdown, but as Lock noted, it was also a good play design by offensive coordinator Brian Fleury to stress Tennessee's defense with the combination of play-action and the routes run.

"Sweet play but Fleury," Lock said. "We got it in a couple of the walkthroughs. The O-line sold it perfectly, I believe Jarcardia might have been my back, good mesh back there, got them to bite up, and there (Arroyo) was."

Lock did throw one interception on a deep attempt near the end zone to Cody White, but that came back due to an illegal contact penalty. The flag was out early enough that it seemed possible that Lock took a shot knowing he had a free play, but when asked if that was the case, Lock gave a sheepish grin and said, "You want me to be honest with you? No, that ball came out of my hand so bad."

Lock explained that it was a similar look to something he saw in the joint practice with the Titans on Friday, so he decided to take a shot to White again, but this time it didn't work out, at least not until he realized a flag saved him.

"It literally was the same feeling, 'I'm moving left, there's Cody, throw it,'" he said of the play in practice. "It just rolled off the hand pretty bad. Chalk it up as a bad, bad ball, but thank you zebras."

That one bad throw aside, Lock and the No. 2 offense were able to show a lot of good things against Tennessee's starters, including first-team All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, scoring on three straight possessions.

"It's awesome," Lock said of the offense's ability to play well against a starting defense. "You never know week to week on who you're playing, if starters are going, if starters are not going, but when you get a test like that, it just puts real ball on the table and puts some perspective on what we can do in the run game, what we can do in the pass game, just being focused going into the week. It was awesome, I'm at a loss for how proud (I am) of the group that I've been running with in camp to be able to go out there and do what we did in those first couple of drives. That was awesome."

In addition to a strong performance throwing the ball, Lock also used his legs for a key conversion, scrambling for 9 yards to convert on third-and-9, taking a couple of hits as he fought to reach the first-down marker. It was the second week in a row that Lock had converted a third-down on a scramble, and in this case, it kept the offense on the field for Jacardia Wright's long touchdown run that came one play later.

Asked if he now considers himself a dual-threat quarterback, Lock said, "I wouldn't say just yet. I will do it when it's necessary and when there's an opportunity. I've never been afraid to do that, and given the opportunity I'll go do it. It's fun doing it, maybe take a little less hits here and there, but again, third downs, I just get in a little different mindset about going and getting it. Maybe first and second down you slide, but third downs are hard to get down on, you've got to go try to move the sticks. And shoot, thank goodness we did because the next one was the long one to Jacardia."