What we learned from Seahawks’ win over Cowboys in second preseason game

SEATTLE – The Seahawks improved to 2-0 on the preseason Saturday night with a 22-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys at Lumen Field.

Seattle’s starters played two series and did OK while they were in there. And Jaxon Smith-Njigba again showed he is likely to be a major factor this season.

Here is more on that and all you need to know.

First-team offense a little hit-and-miss

The Seahawks indeed played many of their starters for the first time this preseason — and maybe the only time — including Geno Smith and the entire offensive line for the first two series.

Smith and the offense, though, had somewhat mixed results going against a Dallas team that mostly played its backups on both offense and defense.

Smith went 5 for 6 for 46 yards but led the Seahawks to just three points in two drives.

The first ended in a punt after one first down, while the second featured a pass of 26 yards to Jake Bobo and then a 29-yard run by Zach Charbonnet that got Seattle to the Dallas 38. But the drive ended there, with Smith sacked on third down when Charles Cross was beaten by Sam Williams, with Seattle getting points only when Jason Myers hit on a 57-yard field goal, something coach Pete Carroll may not have tried in a regular-season game.

One caveat is that DK Metcalf did not play, though Tyler Lockett did, catching one pass for 6 yards. It goes without saying the difference it would make having both on the field.

The Seahawks gained 76 yards on the 12 plays that Smith and most of the first-team offense were on the field.

That may be all we see of Smith in the preseason, with a game at Green Bay next Saturday likely to feature only backups.

It wasn’t spectacular, but it got the job done of getting Smith some game action without injury.

Lock sharp, then leaves

After Smith played two series, he was replaced by backup Drew Lock.

Lock, who had staggered out of the gate last week before leading Seattle to a 24-13 win over the Vikings, looked sharp from the start, completing 5 of 6 passes for 119 yards and leading the Seahawks to touchdowns in his two drives.

But Lock needed some fortune, in the form of a penalty from the Cowboys, to get his first TD. And then he left limping following the second TD, with it unclear if he had suffered an injury of any note — the team did not announce an injury for Lock during the game.

Seattle appeared to go three-and-out on Lock’s first series to start the second quarter before a taunting penalty on Dallas’ Juanyeh Thomas extended the drive — it appeared that receiver Jake Bobo helped incite the penalty.

Two plays later, Lock hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 48 yards on the prettiest play of the night to set up a one-yard TD run by DeeJay Dallas. Smith-Njigba beat Dallas’ Eric Scott — a rookie from Southern Mississippi — to get into the open.

On his second drive, Lock hit Noah Fant for 21 yards and then Cody Thompson for 32 to get the Seahawks into scoring territory.

Then, on a first down from the 24, Lock was hit low by Sam Williams on an incomplete pass.

Williams was called for roughing the passer while Lock came up limping.

Lock finished the drive — which included throwing an 11-yard pass to Tyler Mabry to the 1 before SaRodorick Thompson scored to put Seattle up 17-7.

But Lock then went into the blue medical tent to have his leg examined and did not play again.

It had been expected that Lock might play substantially in the game, so the fact that he played only two series was curious. Lock was on the sideline in pads when the second half began.

Lock finished the game 5 of 6 for 119 yards and a passer rating of 118.8.

Lock leaving after just two series meant rookie undrafted free agent Holton Ahlers played the rest of the game, including all of the second half.

JSN shows out again

While Seattle’s first pick in the 2023 draft, cornerback Devon Witherspoon, did not play again due to a hamstring issue, Seattle’s other first-round pick, Smith-Njigba, did.

And Smith-Njigba, or JSN as he has commonly been called, again played well.

Smith-Njigba easily got behind the Dallas defense to catch a 48-yard pass from Lock that set up Seattle’s first touchdown in the second quarter and finished with three catches on three targets for 58 yards, displaying again the route-running and catch-everything talent that has enamored Seattle coaches throughout camp.

One caveat is that Smith-Njigba still looks a little raw on return duties, fair-catching a punt at the 4-yard line — something it appeared Seattle coaches were not too happy about.

Woolen, we need you

Much has been made of Seattle’s cornerback depth throughout training camp.

And there’s no doubt the position is better off overall than it has been in many recent years.

But proof that there is still some room to grow came in the early moments of the game.

Rookie Devon Witherspoon, the fifth overall pick in the draft, and Riq Woolen did not play, which left the starting cornerback duties to Michael Jackson and Tre Brown.

Jackson, a starter last year at left cornerback and who has been working with the starters throughout camp, was beaten three times in the early going, including on a fourth-and-4 play on the last snap of the first quarter that helped lead to a Dallas touchdown.

And that was against Dallas’ backups, as the Cowboys played mostly backups throughout.

Brown also got beat for an 11-yard gain early in the game.

None of this is to necessarily pick on Jackson and Brown — and Brown had one of the key plays of the game with an interception in the fourth quarter, though that he was still in the game at that point seemed interesting.

It’s more to note that the Seahawks had their reasons for drafting Witherspoon and are still hoping that pairing Witherspoon and Woolen will make the secondary that much better.

Seattle ends its preseason with a game at Green Bay next Saturday, and then comes cutdown day on Aug. 29 and the race to the regular-season opener.