‘Mr. Clutch’: Drew Lock Delivers Again in Prime Time, Outduels Drake Maye in Seahawks Season-Opening Win
SEATTLE, Wash. - Once the preseason comes to a close and the calendar flips to September, Drew Lock knows all too well the reality of being an NFL backup quarterback. After months of receiving ample snaps rotating behind Sam Darnold, with the start of regular season games, those opportunities dry up to next to nothing with the starter getting the lion’s share of snaps for the Seattle Seahawks.
Relegated to scout team duty or watching from the sideline, staying prepared for the possibility of having to actually play on game day can be incredibly tricky. There’s no such thing as being able to replace or replicate live reps on the field, but yet, that’s exactly what backups such as Lock have to try to accomplish with limited practice time being fully dedicated to the starters. There’s no proven, scientific formula to do so, with each backup having his own routine during a game week to remain ready if his number is called.
But now in his eighth season, after leading the Seahawks to a thrilling 13-10 comeback win over the Patriots replacing an injured Darnold in the first quarter on Wednesday night, Lock seems to have found the right recipe in Seattle. His secret? Well, it starts and ends in the bedroom - with a dry erase marker and a whiteboard - for the player defensive tackle Jarran Reed calls “Mr. Clutch.”
“I've got one next to my bed. I'll do it at night and I'll do it in the morning,” Lock explained to reporters after the game. “That's just been my thing, being able to visualize it so when I read it out it's just there in my head. Because of the lack of reps you don't get to physically do it. I got to be able to draw it from somewhere, no pun intended, and drawing it helps me draw it from somewhere.”
While doodling plays on a whiteboard may seem unconventional, Lock’s rationale makes a tremendous amount of sense. Without being able to actually run plays with the first-team offense against a real defense on the practice field beyond maybe a handful of snaps each week, visualization offers one of the best possible alternatives, allowing the quarterback to think about the structure of plays and how they may work against different looks and coverages.
Whatever he has been doodling before crashing for the night or after waking up early in the morning, there’s no arguing with the results. Almost three years after engineering a stunning Monday night win over the heavily favored Eagles replacing an injured Geno Smith, Lock pulled off the magic once again on a night where the Seahawks unveiled their second Super Bowl banner at Lumen Field, outpacing MVP runner up Drake Maye throw for throw and receiving plenty of help from the “Dark Side” defense to erase a 10-point deficit in the second half.
After Darnold went down on the opening series of Wednesday’s season opener with a hip injury, the veteran gunslinger entered the huddle exuding calm and confidence, reaffirming the faith that Lock’s teammates and coaches hold in him. Everyone was bought in and ready to go to war with the backup quarterback checking in.
But before the come back could truly materialize, the first several drives with Lock at the controls didn’t yield much success for Seattle. Dealt a curveball in his first game as an NFL play caller, offensive coordinator Brian Fleury dialed up run plays on four of his first five snaps stepping in for Darnold and only twice called pass plays on his first two series, which each ended with Michael Dickson punts. On the next series, a 21-yard completion to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on 3rd and 22 wound up being all for naught when an offensive offsides penalty negated a first down “Barn Yard” sneak by tight end AJ Barner, once again forcing the home team to punt it away trailing by seven in the second quarter.
By the time halftime rolled around, with the Seahawks still down a score, three of the four possessions with Lock under center had resulted in a punt and the fourth one ended with the clock running out. Only one of those possessions concluded with 21 or more yards, while penalties made it that none of them had more than 20 net yards, while the team finished a dreadful one for six on third down conversion opportunities on those drives, necessitating adjustments from Fleury to help his quarterback in the 15-minute intermission.
“It was great to get here at half, put the plays up on the board, talk about our openers coming out of the half, really get those dialed in,” Lock said. “I think it's also a little bit of just feeling the flow of the game, getting back into this, finding ways to in the future be able to snap into it quicker. That's just the life of a backup. He [Fleury] did a fantastic job all night.”
Coming out of the half, the Seahawks once again saw their first drive of the third quarter result in a Dickson punt, drawing groans from an increasingly restless crowd still reeling from Darnold’s unexpected exit earlier in the game. The tide started to change on their next possession, however.
More willing to let his quarterback air it out, Fleury called three consecutive pass plays to open the next series, with rookie running back Jadarian Price catching two passes for six yards on the first two downs to set up a manageable 3rd and 4. Finally moving the chains on a money down, Lock lofted a deep ball to Cooper Kupp on a corner route, leading him towards the sideline. The former All-Pro reached out his left hand, reeled the ball back into his body, and managed to hold onto the catch without the pass hitting the ground for a highlight reel 24-yard reception.
“He did a phenomenal job. He basically took no reps with any of the guys that were out there all week,” 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.”
