It could have been worse.
The Seahawks apparently will be without Super Bowl-winning quarterback Sam Darnold for their next game, in 10 days at NFC West rival Arizona. And perhaps the week-three game at Washington Sept. 27.
But coach Mike Macdonald continued on Monday to talk optimistically after more medical tests since Darnold injured his right hip while getting sacked on the season’s sixth play Wednesday night early in Seattle’s 13-10 win over New England.
Darnold was back inside the team’s Virginia Mason Athletic Center Thursday, hours after an MRI exam and a day after a C-T scan at Harborview Medical Center taken during the game. The scan showed no fracture to the hip bone, the initial fear.
“It’s been positive news,” Macdonald said mid-afternoon Thursday. “So right now we’re working through the extent of the injury and then putting a plan in place to get back rocking and rolling.”
Macdonald and his QB texted back and forth Thursday. The coach said the injury is not to Darnold’s hip bone, which could have sidelined Darnold months, but the muscle around the bone.
“(The) silver lining is we have some extra time here. We’ll get things back up and running on Monday (after the players get this weekend off),” Macdonald said.
“Hopefully by then we’ll have an accurate picture of plan of attack and what we’ll do that week.”
On a third down 2 1/2 minutes into the season Wednesday, New England’s Dre’Mont Jones, a former Seahawk, came down on Darnold’s right leg on a sack to end Seattle’s first possession of the season. Darnold limped off the field, to the bench and eventually to inside the blue medical observation tent behind the bench. Then he hobbled down the west sideline into the Seahawks locker room accompanied by team orthopedist Dr. Ed Khalfayan.
The Seahawks initially announced Darnold was questionable to return to the game. Then later in the first half the team said he was out.
Trust in Drew Lock
Backup Drew Lock played the final 3 1/2 quarters. The eighth-year veteran and former Denver Broncos starter is preparing to start for the Seahawks at the Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona, next week.
Lock completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and a standout passer rating of 113.3. Jaxon Smith-Njigba turned Lock’s short pass on fourth and 1 with 12 minutes left and Seattle down 10-3 into a 45-yard catch-and-run, tying touchdown.
The Seahawks had business to finish in rallying from down 10-0 to win 13-10 on Josh Jobe’s clinching interception of New England’s Drake Maye in the end zone with 21 seconds remaining.
Yet their coach acknowledged it was an emotional night for the quarterbacks and their teammates.
“There’s an emotional side, too, that you want to pick Sam up and you also want to be there for Drew, as well,” Macdonald said.
Lock was there for them Wednesday night.
What was Lock like in the huddle and on the sidelines once he took over for Darnold 7 minutes into the season?
“Very confident,” Smith-Njigba said.
“Drew’s a ball player. He comes in and demands the huddle, and he wants to sling, throw the ball around. Like I said, full confidence in 2.”
The last two times the seldom-used Lock has played meaningful snaps the majority of a real game for the Seahawks, he’s won them both. He led a 2-minute drive late in a Monday night game in December 2023 to defeat the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles. Then-starter Geno Smith was injured and missed that game.
Macdonald said Wednesday night he should have given a game ball to Lock in the locker room after the win, and perhaps he’d get the backup QB a celebration, WWE-style belt the team awards for individual efforts in the coming days.
The coach gave one game ball each in the locker room to Vinod, Neeru and Neal Khosla, the new team owners.
Lock’s teammates marveled over the veteran backup’s preparedness, which Lock said includes drawing all the plays of each game plan every night and morning on a white board he keeps at his bedside.
“He did a phenomenal job. He basically took no reps with any of the guys that were out there all week,” wide receiver Cooper Kupp said. “You can see the onus that he puts on himself to be ready, though, when the time comes. There’s extra time he spends on the field, extra time that he spends with the coaches to make sure.
“The last thing you want is for Sam to have to not be there, but Drew has done an unbelievable job preparing and did a great job for us today.”
It appears Lock will start at least Seattle’s second game, at Arizona. It will be his regular-season start for the Seahawks since that Monday night win over Philadelphia in late 2023.
The Seahawks were already prepared for that before they left the stadium from their rally past the Patriots in game one.
“It’s tough losing 14. I mean, he’s the head of the snake,” Smith-Njigba said of Darnold.
“But we have each other’s backs, like I said. We fully trust in Drew Lock to come in and do his thing. He’s done it time and time again.
“We just have to have each other’s back, like I’m saying. I’m just super proud of everybody.”
