Two of the top young quarterbacks in the NFC went down with injuries on Sunday, as Caleb Williams went down with a hamstring injury and Jayden Daniels appeared to dislocate his elbow again, just a year after he did so against the Seattle Seahawks. The incidents are a reminder that the best teams should be able to contend without their starting quarterback because that’s what they are meant to be: A TEAM.
That’s the position the Seahawks found themselves in Week 2 with Drew Lock replacing Sam Darnold and Seattle was able to extend their franchise-record winning streak to 12 games by dominating the second half and beating the Arizona Cardinals 31-7. While most teams would be sent into panic mode without a Super Bowl-winning starting quarterback, the Seahawks are 2-0 and Lock will enter Week 3 (probably still starting) as one of the top statistical passers in the league.
Lock went 19-of-26 (his fourth straight start over 72% completions) for 235 yards and three touchdowns, all of which went to the NFL’s top receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Is is too late now for the Seahawks to extend Lock?
Smith-Njigba caught nine passes for 155 yards, including a career-long 82 yard score on Seattle’s second play from scrimmage. It’s the second time in JSN’s career that he had at least nine catches and 150 yards; the first was in last year’s NFC Championship win over the L.A. Rams.
Which brings me back to the context of the Seahawks’ 12-game winning streak:
12 wins
2 wins over the Patriots (including Super Bowl)
2 wins over the Rams (including NFC Championship)
2 wins over the 49ers (including Week 18 + Division Round)
Win over Panthers (playoff team)
2 wins without Sam Darnold
This isn’t a cake schedule. Seattle was put through a gauntlet and hasn’t lost since November 16, and that was a 21-19 loss to the second-best team in the NFL. The Seahawks have won 23 of their last 26 games.
JSN now has 17 catches for 277 yards and four touchdowns in two games. While him and Lock were the most obvious offensive standouts on Sunday, free agent running back Emanuel Wilson rushed for 92 yards on 21 carries, helping run down the clock in the fourth quarter after Jadarian Price left with a chest injury. Price had 13 carries for 52 yards, the same rushing yard total he had in Week 1; Price’s 15 touches is as many as he had during any game in college.
Although the game was tied 7-7 at halftime and it felt like the Seahawks might have to play a perfect second half to squeeze out a win, just like Week 1, a strange opening kickoff in the third quarter saw Chazz Surratt return Rashid Shaheed’s fumble into Arizona territory. Following Price’s career-best 25-yard carry, Seattle took a 14-7 lead on JSN’s second touchdown catch.
The next Cardinals drive ended in a Julian Love interception off of Jacoby Brissett, setting up for a Jason Myers field goal to go up 17-7. Not long after, the Seahawks went up 24-17 on the back of an 80-yard touchdown drive with JSN’s third score.
Seattle closed out the game with a Barnyard fourth-down touchdown sneak to end 31-7.
The Seahawks defense, led by a dominant performance in the trenches, held the Cardinals to 44 yards in the second half. More than half of those yards (24) came on a meaningless final drive to run out the clock. The Cardinals had just 20 yards and a turnover on their first three drives of the second half.
Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed each had a sack. Drake Thomas, seven tackles including one tackle for a loss, was a popular player on the broadcast for constantly flying around to the ball. Mike Macdonald called Thomas “the smartest football player” according to the broadcast.
Another interesting takeaway from this game is four tackles for Rylie Mills, a career-high. Derick Hall had three QB hits, but no sacks. Seattle held Trey McBride to just 41 yards even though he had eight catches. Nobody else on the Cardinals had more than 18 yards. Running back Jeremiyah Love had 29 rushing yards on nine carries, well behind his Notre Dame teammate Price.
The Seahawks held Brissett to 95 passing yards and 81 net passing yards. That would be their second-best such game as a pass defense compared to all of 2025. Arizona had just 10 first downs, 151 total yards, and 3.2 yards per play.
Seattle’s defense is off to an even better start in 2025 than they had in 2026.
Next week the Seahawks are likely to face Marcus Mariota as starting quarterback of the Washington Moons. Mariota started eight games last season after Daniels was hurt in a 38-14 loss to Seattle, and the Moons went 2-6 in those contests. Washington is 0-2 so far this season.
Do they wish they had Drew Lock? No, I think they wish they had a better team.
I’ve been telling my football friends all week to watch out what Drew could do after 10 days practicing with the ones and in our SSJ weekly predictions had him as offensive player of the game and he did not let me down. I hope MM takes his time with bringing Darnold back to starting. These starts for Lock are invaluable for the Hawks as a team…you never know when your starting qb can get hurt again and you’ll need your backup. Our team is so balanced and deep… watch out NFL. Seattles building a dynasty🥳
Well, my Chazz Surratt only got 19% of the vote compared to the other Chazz Surratt who got 81%. That's the way it goes. Better luck next time, Mr. Chazz. His Family 'n Friends are Happy.