Though Kupp’s would-be touchdown on a slant three plays later would be wiped out by an illegal shift penalty and Seattle settled for a Jason Myers field goal, the drive as a whole proved to be a turning point for Lock and the offense, trimming the deficit to 10-3 inside four minutes to play in the third quarter. With the offense starting to find some footing, coach Mike Macdonald’s defense provided the push to get the comeback rolling.
Kicking off a fourth quarter that became a living nightmare for Maye, the third-year quarterback saw a promising Patriots drive that had entered Seahawks territory conclude with reserve safety Rodney Thomas leaping up and deflecting a deep ball intended for Romeo Doubs into the air. Cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett ran underneath the carrom, securing the first interception of his career and returning it back to the Seattle 33-yard line, setting up Lock and company with solid starting field position.
Getting right to work, Lock rolled out to his right on first down for an easy completion to Smith-Njigba for 13 yards, and two runs by Price advanced Seattle past midfield. Power back Emanuel Wilson checked in for 3rd and 1, only to get stonewalled by defensive tackle Milton Williams at the line of scrimmage, setting up a pivotal 4th and 1 opportunity.
It would have been easy for Fleury to play it safe, asking Lock to hand it off to Price or one of Seattle’s other running backs. Or turn back to Barner on a tight end sneak, hoping to avoid a penalty this time around. Instead, the rookie coordinator decided to put the ball in Lock’s hands, calling a play action concept that had been installed as part of the game plan for Darnold that both Macdonald and the backup quarterback acknowledged he had not ran much, if at all, in practice.
Immediately after executing the play fake, Lock pivoted back to his right and unloaded a quick throw to Smith-Njigba off his back foot, completing the pass past the marker for what would have been a fresh set of downs. But the reigning Offensive Player of the Year had other ideas, hitting a third gear as he sped past multiple oncoming tacklers and accelerated to a 45-yard touchdown reception, suddenly tying the game in an instant.
Appreciative of the star receiver padding his stats with a bunch of yards after the catch and turning the unremarkable into the spectacular as one of the NFL’s most dynamic playmakers, Lock couldn’t have drawn it up much better himself.
“It was sweet,” Lock smiled. “When you hear like the digit come in, I would like to think I have all 100 memorized [on the wrist play sheet], but, no. I'm like, all right, what number is that? Here we go. It was cool. It was awesome. It was kind of one of those like, pardon my French, tap on the ass, go get this done, buddy. It was cool.”
With the snowball quickly picking up speed in favor of the home team, a ball-hawking defense struck again mere moments after Lock’s touchdown pass, this time with safety Julian Love baiting Maye into taking a shot downfield and jumping the route for an easy pick. Aided by first down completions to Smith-Njigba and Kupp as well as a spry 14-yard scramble by the quarterback himself, even with penalties ultimately derailing the drive in the red zone, the Seahawks turned that second turnover into three more points on a Myers field goal, taking the lead for the first time after trailing for most of the first three quarters and change.
That kick wound up being the difference, even if the Patriots made things interesting in the closing moments. Saving one more turnover to seal the deal, with Maye uncorking a highly questionable pass to the end zone, cornerback Josh Jobe plucked the ball out of the air and got both feet down inbounds for a game ending interception, allowing Lock to return to the field for a single kneel down to secure a massive win under adverse circumstances.
All smiles as he celebrated with teammates, Lock headed into the locker room with a quite impressive stat line for coming in cold without the benefit of any reps on the practice field during the week. Completing 16 out of 22 passes for 187 yards, he averaged 8.5 yards per attempt, three yards more per attempt than Maye, while taking just one sack and most importantly, not turning the ball over a single time in nearly a full game worth of action. He also posted a stellar 113.3 passer rating, double Maye’s lowly number dragged down by three fourth quarter picks.
Now with 10 days until their next game in Arizona, Macdonald provided an encouraging update on Darnold’s status post-game, indicating that the team received “great news” and a fractured hip had been ruled out, eliminating one of the worst case possibilities. He will undergo further testing on Thursday, with the team hopeful that a long-term injury had been dodged and that he can return to the field sooner rather than later.
But if Darnold has to miss a game or two, which may even be advised given the early stage of the season, the Seahawks feel blessed to have the luxury of an experienced veteran in Lock who has won multiple big games, adding to his lore by adding another one to his resume on Wednesday night. Just as there was in the opener, if he has to play beyond this point until the starter is healthy enough to return, there won’t be any panic, and his teammates will be ready to rally behind Mr. Clutch with the steadfast belief he can guide the team to victory again.
And, of course, that he’ll have a game-winning play stenciled in his mind from his trusted white board back home ready to execute.
