Halftime Observations: Drew Lock Delivers as Seahawks Build 14-3 Lead Over Giants

Taking over for an injured Geno Smith, Drew Lock used a 51-yard completion to Noah Fant to help extend the Seattle Seahawks lead shortly before halftime as they took an 11-point advantage over the New York Giants to the locker room.

Amid a sloppy two quarters of football featuring numerous injuries for both teams, the Seattle Seahawks limped to the locker room with a 14-3 halftime lead over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

Here are three quick observations from halftime at MetLife Stadium:

1. Despite being hampered by injuries, Seattle managed to find the end zone twice.

Coming off back-to-back 37-point outings, Seattle only produced 84 total yards on their first four possessions, with most of that production coming from Smith's arm. The veteran quarterback completed nine of his 11 pass attempts for 67 yards and connected with DK Metcalf for a seven-yard touchdown, but he exited the game after being tackled along the sideline awkwardly by Giants safety Xavier McKinney after catching his own deflected pass. Spending extensive time in the injury tent, Drew Lock took his first regular season snaps and brought a spark, showing off his legs with an 11-yard run and rolling out of the pocket to hook up with Noah Fant, who tight-roped the sideline for a 51-yard reception down to the Giants one-yard line.

Drew Lock stepped up replacing Geno Smith, rolling out to connect with Noah Fant for a 51-yard catch and set up a Ken Walker III touchdown run before halftime

Away from Smith, Seattle also lost both of its starting guards to injuries in the first half. First, Phil Haynes re-aggravated a calf injury that led him to sit out last week and was replaced by rookie Anthony Bradford. Then in the second quarter, Damien Lewis had to be carted off with an ankle injury from the blue injury tent and was listed as questionable to return at the time. By the end of the half, center Evan Brown had slid to the left guard spot with rookie Olu Oluwatimi jumping in at the pivot position, leaving one starting offensive lineman left on the field. Through it all, the team managed to score two touchdowns to build an 11-point lead.

2. Building off last week, Seattle's pass rush comes through turning the heat up on Daniel Jones.

One week after eclipsing 30 quarterback pressures against the Panthers, the Seahawks frequently harassed Daniel Jones, receiving contributions from multiple levels of the defense. On New York's second drive of the game, after advancing past midfield, rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon shot out of a cannon on a cornerback blitz untouched to bring down the dual threat quarterback and lead to a punt. On the ensuing drive, following quick penetration by Uchenna Nwosu that forced Jones to try to vacate the pocket, Mario Edwards caught up with him from behind and knocked the ball loose on a strip sack, leading to a recovery by linebacker Jordyn Brooks inside New York's 10-yard line. Smith hit Metcalf two plays later to put Seattle up 7-0 on the final play of the first quarter.

For the half, the Seahawks produced four sacks with Witherspoon producing two of them from the nickel cornerback spot along with Edwards and Brooks each being credited one apiece. Rookie Derick Hall also added a quarterback hit after chasing Jones out of the pocket on third down and forcing him to throw the ball out of bounds. Capitalizing on an offensive line missing starting tackle Andrew Thomas and breaking in a new right guard, the pass rush played an integral role in building a double-digit lead at the half.

3. Third down woes continue to be a problem on both sides of the football.

If there's an area to nitpick with all of the injuries Seattle suffered in the first half, including Jamal Adams exiting just 10 plays in into his 2023 debut with a concussion, the team once again had issues getting off the field and extending drives. Offensively, multiple holding penalties put Smith and company well behind the sticks, leading to an 0-3 start on third downs to open the game and three punts on the first four drives. After that point, Lock's 51-yard completion came on a third down for the first conversion of the game and Walker added a garbage third down conversion on the final play of the half on a three-yard run.

Defensively, the Seahawks eventually did shore things up after initially allowing the Giants to convert on four of their first seven third down attempts. But Jones hooked up with Matt Breida twice for 22-yard receptions on third down and also had a completion to WanDale Robinson on 3rd and 6 to move the chains, as the defense allowed receivers to come open against busted coverages a couple of times. Thankfully, the unit buckled up after those mistakes and only gave up 155 yards and three points for the half, finishing by stopping New York's last two third down opportunities.