Sam Darnold is expected to miss Seattle’s next game against the Arizona Cardinals on September 20, but “dodged a bullet” and “should be back sooner, rather than later” according to Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport. The Seahawks’ third game is a September 27 road trip to the Moons (take that, Australia), followed by October 4 at home against the Chargers.
If Darnold only misses 1-2 games, it would be a lucky non-break for the Seahawks.
In Drew Lock’s first extended appearance since the final game of 2024 with the New York Giants, Seattle’s backup quarterback went 16-of-22 for 187 yards and a touchdown. Give some credit to the offensive line against an admittedly-weak looking Patriots pass rush, as Lock went 12-of-15 from a clean pocket per Next Gen Stats. Week 1 was cited as a “top-four career game” for Lock.
NGS also noted that Lock is the first backup QB in history to throw a touchdown pass in the reigning Super Bowl champions’ first game back he next season.
For whatever that’s worth. I am planning a longer stats-related post later today, so subscribe to Seaside Joe not to miss anything.
Lock averaged 0.30 EPA per dropback, which would have been the fifth-best such game of Darnold’s 2025 season. He was as good as anyone could have asked for in that situation and now Lock will have 10 days to prepare for his first start in over a year and a half.
In his last three career starts, Lock is 57-of-77 (74%) with 6 TD, 1 INT, and 8.4 Y/A, 1 rush TD, and he’s only been sacked once.
Shout out to Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s YAC on the touchdown pass (which had an expected YAC of 6 yards and JSN took it for 41) but Lock is playing the role of backup better than most backups.
If reports on Thursday are accurate, he will only need to maintain that for one or two more games.
If we get Emmanwori and Okada back, I’m confident Lock can lead us to victory over the Cards and Moons. It would be nice to have Darnold back for the Chargers, but I think there’s a chance Lock can beat them too.
Drew Lock, the Fireman, is a good QB. And was better than Drake Meh last night. I will die on this hill. Go Hawks.
Also, we are not the Rams. What would the Rams be if something happened to Stafford?