Drake Maye had the better opening 45 minutes, working behind four returning Super Bowl offensive linemen and building a 10-3 lead into the fourth quarter with a game plan that leaned on the ground and kept things clean. Rhamondre Stevenson carried the early-down load with TreVeyon Henderson out, and for a half it looked like New England's O-line depth and A.J. Brown's arrival had bought Maye exactly the cushion this offense needed.
Then it all came apart in the fourth. Lock found Jaxon Smith-Njigba wide open on a play-fake for a 45-yard touchdown that tied it, Smith-Njigba finished with 8 catches for 122 yards, and Jason Myers' short field goal put Seattle back in front. New England still had a final possession, needing only a few yards to get in makeable range, and Maye — flushed from the pocket on third-and-5 — threw a jump ball that Josh Jobe picked off to seal it.
Maye finished 22-of-33 for 178 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions, the same kind of pressure-forced mistakes that plagued him against this same Seattle defense back in February. A.J. Brown didn't make it to the finish either, exiting in the third quarter with an ankle injury that further thinned a receiver room already missing Efton Chism III for the night.
For a Seahawks defense that returned largely intact from its Super Bowl-winning roster, forcing three picks out of Maye without home-run offensive production was close to the script this group wanted to write. Darnold's hip is now the story going forward — no timetable was given — and how long Lock holds the job will shape Seattle's next several weeks more than anything that happened in the box score Wednesday.