Ex-Broncos QB Lock steps in for injured Darnold with mistake-free play

Drew Lock strode onto Lumen Field before Wednesday night’s NFL regular-season opener having not started a game since Week 18 of the 2024 campaign — when he was still with the New York Giants.

He ended it as Seattle’s newest hero — and one could say that he out dueled Drake Maye.

Forced into action after Sam Darnold succumbed to a hip injury six plays into the Super Bowl LX rematch with the New England Patriots, the 2019 Broncos second-round pick eventually settled in and delivered a composed, mistake-free performance that helped Seattle rally from a 10-0 deficit for a 13-10 win at Lumen Field on Wednesday night.

Indeed, it was Maye who made the game-defining miscues — not Lock, whose up-and-down career has to this point been defined as much by his missteps as the lasers he fires with his right arm.

Maye threw three fourth-quarter interceptions, capped by a ghastly decision to throw in the direction of wide receiver Mack Hollins with New England at the Seattle 16-yard line with 26 seconds left and a three-point deficit.

If Maye had thrown it away, the Patriots would have been in line for a game-tying field goal that would have been just one yard longer than an extra point. Instead, cornerback Josh Jobe stepped in front of the ball, tapped both feet in-bounds and secured the stunning, game-sealing interception.

While Maye melted down with miscues, Lock settled in and focused on playing within the structure of the offense. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and a 45-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba — and most importantly, no giveaways.

“Drew deserves a giant shout out for coming in and playing clean football,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald told media after the game.

Lock’s work — along with Maye’s scattershot play after halftime — ensured a plus-3 turnover margin for the Seahawks.

LOCK KNEW THE ASSIGNMENT AND EXECUTED IT

“Take care of the football,” he told NBC Sports immediately when asked about what his plan was after coming into the game following Darnold’s injury.

“I know what kind of defense we have. I know what kind of playmakers we have on the offensive side of the ball … Win the turnover battle, I’d like to think we have a pretty good chance of winning the game.”

Such wisdom is part of the lessons Lock has learned in a career that has seen the teachable moments often come the hard way. Over the course of 24 games played with the Broncos — including 20 starts — he turned over the football 25 times: five fumbles lost and 20 interceptions against 25 touchdown passes.

And some of those giveaways came at the most excruciating and inopportune junctures, such as when he lost the football on a read option in the fourth quarter of a 2021 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, a giveaway that helped doom the-then-7-6 Broncos to a crushing 15-10 defeat.

Since leaving Denver in the Russell Wilson trade, starting opportunities have been sparse for Lock. After losing a 2022 quarterback competition to Geno Smith, he didn’t take another regular-season snap until 2023, when he made two starts in place of Smith.

One year later, he moved on to the New York Giants, starting five games down the stretch. In those two seasons, he had a 9-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

But he was able to circle back to Seattle last year as the understudy to Darnold, returning to a place that he’s come to regard as a football home.

And now, with Darnold dealing with a hip injury — although not a fracture, as Macdonald relayed after the game — Lock could have a chance to show how his maturation manifests into his play, which on Wednesday night was clean and composed.

Lock has grown since his Denver years, and his play Wednesday night was evidence.

“I’ve got a whole lot more up here,” he said in February, pointing to his head, “than I did back then.”

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