Rapid Reaction: Drew Lock's 'Major Strides' Help Seahawks Beat Cowboys
Remaining undefeated in exhibition play behind a flurry of explosive plays on offense and a pair of turnovers on defense, the Seattle Seahawks captured a 22-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night.
Making his 2023 debut, Geno Smith led an early scoring drive ending with a booming 47-yard field goal by Jason Myers before being replaced by Drew Lock. Defensively for Seattle, Tyreke Smith led the charge tying for a team-high seven tackles with a sack and a tackle for loss as Dallas was held to under 300 total yards.
Here are five quick takeaways from the Seahawks' latest preseason win at Lumen Field:
1. While only guiding Seattle to three points, a confident, poised Smith looks ready to roll for the regular season.
Seeing his first and likely only action of the preseason, Smith picked up where he left off a year ago from an accuracy perspective in two drives for the Seahawks. Connecting on five out of six passes for 46 yards, he moved the chains twice on first down throws to tight end Will Dissly and receiver Jake Bobo, with the latter snagging his longest throw of the day on a 28-yard reception on a deep ball down the left sideline to help set up Myers' long field goal.
Showing off his arm talent in and outside of the pocket, Smith looked comfortable in the pocket and with the exception of taking a sack on his final play after tackle Charles Cross got beat by rusher Sam Williams off the edge, he had quality protection in front of him to progress through his reads. On one throw where he was on the move to his left, he threw a dart off platform to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the money to beat tight coverage.
2. Settling in nicely to his role, Lock continues to make major strides in year No. 2 in Shane Waldron's offense.
While Smith led Seattle to three points on his two drives, the majority of the offensive damage came after Lock subbed into the game to open the second quarter. Coming out guns blazing, after being aided by a fortunate taunting penalty that extended his first drive, he fired a perfect moon ball over Smith-Njigba's shoulder for a 48-yard connection. On the next play, Dallas punched the ball in from a yard out to give Seattle a 10-7 advantage.
On the ensuing drive, Lock kept slinging the pigskin downfield with conviction, thriving on play action concepts. On a designed rollout to his right, the veteran signal caller unleashed a bullet over the middle to tight end Noah Fant, who turned upfield for a 21-yard catch and run. One play later, once again off a play fake, he hit a wide open Cody Thompson on a corner route for a 32-yard pitch and catch along the left sideline. After an 11-yard completion to Tyler Mabry, Thompson Jr. ran behind Levi Bell for his first NFL touchdown to extend the lead to 10.
3. Drafted and undrafted rookie playmakers lit up the explosives for chunk plays throughout the evening.
After punting on the game's opening drive, Seattle had no problems working down the field quickly with 20-plus yard plays coming in bunches. At the center of that big play barrage, the rookie class inflicted the most damage, starting with Bobo's 28-yard reception and a 29-yard run by second-round pick Zach Charbonnet on back-to-back plays that vaulted the team into field goal range and set up Myers' first field goal to open the scoring in the first quarter.
One drive later, Smith-Njigba struck with his first home run in a Seahawks uniform, seeing Lock's deep ball into his hands with Willie Mays-esque hand eye coordination and racing down to the goal line before getting tackled just short of the end zone. Then in the second half, after having another long run wiped out by a holding penalty, Thompson Jr. slithered through the teeth of the Cowboys' defense for a 29-yard run into opposing territory before Myers connected on his second field goal.
4. A rebuilt defensive line keeps providing reasons for optimism, particularly from a depth perspective.
Playing more starters than last week with Dre'Mont Jones, Jarran Reed, and Uchenna Nwosu all playing at least one drive, Seattle's defensive line continued to wreak havoc. After a long pass play from Cooper Rush to Jalen Tolbert moved the visitors deep into opposing territory on Dallas' opening drive, edge defender Boye Mafe swatted away his second pass of the possession to bring up third down and Reed followed up by penetrating the pocket for a drive stalling sack, forcing a punt.
Even as Jones, Reed, and Nwosu quickly subbed out, the Seahawks found ways to consistently turn up the heat on Rush and third-string quarterback Will Grier while also holding up against the run. In the first half, defensive tackle Myles Adams recorded his first sack of the preseason, while undrafted rookie Jacob Sykes also had a big hit on a third down incompletion and defensive tackle Roderick Perry had a tackle for loss. Over the final two quarters, second-round pick Derick Hall earned his first sack chasing down Grier and the team once again finished allowing under four yards per carry against the run.
5. Seattle's secondary didn't perform up to expectations out of the gate, but finished the evening on a strong note.
While the Seahawks strong showing in the trenches deserves praise, the same disappointingly can't be said about the cornerback and safety group. Veterans Mike Jackson and Tre Brown, who are battling to start opposite of Riq Woolen at left cornerback, endured rough first halves with Rush and Grier regularly picking on them. Jackson in particular allowed three first down converting catches, starting with getting beat on a 36-yard deep ball to Tolbert where he also was flagged for interference.
From there, Jackson surrendered a 15-yard catch to Tolbert and an eight-yard conversion to Jalen Brooks on fourth down to move the chains. Brown didn't fare much better, missing a tackle and getting caught on an island when Rush dumped off a touchdown in the flats to running back Rico Dowdle. As for the safeties, rookie Jerrick Reed II badly whiffed on a tackle attempt in the third quarter as running back Deuce Vaughn powered through him on a 14-yard touchdown run.
If there's a silver lining, Brown made up for his mistakes earlier in the game with a nifty third quarter interception, jumping a deep in-breaking route by Semi Fohoko and picking Grier off at the goal line. The third-year defender returned the interception 22 yards, eliminating another scoring opportunity for the Cowboys. But overall, it wasn't a great night for the secondary as a whole.
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