Week 2 preview: at Arizona, with Drew Lock
Two things happened between the banner and this game that make it a different matchup than the schedule suggested in May. Seattle lost its starting quarterback on the first drive of the season, and Arizona, a double-digit underdog in Los Angeles, beat the Chargers 26-14 and outgained them by 125 yards. Sunday at 1:25 p.m. Pacific on FOX, Drew Lock makes his first start since 2023 in a building that is 1-0 and loud about it.
Then the injury reports landed Friday, and the balance tipped back.
The final reports
Seattle’s is short, and it got one notch worse on Saturday. Tory Horton has no designation and plays, his first game since a shin injury ended his rookie season last November. He was a full participant all three days. Cooper Kupp (back) and Josh Jobe (wrist) also cleared. Sam Darnold (glute) and Ty Okada (hamstring) are out. Two names sat out Friday after limited work earlier in the week, and on Saturday afternoon one of them turned into a ruling: right guard Anthony Bradford was downgraded to out with the knee and hip, putting Christian Haynes at right guard. Nick Emmanwori remains questionable with a hip on top of the ankle that kept him out of the opener. Seattle elevated safety Rodney Thomas II for a second straight week.
Arizona’s is six deep, and four of those six play on the interior of a line. Guards Isaiah Adams (knee) and Isaac Seumalo (shoulder) are questionable on offense. Tackles Andrew Billings (knee) and Roy Lopez (groin) are questionable on defense. Add corner Max Melton (ankle) and safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson (ribs), with corner Garrett Williams ruled out on the Achilles he has been rehabbing since last season, and Arizona is thin in exactly the two places Seattle attacks.
That is the same story as Week 1 from the other direction. New England came in with a patched interior line and Seattle got three interceptions out of a quarterback who never had a clean platform.
What Arizona did in Week 1
Mike LaFleur became the first Cardinals coach to win his debut since Don Coryell in 1973, and he did it the way a first-time head coach dreams about: 72 plays to 51, a fifteen-minute edge in possession, no turnovers, and a 26-14 score that was never in doubt after halftime. Jacoby Brissett, not Gardner Minshew, started and went 27 of 37 for 277 yards and a touchdown. Trey McBride caught nine for 95 and the score. Jeremiyah Love, the third overall pick who barely practiced in August with a high-ankle sprain, ran 11 times for 41 and scored on the opening drive. Simi Fehoko was the NFC special teams player of the week.
The caveat nobody in Arizona wants to hear: Marvin Harrison Jr. caught one pass for 33 yards. Brissett’s read on that was generous, that Harrison “was getting a lot of attention in the game and I think that speaks more to him.” McBride and Kendrick Bourne accounted for 11 of Arizona’s 15 passing first downs. That is a short list of ways to move the ball.
The matchups that decide it
Seattle’s front against a patched Arizona line. Brissett is 33 and holds the ball; the Chargers still only got to him for half a sack. If Adams and Seumalo are limited or out, Byron Murphy II, Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed and DeMarcus Lawrence are rushing against backups on the inside. Uchenna Nwosu’s framing of the unit this week was about the run first: “That’s one of our non-negotiables that we talk about, being violent in the run game.”
The streak nobody mentions. Seattle allowed a league-low 3.7 yards per carry last season and has gone 27 straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher, a run that survived Rhamondre Stevenson in Week 1. Arizona’s whole Week 1 formula was 37 minutes of possession, and you do not hold the ball that long throwing it.
McBride against the middle. Nine for 95 last week, and 35 catches for 382 yards in four career games against Seattle. He is the one Cardinal with a history here, and he is the reason Emmanwori’s status matters more than a fourth safety usually would. If Emmanwori sits again, it is Julian Love, AJ Finley and Rodney Thomas II, who was a practice squad elevation ten days ago.
Lock against the clock. The book on Lock is that he is aggressive, which is what won Week 1, and that he takes risks he should not, which is what lost games in Denver. Sixteen of 22 for 187 with a touchdown and a 113.3 rating was the good version. Leonard Williams’ vote of confidence this week: “We believe that he’s the best second-string quarterback in the league.” The more useful number is Seattle’s 8-1 road record last season and an 11-1-1 mark at State Farm Stadium going back to 2013.
Price against Love. Both rookies came out of the same Notre Dame backfield last year. Price went 10 for 52 in his debut and Macdonald liked the runs; Love went 11 for 41 and a score. Seattle needs Price to carry more than ten times so Lock sees manageable third downs, because 2 of 11 on third down does not win in a dome.
The self-inflicted stuff. Ten penalties for 98 yards against New England, a chunk of them pre-snap. Brian Fleury called them “controllable” and “correctable.” A road crowd is where you find out.
The line
The market opened at Seattle -10 in the spring lookahead. As of Sunday morning, September 20, the consensus is Seattle -3.5, priced around -120, with the total at 41.5 against an opener of 44.5 and a moneyline near Seattle -205, Arizona +170. That is a six-and-a-half-point move: Darnold to Lock is most of it, Arizona’s win over the Chargers is the rest. The spread has been stable since midweek; neither Friday’s injury reports nor Saturday’s Bradford downgrade moved it, which is mildly surprising given how many Cardinals are on theirs. The total ticked up a point overnight.
One number cuts the other way. ESPN’s own matchup predictor has Arizona at 53.4 percent, on the other side of the spread from the betting market. Models weight last week heavily in September, and Arizona’s Week 1 was dominant while Seattle’s was a 13-10 grind with a backup quarterback. Take that for what it is worth in a sample of one game.
Washington allows sports betting only in person at tribal casinos; Arizona allows online betting for anyone physically in the state. We carry no sportsbook advertising, and the numbers are here because fans ask, not as advice.
Around the division
The 49ers beat the Rams 27-7 in Melbourne in the league’s first regular-season game in Australia, so the NFC West opened with San Francisco, Seattle and Arizona all 1-0 and the Rams at the bottom. This is Seattle’s only division game before November. Seattle has won nine straight in the series, and only three players on Arizona’s current roster have ever beaten the Seahawks.
Prediction
Seattle 20, Arizona 16. The front gets to Brissett two or three times against a guard rotation that may be missing both starters, McBride catches eight anyway, and Lock’s job is to hand the ball to Price, take the shot to Smith-Njigba or Horton when Arizona brings a safety down, and not give away a short field. Under 41.5 is the side we would take if we took sides.
The game day guide has the broadcast crew, the Bar Alliance rooms in Seattle, the Sea Hawkers in the Valley, and what the Cardinals have planned for their home opener. The injury table carries both final reports, and we update it when inactives post at 11:55 a.m.
Questions
Who starts at quarterback for the Seahawks against the Cardinals?
Drew Lock. Sam Darnold is out for a second week with a glute injury and has no set return date. It is Lock's first start since 2023, and Jalen Milroe is the backup.
What is the line for Seahawks at Cardinals?
Seattle is favored by 3.5 with a total of 40.5 as of Saturday, September 19. The game opened at Seattle -10 with a total of 44.5 in the spring lookahead.
Is Tory Horton playing against the Cardinals?
Yes. Horton practiced fully all week and carries no injury designation. It is his first game since a shin injury ended his rookie season last November.