The Arizona Cardinals will host the defending champion Seattle Seahawks at State Farm Stadium for Week 2. The Seahawks will play without their starting quarterback, as ESPN’s Brady Henderson reports that Sam Darnold has been ruled out by head coach Mike Macdonald.
That puts an officiality to this news. Previous reports on Darnold’s hip injury suggested the ninth-year quarterback would miss this game. He suffered the injury in the Seahawks’ Week 1 win over the New England Patriots.
That means that Drew Lock, who finished Seattle comeback against New England, will start against the Cardinals. That in itself creates a unique challenge for the coaching staff for this week.
Cardinals Face Drew Lock in Week 2 Showdown vs. Seahawks
Head coach Mike LaFleur and the coaching staff will certainly have their hands full gameplanning for Drew Lock. There isn’t much recent tape on Lock outside of the preseason.
The 29-year-old will make his first start since 2024. He has a 10-18 record as a starting quarterback, most of them coming in his stint with the Denver Broncos.
In relief of Darnold, Lock completed a comeback from down 10-0. Against the Patriots, he completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Seattle still presents challenges for the Cardinals defense. It will come down to containing running back Jadarian Price and the run game. They also have to deal with Smith-Njiba and Cooper Kupp, the latter of whom carries a well-deserved reputation of taking over in crunch time.
The Cardinals defense is coming off a strong first game, holding two-time Pro Bowler Justin Herbert to 14 points. They’ll need a similar performance against the Seahawks offense to give themselves a chance to win.
At the same time, the offense needs to continue what it did best against the Los Angeles Chargers: win the time of possession battle. Arizona controlled the ball for 37 minutes and 31 seconds. If they can do that, that limits the opportunities for Lock to beat them.
Cardinals Get Major Seahawks QB News Before Week 2 Showdown