Pete Carroll has finally named the Seattle Seahawks’ starting quarterback, and it’s Geno Smith.
“Geno’s gonna start,” Carroll said Friday night after Seattle’s 27-26 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in which Drew Lock threw three interceptions. “He’s gonna start the opener, and he’s earned it, he’s won the job. With the time frames that got messed up for Drew, he just ran out of time.”
After Lock missed the Seahawks’ second preseason game due to COVID-19, Carroll wanted to give Lock a shot to unseat Smith.
But Lock threw a pair of interceptions in the first half against the Cowboys and one more in the second half after taking over for Smith, who was solid and unspectacular as usual. Even if the first interception wasn’t all on Lock, the second one was pretty bad. The third one wasn’t all his fault, although it wasn’t a perfect throw.
On Lock’s first interception, which came on his first series, he didn’t get much help from intended receiver D’Wayne Eskridge, who didn’t come back for the ball. Still, it goes on Lock’s stat line.
The second one was on Lock. He never seemed to see cornerback Nahshon Wright dropping back in a zone, and Lock’s pass was right to him.
He almost threw another interception on third down in the final minute of the first half, when he threw high and behind his intended receiver.
In the second half, Lock threw over the middle and it was just a little bit off to receiver Aaron Fuller. Fuller stretched out, the pass went off his pads and into the air where Cowboys defensive back Markquese Bell picked it off.
Even if Lock got a bit unlucky, you’re not making a great statement to be the starter with three interceptions.
Lock did have some highlights, most notably a deep 35-yard touchdown pass to Penny Hart. Perhaps Lock shouldn’t have even thrown it because the coverage was so tight, but he did and squeezed the ball into Hart for a nice score.
Lock played deep into the fourth quarter. His final line was 13-of-24 for 171 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions and a 51.2 passer rating.
Smith has held the No. 1 job all offseason, and he’ll keep it through Week 1. Perhaps the Seahawks look at the upside of Lock, ignore the mistakes and hand him the job at some point. That seems unlikely. It has to be a bit disappointing after Lock was part of the return in the Russell Wilson trade with the Denver Broncos, who the Seahawks will face in Week 1.
Smith has held the job, and he never did anything to lose it. The same cannot be said of Lock.