3 Seahawks that need to exceed expectations for 2022 to be a success

Drew Lock

This one is obvious. If Lock stays as the quarterback in 2022 then no matter how well he did in five games as a rookie in 2019, he needs to be even better than that for a full season in 2022. Pete Carroll points out often that one reason the Seahawks were happy to get Lock were those games in 2019. But let’s look at exactly what Carroll is.

First of all, Lock was drafted in the second round in 2019 and then missed the first 11 games while on injured reserve. He then started in Week 12 through the rest of the season. In three of the five games, Lock had a quarterback rating of 90.9 or better. In Week 13 against the Houston Texans, Lock threw 3 touchdown passes and had just one interception and was 22 for 27 for 309 yards.

The week after, though, against the Chiefs Lock was not good. He was 18 of 40 for 208 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception. Lock finished the season, however, with two straight games of zero interceptions. He was what Carroll wants: A game manager.

But in 2020 when Lock started 13 games, he was extremely inconsistent. The game Carroll tends to point out from this season is Week 14 when Lock was 21 of 27 for 280 yards, 4 touchdown passes and zero picks. This was three games after Lock had a game where he threw 1 touchdown pass but 4 interceptions.

In 2020, Lock had four games with a QBR of 94.4 or better (with a high of 149.5) but had six games of 63.2 or worse (with a low of 37.3).  In 2021, Lock started the final four games for Denver and the team lost every one. But Lock actually wasn’t bad; Denver’s offense was.

The thing with Lock is he doesn’t seem to be a terrible quarterback, just a very inconsistent one. But if 2022 is going to be good for the Seahawks, Lock will have to have very few games where he isn’t sharp. Lock might be really good if he limits his turnovers. Or he could lead Seattle into the mire.