Two days after saying he was in no hurry to decide on the Seahawks’ starting quarterback, Seattle coach Pete Carroll announced his decision on Friday, going with Geno Smith rather than Drew Lock.

The official word came after the Seahawks lost 27-26 to the Dallas Cowboys on Friday in Arlington, Texas, in their preseason finale.

However, the choice appeared to have been made in advance, as Smith received the starter’s treatment in the contest. He played only the first offensive series, leading the Seahawks to a field goal while completing half of his six passes for 43 yards.

Carroll noted that Lock saw his chances of winning the starting role diminish when he missed part of the preseason after testing positive for COVID-19.

“He’s going to start the opener, and he’s earned it, he’s won the job,” Carroll said of Smith. “With the timeframes, it got messed up for us for Drew, he just ran out of time in making his bid for it. And so yeah, I’m cool about that, so I just want to let you know, so everybody knows, so you don’t have to ask me about it anymore.

Lock completed 13 of 24 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown on Friday but was intercepted three times.

“Drew’s going to keep on battling because he can play, and he’s got all kinds of stuff in him, and I want him to be ready at a moment’s call,” Carroll said. “And he’s going to keep growing and pushing and developing as a fantastic player and I have no problem playing with him, too.

“So, we’re fortunate to have two guys who can go, and when he comes off the bench, if he gets his chance he’ll be ready to go and try to light it up.”

Smith said, “I’m thankful for the opportunity and grateful, but I have a lot of work ahead of me. That was my mindset from the start is getting ready to go out there and win games.”

Lock said, “As a competitor, you’re always disappointed and I was disappointed. You want to be out there, you want to play with those guys. … It’s my job to have (Smith’s) back and be the best teammate I can be.”

Smith, 31, is entering his third season with the Seahawks after four years with the New York Jets and one year apiece with the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Chargers. He posted a 1-2 record as a starter last year, putting his career record at 13-21 in starts.

In 45 NFL games overall, Smith has a 58.8 percent completion rate to go with 6,917 passing yards, 34 touchdowns with 37 interceptions.

Lock, 25, joined the Seahawks in the March deal that shipped quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. He owns an 8-13 mark as an NFL starter to go with a 59.3 percent completion rate, 4,740 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in 24 games overall.

–Field Level Media

Geno Smith and Drew Lock are battling to become the Seattle Seahawks’ starting quarterback, and the competition could roll on for a while.

The team plans to use as much time as is needed to come up with the right decision, coach Pete Carroll said on Tuesday.

Carroll wouldn’t even commit to a starter for the Seahawks’ exhibition-season finale on Friday against the host Dallas Cowboys. He did confirm that Smith remains on top of the depth chart at the moment, but that’s due in part to Lock missing last week’s preseason game after testing positive for COVID-19.

“I’m wide open for whatever happens,” Carroll said. “Geno has been the guy in the lead position the whole time and protected that thought throughout. He’s done a really nice job, he’s been very consistent. So we’ll just see what happens. And there’s two more weeks of practice too after this. I had a set thought on what we would do with the timeline, but that got disrupted (with Lock testing positive for COVID), so we’re going to use all the time we need.”

The Seahawks have a day longer than most teams to prepare for the regular season as they open on the first Monday of the campaign, Sept. 12, against the Denver Broncos and former Seattle QB Russell Wilson.

“I’m not closing the book on anybody competing for their spots,” Carroll said. “We have two enormous weeks coming up. The finish of this one, next week is a huge week for us, then we come back with another full week, and an extra day. So we’ve got a lot of time here to work it out on my schedule.

“Maybe you’re not feeling that schedule, but on my schedule, I’m OK.”

Smith, 31, is entering his third season in Seattle after four years with the New York Jets and single seasons with the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Chargers. He went 1-2 as a starter last year, leaving his career record at 13-21 in starts.

In 45 NFL games overall, Smith has completed 58.8 percent of his passes for 6,917 yards and 34 touchdowns with 37 interceptions.

Lock, 25, arrived in the March trade that sent Wilson to Denver. He is 8-13 as an NFL starter with a 59.3 percent completion rate, 4,740 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in 24 games overall.

“I could go ahead and just call it, but I want to let the guys battle and let them show where they are and let us get as much information as possible,” Carroll said. “Geno’s done a really good job of being in that position. His voice is solid. He’s on point all the time. He’s been very consistent with his work all of that, and Drew has been really sharp.

“I know it’s not supposed to be a good situation when you have two quarterbacks. It means you don’t have one, is the old saying. I don’t know that. We might have two ones. We’ll see what happens.”

–Field Level Media