Drew Lock 2 TDs, Jake Bobo surges, Pete Carroll loves subs’ grit in Seahawks preseason win
As expected — as it goes in most NFL preseason games these days — Geno Smith, Bobby Wagner, Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf and most Seahawks starters didn’t play.
As hoped, Drew Lock showed why Seattle believes he can win games, minus one play he’d like to have back.
And as Pete Carroll loves, the backups competed as if their jobs were on the line. Which they were.
The Seahawks — more specifically, their reserves — stormed back from an early 10-0 deficit to the Minnesota Vikings’ reserves to score 24 of the game’s next 27 points. That’s how Seattle won the first of its three preseason games this month, 24-13 at Lumen Field.
The Vikings had 10 of the game’s first 11 first downs, all 10 of its points and 138 of the game’s 159 points.
Jon Rhattigan and others on the Seahawks defensive front seven who played said they were good with the emphasis of training camp — run fits in the correct gaps — but tackling was an issue at the start of the preseason opener.
“I don’t care how we start,” Carroll said. “I want to see how we finish.”
The 71-year-old Carroll leaped, yelled and ran down the sidelines after his defense stopped Minnesota for the final time in game’s last 90 seconds. It was like Seattle had just beaten San Francisco in a playoff game, or something other than the preseason game this was.
“It makes my heart soar, man,” Carroll said of the rookies and new Seahawks rallying to win. “To see them go out there and have that much fun playing and see the finish come to them. ...
“And the guys on the sidelines were going crazy for them. That’s what I hoped they would feel. If I could tell what I hoped that game would be like, THAT was the game.”
It was large for Ben Burr-Kirven, too.
Carroll made him a game captain, something Burr-Kirven hadn’t been since he was at the University of Washington five years ago. Burr-Kirven played linebacker and on kickoffs, and had a tackle in the first half. It was the first game in two years for the former Huskies linebacker doctors told would never play again after severe nerve damage from a major knee injury in August 2021.
“It was pretty special,” Burr-Kirven said. “It was surreal.”
The practice game was marred by the worst scene in this violent sport.
Wide receiver Cade Johnson was in stable condition at a Seattle hospital Thursday night being checked for possible head and neck injuries after he left the game with his head and neck immobilized to a stretcher. He got hit hard returning a kickoff for 17 yards in the second quarter.
Carroll said after the game the Seahawks got “very good” reports from Harborview Medical Center from neurological tests on Johnson that went well. He has a concussion.
The third-year veteran caught the first two passes of his NFL career last season for Seattle. He went into the medical-observation tent behind the Seahawks’ bench late in the second quarter. Fellow wide receiver Tyler Lockett soon went into the tent to be with Johnson.
The Seahawks announced that “as a precaution,” Johnson was taken by ambulance to Harborview for possible head and neck injuries. The team said he was in stable condition.
Only seven of the 22 Seahawks who have been regular starters through the first 12 practices of training camp on offense and defense started this preseason opener: center Evan Brown, guard Phil Haynes and rookie third wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba on offense; cornerbacks Tre Brown and Michael Jackson plus outside linebacker Boye Mafe and inside linebacker Devin Bush on defense.
“We dedicated this game to the young guys,” Carroll said.
Lock completed 17 of 24 short and intermediate passes for 191 yards and a passer rating of 104.7.
It was his first game since last August, Seattle’s 2022 preseason finale. That was the night Carroll announced Smith had beaten out Lock for the job to replace traded Russell Wilson as Seattle’s quarterback.
Smith then took every snap last season. Lock watched from the sideline all of Smith breaking four Seahawks season passing records, make his first Pro Bowl and make his first playoff start.
“It felt great,” Lock said, sighing and smiling. “To be playing football again — it’s weird when you go a whole year without taking a snap...Man, it felt good to finally be back out there.
“It’s the first time in my career without taking a snap in a season. It was interesting going back out there, feeling the flow of the game again, being the one in charge.
“Man, I’ll take every rep I can get. It was really, really fun out there.”
His two best throws were for touchdowns.
