SEATTLE − Nearly three years removed from his last meaningful snaps for the Seattle Seahawks, backup quarterback Drew Lock would often resort to drawing up plays on the whiteboard – not in the team’s suburban lakeside training facility, but the one next to his bed.
“After two kids, you kinda realize there’s a lot of quiet time in the bed, and you just lay there,” Lock grinned after leading Seattle to a 13-10 comeback win over the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl 60 rematch that also kicked off the 2026 NFL season.
Such is the life of a dad and QB2, Lock revealing he diagrams plays at all hours of the day – morning, or at night while his wife sleeps – to stay mentally sharp given the lack of on-field reps he gets in practice … at least when
his children haven’t appropriated the board.
“I (often) have to erase things that were not drawn by me,” Lock cracked.
The reigning champion Seahawks certainly didn’t design a start to their season that included starting quarterback Sam Darnold leaving Wednesday night’s game with a hip injury after five plays. The durable Darnold, who’s started 34 regular-season games in a row, winning 28 of them, only surrendered 38 plays to Lock in 2025.
That didn’t mean Seattle didn’t have unwavering confidence in Lock.
“We trust Drew, we know Drew,” Seahawks linebacker and defensive captain Ernest Jones IV told USA TODAY Sports. “He lights us up in practice throughout the week, so we know he’s gonna do it to other people, too.”
Quite a statement given Seattle's formidable “Dark Side” defense permitted the fewest points in the league on its way to capturing the Lombardi Trophy last season, yet it seemed to be a universal one inside the locker room.
“We’ve all been saying Drew has been the best two (backup quarterback) in the NFL for years,” said safety Julian Love. “He’s such a leader. He makes plays all the time in practice.
“We have so much belief.”
Still, it did take time for that faith to be rewarded against the Patriots.
The Seahawks offense sputtered in a scoreless first half under Lock, who last started a game in 2024 (for the New York Giants) and hasn’t been a fixture anywhere under center since 2020, when he’d hoped to become the long-term answer at the position for the Denver Broncos.
But early in the fourth quarter, on fourth-and-1 from the New England 45-yard line, he rewarded his teammates’ conviction – hitting 2025 Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba with a quick strike near the line for the first down … before JSN zipped through a few cracks in the Patriots defense all the way to the end zone for the game-tying touchdown.
“Fantastic, do the work for me,” Lock said of Smith-Njigba’s game-altering play.
THERE GOES JSN
— NFL (@NFL) September 10, 2026
NEvsSEA on NBC/Peacock
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/SIt21pDRO8
As for the surety coach Mike Macdonald showed in Lock – on a play they both admitted Lock had probably never run for the Seahawks and in a situation when Seattle would typically try to bull its way to a fresh set of downs on the ground?
“That was sweet,” said Lock, who immediately recognized Smith-Njigba had a mismatch to exploit in New England’s coverage.
“It was cool, it was awesome.”
And indicative that the Seahawks can likely count on Lock for a stretch if Darnold can’t go, though Macdonald indicated that the team “got some great news back” on its starter, who apparently didn’t suffer a fracture. Still, if Darnold does wind up missing time, Lock has apparently learned quite a bit from the sideline and practice fields and showed as much when his number was called.
“I’ve definitely grown, I’ve learned a lot about football. But having an opportunity on a team like this can shift your mindset. Knowing the type of defense that we have, there’s no rush to push the ball downfield,” said Lock, who had a propensity for getting reckless with the ball earlier in his career with Denver.
“(I have) the mindset of taking care of the football, getting it in our guys’ hands. We’ve got the best defense in the world, in my opinion – let’s keep the ball moving forward and see what the scoreboard looks like at the end.”
It looked just good enough for Seattle in Week 1. And now the Seahawks can steadfastly move ahead, with or without Darnold in the short term, knowing there’s no need to go back to the drawing board.
All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The best two in the NFL': Backup quarterback Drew Lock rewards Seahawks' faith
