Drew Lock is trying to win the starting quarterback job in Seattle, and his performance on Saturday was a clear step in the right direction.

Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune even went as far as to call it a win for the former Missouri QB in his competition with Geno Smith.

He completed 19 of 26 passes in 4 drives with the second-string offense against the first-team defense, and one drive with the first-string offense against the second defense. He led a pair of touchdown drives and a field goal in those 5 drives. Smith completed 11 of 20 passes in four drives, 3 of which happened with the first-string offense against the No. 2 defense.

Coach Pete Carroll reacted to the performance, but didn’t put a lot of weight into it.

“It looked like they threw the ball pretty well,” Carroll said, per Pro Football Talk. “The way it worked out, Drew had some more opportunities, but I thought that they threw the ball really nice in the controlled stuff and underneath. We were clean with the ball coming out, the protection was good early, so it will give us a good chance to see them. If you noticed that both guys got to work with the first O-line today and the first receivers, so it will be a nice chance to compare these guys.”

Smith openly supports Lock.

“As far as the competition, I’m not the one judging all of that, so I’ll leave that up to the coaches,” Smith told reporters. “But, I think Drew played really well, as I’ve always said, and I will go on record to say that I have his back. No matter what, I have Drew Lock’s back. I want that to be known. We’re teammates, we’re competing, but we’re in the same offense, we’re in the same room, and we’re going to make each other better.”

Lock appreciated that knowing that he was in a similar competition at this time last year.

“It means a lot,” Lock said regarding Smith’s remarks. “It’s the exact same thing I would say up here. I went through that with Teddy [Bridgewater] last year. When Teddy got announced the starter in Denver, I did everything I could do for him throughout the week and even on gamedays. I would do the same here. Going on the record saying that I got Geno’s back. I’d do everything I can throughout the week to make him feel good going into gameday on Sunday. That’s what that job is. I’d give everything I got for him if that ended up being the case.”