The first was a play Lock changed at the line of scrimmage. Wide receiver Easop Winston Jr. saw the same defensive alignment Lock did, with the Vikings safety playing off. Lock threw a dart that stuck into Winston’s stomach in tight coverage at the goal line. That 13-yard play cut Minnesota’s early 10-0 lead to 10-7 late in the first half.
It was the first NFL touchdown for Winston, the former Washington State Cougar who’s been on and off practice squads the previous two league seasons. Winston was carrying the ball Lock threw to him for his first pro score around the locker room and out of the stadium an hour after the game ended.
He said he’s going to give the ball to his mom, Renee Winston.
“This is a big moment for me. And she sacrificed a lot for me to get her,” Winston said. “So I think it’s only right that I give it to her.”
His mother once told the Cougar Sports Network when he playing for WSU that “from fifth grade to the 12th grade, he slept with the football every night.”
Late in the third quarter, Lock deftly looked off the Minnesota cornerback responsible for zone coverage down the left sideline into the middle of the field. Jake Bobo, the rookie wide receiver from UCLA, ran down the sideline Lock opened with his eyes and caught the 19-yard touchdown pass before the cornerback could get back to him.
“’More Bobo!’ is the thing we like to say in the locker room,” Lock said.
“He does the right things.”
Seattle had its first lead, 17-13 into the fourth quarter.
Bobo also made a fine play covering a punt. He and Jonathan Sutherland, who started at safety Thursday and has gotten some time with the starting defense at nickel defensive back in training camp, are the two rookie free agents with the best chance to make the first regular-season roster at the end of this month.
“He just continues to find ways,” Carroll said.
Lock threw a bad interception midway through the third quarter, right to Jaylin Williams as if he never saw the Vikings’ defensive back in the middle of the field. Minnesota converted the game’s first turnover into a field goal and a 13-10 lead.
In the three games he’s played for Seattle since arriving in March 2022 from Denver in the Russell Wilson trade — all in the preseason — Lock has five touchdown passes with five turnovers.
Third-string quarterback Holton Ahlers, an undrafted rookie from East Carolina, entered with 11 minutes left in the game. On his third snap he took a quarterback draw up the middle on third and 9 for 22 yards, into Minnesota territory. On the next third down, Ahlers kept the ball around right end on a read-option play for 7 yards and another first down.
Ahlers then threw a jump ball to avoid a sack from an unblocked blitzer that undrafted rookie wide receiver Matt Landers leaped to catch. Landers ran away from the falling defender for the 30-yard touchdown. Seattle led 24-13.
Ahlers also completed all four of his passes.
Seahawks starters
The Seahawks’ starting offense was Lock for Smith at quarterback, DeeJay Dallas the running back, Smith-Njigba with Bobo and Johnson as the wide receivers and Colby Parkinson at tight end. The line was left tackle Stone Forsythe (the 2021 sixth-round draft choice was slow getting off the snap in pass protection), left guard Phil Haynes, Brown at center, rookie Anthony Bradford at right guard and Jake Curhan at right tackle.
Seattle’s starting defense Thursday: Roderick Perry, Myles Adams and Mike Morris on the line, Boye Mafe and Derick Hall as outside linebacker, and Rhattigan for Wagner as signal caller and inside linebacker with Bush next to him.
Jackson and Brown were the starting cornerbacks, as they have been the entire camp. That’s with Riq Woolen coming off knee surgery in May and now top rookie draft pick Devon Witherspoon out with a hamstring injury.
The safeties were Coby Bryant, last season’s primary nickel defensive back, and Sutherland. When the Seahawks went to nickel Thursday, Sutherland moved up to that spot and rookie sixth-round pick Jerrick Reed entered at safety.
The Seahawks are planning to have their regulars play in the second preseason game, Aug. 19 against Dallas in Seattle.
Dee Eskridge hurt again
Wide receiver Dee Eskridge went down and needed trainers to help him after he was in on the tackle on the opening kickoff. He watched the rest of the game with a wrap and ice below the right knee.
Carroll said Eskridge has a cartilage issue of unknown severity. The coach said Eskridge was walking around on it after the game, so he presumes it’s not a serious injury.
Last week the NFL suspended Eskridge for the first six games following a domestic incident
This story was originally published August 10, 2023 at 10:08 PM.
