Until Seahawks coach Pete Carroll selects a Week One starting quarterback, he’ll constantly be asked about the selection process. On Tuesday, he got a curveball of a question -- and he provided a curveball of an answer.
Asked whether he would consider playing both of his quarterbacks, Geno Smith and Drew Lock, Carroll said this: “That could happen. Yeah, that could happen.”
That would be something. Because it’s something that few NFL coaches ever do.
For now, Carroll seems to be focused primarily on picking Smith or Lock for the Week One assignment against the Broncos, now led by former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. Currently, Carroll is deciding how to divide the reps in the preseason finale against the Cowboys.
“We’ve got it worked out where we are figuring out playing time right now,” Carroll said. “Drew needs to play a lot of football because he missed a game [due to COVID]. So that’s the main thing to get done this weekend. . . . This game is really important because it’s kind of the make-up deal. I’m going to make sure to take care of business on that.”
Carroll doesn’t rule out the possibility of Lock overtaking Smith, who has led the competition throughout the offseason and training camp.
“I’m wide open for whatever happens,” Carroll said. “Geno has been the guy in the lead position the whole time. I’ve protected that thought throughout and he’s done a really nice job. He’s been very consistent. We’ll just see what happens. There’s two more weeks of practice too after this. With a timeline, I had a set thought of what we would do with the timeline but that got disrupted. We’re going to use all the time we need.”
But Lock definitely has a real chance. Carroll specifically said on Tuesday that “these guys are so even right now.”
Carroll has no qualms about taking his time to make the decision. And he wonders whether the time-honored cliche about having two quarterbacks could eventually be turned on its head in Seattle.
“Geno has done a really good job of being in that position,” Carroll said. “His voice is solid. He’s on point all the time. He’s been very consistent with his work and all of that, and Drew has been really sharp. I know it’s not supposed to be a good situation when you have two quarterbacks and it means you don’t have one is the old saying, but I don’t know though we might have two [number] ones. We’ll see what happens.”
We’ll have an answer sooner or later. In 20 days, the Seahawks face Denver. And maybe, in the end, the Seahawks will decide that they have two starters -- and that they’ll use both of them. That curveball strategy would definitely throw a wrench in the preparations by the Broncos defense.