Losing your starting quarterback in the first few minutes of a game is brutal. Going down 10 points almost immediately afterward? That’s usually how a season opener turns into a very long afternoon. And for most of the first half, that looked like exactly where the Seahawks were headed.
Seattle looked completely out of sorts. Costly penalties handed the Patriots scoring opportunities, offensive miscues killed promising drives, and with a new offensive coordinator calling plays and Drew Lock suddenly running the offense, I would be lying if I said I was not incredibly nervous at half.
But apparently, I should have known better, because Mike Macdonald’s defense did what Mike Macdonald’s defense tends to do: it took over the game.
Even without both starting safeties, Seattle completely flipped the script in the second half. The pass rush started getting home, the coverage tightened up, and by the fourth quarter Drake Maye was seeing ghosts from Super Bowl 60. The Seahawks picked him off three times in the final quarter, erased a 10-point deficit, and somehow stole a game that looked like it was slipping away before halftime.
And then there was Drew Lock.
Thrown into the game with little warning and limited reps with the starting offense, Lock looked remarkably comfortable. There were still a few communication issues and offensive miscues, but considering the circumstances, that was almost expected. More importantly, he protected the football, kept drives alive, and thoroughly outplayed Maye when Seattle needed him most. There’s also something pretty funny about the quarterback carousel here. Sam Darnold helped revive his career after backing up Brock Purdy in San Francisco. Now Drew Lock might be trying to revive his career by backing up Darnold in Seattle.
Coming into the opener, I definitely didn’t have “Darnold gets hurt immediately and Drew Lock leads a 10-point second-half comeback” on my bingo card. But here we are. The Seahawks lost their starting quarterback. They fell behind early. They committed costly penalties. Their offense sputtered. Their defense was missing key players. And we somehow won anyway.
The Seahawks just keep finding ways to win, and right now, it is a ridiculously fun time to be a Seahawks fan.