When Sam Darnold was lost after one series vs. the Patriots in the NFL opener Thursday night, it was definitely a big bummer. But Drew Lock came in and played about like we expected: a couple of sparks and no big mistakes. With the No. 1 defense in the NFL backing him, that was enough to pull off a 13-10 win in a sloppy game by both teams.

With the news that Darnold might miss fewer than four games with his hip injury, the Seahawks look well prepared to weather the storm.

Their next four games are against Arizona, Washington, the L.A. Chargers and San Francisco. The Cardinals and Commanders are still considered bottom five defensively, which lines up well for Lock, new OC Brian Fleury and an offense that had an uneven debut. Seattle’s defense should bottle up those first two offenses as well.

It then gets a bit harder with the Chargers and 49ers. Jim Harbaugh’s defense is ranked 11^th (via Yahoo Sports) entering the season. And the 49ers just dominated the Rams in Australia, winning 27-7.

For another way to consider what might happen without Darnold, let’s look at last season. The Hawks won seven games by 14 or more, and the defense gave up fewer than 21 points 12 times.

Darnold certainly was key to some of the close wins, and the Hawks would not have beaten the Rams twice (including in the NFC title game) without him. But fortunately, they don’t play the Rams until late, and they face most of their tougher foes after Week 5.

Lock, Jaxon Smith-Njigba (eight catches, 122 yards, 45-yard TD) and that stellar defense should be able to keep winning until Darnold returns.

Meanwhile, here’s what needs to improve for Week 2 and beyond.

Fewer penalties

The Seahawks were called for 10 penalties totaling 98 yards. Six of those (for 68 yards) came in the first half, when the Patriots had none. And that explained Seattle’s 7-0 deficit.

Most of the flags were on the offense – false starts, an illegal shift, a delay of game and even an offsides on a Barn Yard attempt. You can chalk many of those up to the starters not having played a game yet and to the line adjusting to a new quarterback and play caller.

As Mike Macdonald said, “Operationally, we’ll make some strides, but that’s really on everybody.”

More Price

First-round pick Jadarian Price looked great in very limited chances. He averaged 5.2 yards on 10 carries, while George Holani averaged 3.6 on eight runs. Price was fast to the sideline and tough finishing his runs. If he had been allowed to find a rhythm, he likely would have busted a long one.

The Hawks need to clean up the pre-snap penalties and Fleury needs to give Price more chances.

Emmanwori’s return

The secondary surprised most people with an excellent game despite missing both Nick Emmanwori and Ty Okada.

Nehemiah Pritchett, Julian Love and Josh Jobe came up with interceptions – each recording six tackles and some hard hits, too. Jobe punctuated the win with a two-tapper in the end zone.

We called out Love’s great game when he picked off his pass, and Macdonald said the safety played his best game as a Seahawk, “and that’s saying something.”

Macdonald used the blitz (especially from Devon Witherspoon) liberally against Drake Maye, who beat it a few times in the second half. Emmanwori is a great middle defender in those cases — able to erase some of that yardage.

Just imagine this unit getting even better in Week 2, with the expected return of Emmanwori (and possibly Okada).