SEATTLE — Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald demands plenty from his Super Bowl champion squad. The “stacking days” mentality is what won the franchise a Super Bowl just two years into the coach’s tenure.
So when his team dropped its first preseason game of 2026 to the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night 17-7, he had notes galore.
“That’s the most people I’ve ever seen at a preseason at a preseason game, so we owe them a better performance, to say the least,” Macdonald said of the over 68,000 fans at the game. “Right now our process needs to improve, that’s really our biggest takeaway.”
Of course, Macdonald was referring to the process of his second and third teams. Big names like starting quarterback Sam Darnold, reigning Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba and countless defensive starters like Devon Witherspoon, fresh off becoming the league’s highest-paid corner earlier in the day, didn’t play a single snap.
Instead, Seattle tested its depth with mixed results. Presumable QB2 Drew Lock and presumable QB3 Jalen Milroe alternated possessions, with Lock going 9-for-13 for 40 yards and a TD and Milroe going 5-for-8 with 36 yards. WR Montorie Foster Jr., who has stood out at training camp and is working on making the roster at 25 years old, was featured with seven targets totaling five catches for 36 yards and an opening-drive TD.
Milroe also ran for 36 yards on five carries while third-year RB George Holani managed 42 yards on 12 carries on a 3.8-yard-per-carry day for Seattle.
Lock and Milroe deviated from the typical one-half-each approach many teams, like Dallas on Saturday, take with their quarterbacks. Each QB handled two series before forking it over to the other.
“This is my first time doing it this way,” Lock, heading into year seven out of Missouri, said of going back and forth with the second-year Milroe from Alabama. “It’s a good way as backup guys… kind of being able to go two (possessions), get pulled out, sit a little bit. Kind of feels like a normal Sunday where you just get thrown in.”
Macdonald, of course, has notes for his QBs, but opted to keep it simple postgame.
“Good enough to put up seven points,” Macdonald said of how the signal callers did. “We need to put up more points, we need to operate better… It’s so great to have tape against another team now.”
On the other end, Seattle’s depth at defensive back took center stage with notable additions like versatile corner Noah Igbinoghene and rookie Bud Clark (three tackles) each putting together quality reps. But Dallas’ tandem of backups in Joe Milton III and Sam Howell combined for a 20-for-27 night with 201 yards and two scores, as Seattle’s reserve pass rushers were unable to record a sack.
Dallas rookie WR Camden Brown stood out with three catches for 63 yards and two scores, including a third-quarter one-handed snag.
Seattle linebacker Tyrice Knight, who has moved to a reserve role with the rise of starter Drake Thomas in 2025, finished with 10 total tackles and two passes broken up. He wore the green dot on his helmet, relaying the defensive play calls from coordinator Aden Durde to his squad for the first time since his rookie preseason in 2024.
Macdonald typically calls the defense and plans to resume those duties next week at Kansas City. Seattle is three weeks away from its regular-season opener against its Super Bowl LX adversary New England Patriots.
But it was the Seahawks offense that would strike first, as Lock orchestrated a 13-play drive spanning over seven minutes resulting in a five-yard touchdown pass to Foster Jr. Fifth-year Seattle receiver Cody White drew a 19-yard pass interference to push the Seahawks into Dallas territory to start the possession, before the RB tandem of Holani and Velus Jones Jr. combined for three short carries to get Seattle near the red zone.
A 12-yard catch from second-year breakout candidate tight end Elijah Arroyo got the Seahawks into a first and goal before Lock fit a bullet pass over a Dallas defender to Foster Jr. for a five-yard score on 3rd-and-goal.
”He almost tipped it; it was super close, but you know, I was just ready for the moment,” Foster Jr. said of the play.
Foster Jr, a substitute teacher in Ohio around this time last year after going undrafted out of Michigan State, isn’t taking this preseason for granted.
“It was times where, you know, I wanted to give up and just get a regular job,” Foster Jr. said of his past year. “But I stayed at it, my dad told me, ‘Cream always rise to the top and just to stay faithful.’”
Seattle’s second-team defense forced a Dallas 3-and-out moments later, punctuated by a pass breakup from Knight. The Seahawks offense didn’t fare much better on its second drive, as Lock missed an open Jake Bobo on a deep in route to end a 3-play drive.
