The Seattle Seahawks are giving Sam Darnold a breather to heal up. Darnold will miss the Seahawks’ Week 9 clash against the Arizona Cardinals.
Darnold led the Seahawks to a championship victory last season. A few days later, Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak left to take the head coaching job with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Seattle appointed former San Francisco 49ers run game coordinator and tight ends coach Brian Fleury as new offensive play caller. Head coach Mike Macdonald called the shots on defense.
Seattle won the first two to start the 2026 season. On opening day, they took down their Super Bowl opponents, the New England Patriots. Darnold didn’t finish the game because of a glute injury. Drew Lock stepped in, threw 16-of-22 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown in a 13-10 victory.
Lock started in Week 2 against the Cardinals. He completed 19-of-26 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns to wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Seattle won 31-7 in Arizona.
Darnold returned to start against the Washington Commanders. Despite throwing four touchdowns, Washington upset Seattle 33-31. Darnold threw his first touchdowns of the season in the outing.
They bounced back with a win over the winless Los Angeles Chargers. However, the team lost the next three against the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Chicago Bears last Monday.
In Week 9, Seattle hosts the Cardinals for a big revenge game. Darnold will not start at quarterback. On Tuesday, Macdonald announced that Darnold injured his quadriceps on the final drive when Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon tackled him.
Lock is not a . The Mizzou star has started games for the Broncos and the Giants in the past. He’s on his second spell with the Seahawks.
Macdonald announcing Lock to start against Arizona instead of Darnold due to an injury didn’t sit well with some fans. Several Seattle fans were quick to argue that the Seahawks benched the Pro Bowler because of his lackluster performances.
In seven starts, Darnold has completed 60.2% of his passes (lowest since 2022). He has also thrown 9 interceptions (one fewer than Chargers QB Justin Herbert).
Pro Football Focus graded him a 63.5 passing mark (22nd in the league). The 29-year-old has had 12 turnover-worthy plays and 11 big-time throws. He has also attempted the fourth-highest uncatchable throw rate (21.9%) among qualifiers while placing 21st in completion percentage over expectation (-0.6%).
But the bottom line is that Darnold has sustained a quadriceps injury. So, it’s Drew Lock’s turn to whitewash the birds.
At this point, the Cardinals have to be sick of Lock. Last time, he threw three TDs at Glendale. This time, Seattle has home-field advantage as well. Seattle is reportedly a 10.5-point favorite against their NFC West rival.
That number is surprising. Last week, they took down the Dallas Cowboys. Gardner Minshew put on a show after replacing Jacoby Brissett. Minshew dumped three TDs and completed nearly 70% of his passes in a famous 33-30 victory.
That performance earned Minshew the QB1 title, and Brissett the chop. The veteran signal caller was traded to Baltimore hours later.
It’s not completely bad news for the Cardinals. Macdonald revealed that Lock was also carrying an injury. However, the head coach refused to go into details.
Per Brady Henderson of ESPN, it’s a right elbow injury. The Cardinals can certainly exploit that. Regardless, the Seahawks lead the series 32-22-1. Arizona is on a ten-game losing streak. Their last victory in this fixture came in November 2021.