Seahawks face Minshew's homecoming with Drew Lock starting in place of injured Sam Darnold

Both quarterbacks at Lumen Field on Sunday will be stand-ins. Arizona has handed the job to Gardner Minshew, the former Washington State record-setter. The Seattle Seahawks will start Drew Lock because Sam Darnold is out with a quad injury.

The Cardinals named Minshew their starter on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press preview on ESPN. He replaced Jacoby Brissett, who has since been traded to Baltimore. The Lewiston Tribune reported that Minshew came off the bench against Dallas last week and threw for 188 yards and three touchdowns. Arizona came back from 14 points down and won 33-30 in overtime. Minshew spent one season in Pullman under the late Mike Leach. In 2018 he set the Pac-12 passing-yardage record, and the Cougars won a school-record 11 games. Seattle right tackle Abe Lucas was on that team. He called his old teammate "a hell of a guy and hell of a player" but said he still wants to win Sunday, according to the AP.

Seattle's quarterback situation is less settled. Darnold got hurt on the final drive of Monday's 34-17 home loss to Chicago. Coach Mike Macdonald also said Darnold cracked a rib early in that game. The Spokesman-Review reported that Lock has a right elbow injury that limited how much he could throw in practice. According to OutKick, Jalen Milroe will be the backup. Lock has already beaten this opponent once this season. He started the Week 2 game in Glendale while Darnold was out with a glute injury and threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-7 win. ESPN also reports that Darnold could miss next week's game at Las Vegas.

What it means for Sunday

The defending Super Bowl champions are 4-4 and have lost three of their last five. They beat Kansas City 20-3 in that stretch but lost close games to San Francisco and Denver before the Chicago loss. Seattle is 3-2 at home and has scored 185 points while allowing 159. At 6-1, San Francisco already leads the NFC West by two and a half games, so Seattle can't afford to drop a division game at home.

Arizona is 3-5 but has won three road games, and it has allowed 238 points. The AP notes that Seattle has won the last 10 meetings. Two matchups stand out. Trey McBride leads the NFL with 66 catches. Tyler Allgeier is coming off a 147-yard game, but Seattle hasn't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 37 straight games. Jaxon Smith-Njigba needs 15 receiving yards to reach 1,000 for the season. Seattle is 15-0 under Macdonald when it wins the turnover battle.

Even with the backup starting, Seattle is a clear favorite. Novig, one of 12 venues on this site's board, has the Seahawks at -365 on the moneyline and Arizona at +355. Novig's spread is Seattle -8.5 at -102. The best Seattle price anywhere is theScore Bet's -8 at -115, which gives up half a point for a higher price. Sportsbook hold on the spread runs from 2.9% to 5.0%, so the venues are close. The line has come down since the AP listed Seattle as a 10.5-point favorite earlier in the week. The total is 39.5, low enough to suggest the market expects a cautious game from both backup quarterbacks.

Kickoff is 1:25 p.m. Pacific on Fox.