When Sam Darnold went down with an injury in the Seattle Seahawks' opening game of the season, Drew Lock stepped in and kept the ship steady, leading the team to a win over the New England Patriots. When it was reported that Darnold would miss multiple games, Mike Macdonald also remained steady. Darnold might return in Week 3, but Lock's excellence did not go unnoticed.
Naturally, many wondered if the Seahawks would try to acquire another quarterback to step in. Lock has years of backup experience, but those years have been shaky and inconsistent. Seattle would have been completely within their rights to bring someone else in, but it didn't; the team trusted Lock.
After a 31-7 blowout win over their NFC West rival, the Arizona Cardinals, in Week 2, the decision to stick with Lock looks like the smartest one the Seahawks coaching staff has made early in the season. Lock has looked nothing but exceptional, and Macdonald has looked nothing but the smartest guy in the room. Of course, he gives all the credit to his backup.
Seattle Seahawks' Mike Macdonald heaps a ton of love and praise on Drew Lock
One major key against the Cardinals was that Lock had to come through to help lead the Seahawks to a 2-0 start: take care of the football. Lock's passing stats were impressive in Arizona: 19-of-26, 235 yards, and three touchdowns, but his best numbers overall were zero interceptions and zero fumbles.
The Cardinals' defense isn't known as one of the league's better groups, but anytime a backup comes in to start, no matter how good the opposing team's defense is or isn’t, that backup must protect the football. Lock did just that, and you could argue that over his last two games, he played the best football of his career.
Macdonald loves it; he loves what Lock brings to the Seahawks and what he's done in Darnold's place. After Sunday's win, Macdonald credited Lock for the win and highlighted what he did well, with plenty of praise sprinkled throughout.
“Really proud of Drew; really happy for him. I mean, we’re on record about how we feel about him,” Macdonald said. “So, he just backed that up today … You 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; that was from the heart.”
“The operation improved drastically [from Week 1], and Drew deserves a lot of credit for that,” Macdonald said. “I thought he was aggressive when he needed to be and took care of the ball [when needed]. He just did a great job.”
One thing that had the potential to get Lock in trouble was the gunslinging part of his game. To start things off, he immediately connected deep with Jaxon Smith-Njigba for an 82-yard touchdown. What better way to start a game than with a heave downfield? It paid off beautifully for Lock and the Seahawks.
Macdonald's praise of Lock shows how much confidence he and the Seahawks coaching staff have. As long as Lock is under center, his teammates and coaches have his back. It couldn't have come at a better time because this may turn out to be Lock's best stretch of football he's ever played when it's all said and done, and Darnold returns.
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