Drew Lock Played 'Tremendous' In First Seahawks Start Since 2023

In his first Seahawks start since 2023, quarterback Drew Lock helped lead Seattle to a 31-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Sep 20, 2026 at 09:39 PM

Seahawks.com Writer

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Ahead of Seattle's matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, where quarterback Drew Lock was going to be making his first start as a Seahawk since 2023, a Seahawks fan inside State Farm Stadium held a poster board that said, "My backup quarterback is better than yours."

The sign echoes what coaches and players have been saying about Lock since the offseason, and now even more since he filled in for an injured Sam Darnold in Week 1.

Earlier this week, Lock was racing from his Thursday press conference to a meeting with Darnold to go over different protections. On Thursday, Lock was asked what was different about this week heading into Sunday and he joked that he was sweating earlier than normal, but another thing that changed was that he was tasked with handling a lot more and was finding himself "swimming" a bit.

"I just went up to [Sam] after [walk through] and was like, 'Sam, can you meet me upstairs and talk me through some of these protections some more?'," Lock said. "It drastically helped. Hearing it from Coach (HC Mike Macdonald), hearing it from Sam, hearing it from J (Jalen Milroe) [and] me going home studying it — wrapping their whole head around it and being able to come out and play well."

Lock added, "I watched a little more film, studied a little bit (harder) and looked at a couple of things that maybe I wouldn't look at during the week, but I just felt like it was necessary. It was things that I needed a little clarity on, and it was a lot of fun going through that process. It really was. I wouldn't say it was a negative thing. It's just mandatory things that you have to do when you're ready to step into the spot and try to go lead a team for 4 quarters. It's just necessary and it needed to be done."

And on Sunday, Lock led Seattle's offense, throwing for 235 yards and three touchdowns on 19 passes with no interceptions, finishing the day with a 139.1 passer rating.

"I think this week of practice definitely got us ready," Smith-Njigba said. "I think he attacked the week very well and set us up for great opportunities and to win."

Head coach Mike Macdonald said he was "really proud of Drew (Lock)."

"We're on record how we feel about him, so he just backed that up today," he said. "But the '12 As One' thing, everybody having each other's back and just couldn't be happier for the guy. We just love him. All the things we said about him throughout the week, that was real and that was from the heart. Really proud of the way he played today. He did a tremendous job. He managed the clock (well). I think we only had one operation penalty — maybe one offensive penalty total. I'm not sure, but just the operation improved drastically, and Drew deserves a lot of credit for that. I thought he was aggressive when he needed to be and took care of the ball when he needed to. He did a great job."

All three of Lock's touchdowns went to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who finished the night with 155 yards on nine receptions. The longest play of the night, and the longest reception of Smith-Njigba's career, was an 82-yard touchdown on Seattle's first offensive drive.

"Drew is a special talent," Smith-Njigba said. "[He] sees the field very well and can make any throw. I know he's looking for me and I just want to be there for him. We've been having this special connection for a minute now but I am super happy with the way he just came in, carried himself and carried this team. It shows time and time again how good he is."

Nick Emmanwori said, "Drew Lock came in there was slinging it."

Lock's performance on Sunday felt like a continuation of how he played in Week 1 against the New England Patriots after entering the game in relief for Darnold. In that game he went 16 of 22 for 187 yards and one touchdown.

"Today was a whole lot of fun," Lock said. "I think it was just an accumulation of obviously the work put in throughout the week. Everybody adjusting, myself adjusting, coaches adjusting, the line adjusting to my cadence [and] receivers to the football. It was just a fantastic job by everybody to move on quickly and be ready for this week. Coach (Brian) Fleury and Coach (Jake) Peetz getting me ready for this game. 'J' (Jalen Milroe) and Sam (Darnold) helped me out all week. It was a lot of fun working with everybody in that building. I talk about how much I love the building and the reason I came back. It kind of just played out all week. Feeling love from everybody. How skilled the skill guys are, how awesome the o-line is up front. It's just a great group of guys and just have to keep playing good football."

Macdonald did give an update on Darnold saying that he does have a chance to practice this week.

"The timetable has shifted quite drastically, frankly, in what is it, 10 days or whatever," he said. "So we've got three more days, 30 percent of that time, to kind of see where it's going between now and Wednesday."

But whether or not Darnold is able to play, Lock has proven, two weeks in a row, he is reliable and can help lead the Seahawks to a win when they need him to.

"Drew is a gun-slinger," Julian Love said. "Everybody in this building just rocks with Drew so heavy. We know what he brought to the table. He's shown it for years. Not in the limelight as the starter; every day in practice, you know he can make every throw. He's smart, and he has a swagger to him; it's fun to see. The week was such a normal week of practice; I'm sure the narrative might have been a little different because he was up, but we ride with Drew, and his game today shows why we feel that way. He can make the plays and win us games."