Former New Orleans DB Shemar Jean-Charles kept Dallas’ next possession going with a third-down pass interference. The Cowboys took advantage with two first-down conversions on 10-yard gains from WR Jonathon Mingo, but free-agent signee DB Noah Igbinoghene came flying off the edge on a redzone third-down to rush Howell into an incompletion, leading to a short Dallas field goal.
Igbinoghene, a seventh-year corner out of Auburn, also forced prospective Cowboys starter Marquez Valdez-Scantling into the sideline on a go-route incompletion to show his versatility earlier.
Milroe rotated in for the Seahawks on the next possession, recovering from an early fumbled snap by hitting Bobo on a decisive nine-yard slant for a first. The second-year improviser out of Alabama then found the edge on a 12-yard scramble to the right side before Holani picked up 13 yards across two straight carries, including a long cut-back across the formation to net five yards. Holani is looking to crack a deep RB room headlined by first-round rookie Jadarian Price, 2025 Seattle RB2 Zach Charbonnet and Green Bay signee Emanuel Wilson.
Milroe converted a fourth-and-short to Bobo on a short scrambling toss, only for it to be wiped out by an Amari Kight holding call before typically reliable kicker Jason Myers missed wide right from 45 yards to leave Seattle pointless after a nine-minute drive.
Still, the scrambling from Milroe has set the young QB apart at times.
“I think some great things that (Milroe) did was extend plays with his legs, something that has been a point of emphasis with him,” Macdonald said. “It’s up to (him) on how long the play goes.”
Things got worse a moment later for Seattle, as Dallas put together a seven-play, 65-yard drive in under 90 seconds to score on a 39-yard touchdown grab from Brown. The play continued a rough half for Jean-Charles, who was boxed out as the lofting deep ball came in for Brown.
Milroe flashed his speed again with a 20-yard scramble generated by evading three defenders in the pocket to open the next possession. But an offensive hold, a sack and another hold put an end to the first half.
Milton took over to start the third for Dallas and instantly hit Anthony Smith for a 23-yard gain on a crossing route, putting Dallas in Seattle territory. RB Malik Davis followed with two eight-yard carries before Brown made the play of the day for the Cowboys, catching a fade route with his left hand by beating Seahawks rookie Michael Dansby.
To make matters worse, Lock subbed back in at QB and missed a wide-open Foster on a go route down the left sideline to induce a punt. It was a moment Lock, currently entrenched as Seattle’s QB2 behind Darnold, wants back.
“He should have made two (big plays) today if I don’t overthrow him on that ball on the left sideline,” Lock said of missing Foster Jr. in that moment. “He’s light years away from where he was, and he’s been fantastic for us.”
After a six-play Dallas drive, rookie receiver Rashad Rochelle showed why he was one of the best punt returners in college at Indiana State with a 52-yard return chock-full of broken tackles.
First-year Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Fleury then featured Foster Jr. with three throws to the 25-year-old in four plays. Foster Jr. managed 15 yards on a slant route before being blown up on a screen and managing three yards on an out route.
Seattle’s drive came to an end six yards away from paydirt as RB Velus Jones Jr. lost four on fourth down to keep it 17-7. After a drive-ending tackle-for-loss from Seahawks safety A.J. Finley, Seattle got back to work with Milroe as Foster Jr. picked up a 10-yard sideline snag on third-and-10 to keep the drive going. But after Milroe took a nine-yard sack in the pocket, Seattle was forced to punt.
A muff from Cowboys returner Traeshon Holden, however, bounced to Seahawks RB T.J. Harden to set Milroe up with first-and-goal from the one-yard line.
But after a few short runs out of heavy packages to get it to fourth-and-one, Milroe tracked back away from pressure twice before tripping 15 yards away from the goal line to bring about a second straight missed 4th-and-goal chance at the end of the game.
“When you’re in the red zone, we need to come out with points, you know, whether it’s a field goal, whether it’s a touchdown, coming out with points is so important,” Milroe said.
The Seahawks, luckily, will have more dress rehearsals before the real thing starts in September. Seattle will continue its three-game preseason run on Aug. 23 at the Tennessee Titans.
