The first preseason of the Mike Macdonald era ended in victorious fashion Saturday night at Lumen Field as the Seahawks beat the Cleveland Browns 37-33.
Seattle ends the preseason 2-1 and now turns its attention to Tuesday’s deadline to cut the roster to 53 players, and to the regular-season opener against Denver Sept. 8.
“Got a couple big days ahead of us,” Macdonald said of the pending roster cuts.
The Seahawks were powered Saturday by a slew of big plays, notably a 21-yard TD pass from Geno Smith to DK Metcalf to cap the opening series — and the only one played by the No. 1 offense — a 56-yard TD run by second-year running back Kenny McIntosh and a 79-yard punt return by Dee Eskridge.
The game was marred by two early injuries to Seattle defensive players — outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu and cornerback Artie Burns.
Nwosu, expected to be the leader of the team’s pass-rush corps, left with an apparent left knee injury after being chop blocked on the fourth play of the game.
Burns, who appears to have earned a spot as a backup at both outside cornerback and nickelback, was carted off after suffering a noncontact injury to his left foot on the second series. There was no immediate word on the severity of either injury.
Here’s what else stood out:
Smith sharp in one series with first-team offense
As Macdonald had said, the starting offense began the game, getting its first snaps of the preseason.
Smith needed one play to shake off the rust, overthrowing an open Metcalf on the first snap.
But he was sharp as ever on the next four plays — a pass of 29 yards to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a dump off to McIntosh while shaking off two rushers for a gain of nine, a slant to Smith-Njigba for seven and then the coup de grace, the 21-yard TD to Metcalf on a fade route. Metcalf reached up to catch the ball as Cleveland cornerback Justin Hardee Sr. fell.
That made it 7-0 and spelled the end of the preseason for Smith and the rest of the offensive players assured of starting jobs. Smith finished 4 of 5 for 62 yards, a TD and a passer rating of 157.9, just shy of the max rating of 158.3.
“It was good to be back home, give the fans a little bit of what we’ve been working on, and also more of what’s to come,” Smith said to former Seahawk Cliff Avril during an in-game interview on the KING 5 broadcast. “We went down the field, I was able to hit DK Metcalf for a touchdown, got the crowd rocking. That was awesome.”
Awesome enough that Macdonald decided to scrap the pre-game plan and give the offense the rest of the night off.
“Plan was to do a couple series but I think we saw enough,” he said.
Defensive starters also keep pitching a shutout
Seattle’s defensive starters also got one series and, like the offense, looked as good as Macdonald could have hoped.
After Cleveland started at its 28 following the opening kickoff, the Seahawks appeared to force a three-and-out against a Browns offense going with backup quarterback Jameis Winston and what was only three listed starters overall. But a roughing penalty on Nwosu on the third-down play — a tipped pass by Boye Mafe — extended the drive.
Nwosu was then hurt on the next play, when the Browns’ Wyatt Teller was penalized for a chop block
Moved back 15 yards, the Browns called three pass plays that didn’t go for much.
Winston was forced to scramble for six on first down, threw short for eight yards on second down and then was sacked by Jarran Reed on third-and-11 for a loss of 10.
That meant that the Seattle defense allowed five yards in what were five official plays.
“Overall good,” Macdonald said. “The energy was there, execution was solid. We had the penalty on third down which is a little bit of a theme of the night which is something we need to clean up moving forward (Seattle had nine penalties for 85 yards). But it was good to get the stop after getting the penalty.”
The only other action for the Seattle starting defense came in the opener against the Chargers. In two series in that game, the starters forced two three-and-outs allowing only seven yards in six plays.
So, in 11 official plays in the preseason, the Seahawks’ starting defense allowed 12 yards and no first downs other than one via penalty.
A hint at the offensive line?
The Seahawks began the game with an offensive line featuring Charles Cross at left tackle, Laken Tomlinson at left guard, Olu Oluwatimi at center, Anthony Bradford at right guard and George Fant at right tackle.
And other than Oluwatimi, that could be the starting OL for the regular season, as well.
Recently signed free agent Connor Williams will likely be the starter at center but he was not in pads Saturday having only begun practicing this week. Williams suffered an ACL injury last Dec. 11 while with Miami.
Fant for now figures to be the right tackle with Abraham Lucas remaining on the physically unable to perform list, and possibly staying there to start the regular season.
Bradford has been competing with rookie Christian Haynes. But Bradford has generally gone with the starting unit and getting the nod Saturday would seem to indicate he’s ahead for now.
Bradford remained in the game through the first half with Haynes playing left guard. Bradford then sat out the second half with Haynes then moving to the right side before he exited the game in the third quarter.
Eskridge states his case
Eskridge’s punt return was the kind of play Seattle general manager John Schneider long envisioned him making when the Seahawks surprised many by taking him 56th overall in the 2021 draft.
Eskridge, though, has battled injuries as well as a six-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, playing in only 24 games the past three seasons.
With just over four minutes to go in the second quarter, Eskridge caught Corey Bojorquez’s punt on the left sideline at the 21, immediately made one defender miss, then cut back behind good blocks from Dareke Young, Patrick O’Connell and AJ Barner to then burst into the open down the sideline. He then cut through a hole between two more Browns defenders and outraced them into the end zone.
This preseason loomed as potentially his last shot with the Seahawks, and it seemed ominous when he sat out the practices and game in Tennessee.
But when healthy he has shown big-play ability, with a 22-yard run in the preseason opener against the Chargers and then Saturday’s punt return.
And proof that his teammates are rooting for him came as many rushed on the field to lift him on their shoulders as he headed to the sidelines, a group led by defensive lineman Leonard Williams.
McIntosh secures third running back role?
McIntosh, a seventh-round pick a year ago out of Georgia, came into the game seeming pretty secure for a roster spot as the third back behind Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet, neither of whom played.
But he may have made it a slam dunk when he turned in one of the game’s highlights, taking a handoff over the left side and using good blocks from Brady Russell, Laviska Shenault Jr. and Haynes to burst into the open and down the sideline. When Cleveland safety Chase Williams gave, well, chase, McIntosh extended his right arm to swat him away and was gone.
McIntosh finished the game with just the one carry for 56 yards to finish the preseason with 142 yards on 17 carries, an average of 8.4 per attempt, as well as five receptions on five targets for 27 yards.
McIntosh has been competing for the third running back spot with undrafted rookie free agent George Holani.
Holani showed well, with an 18-yard run in the third quarter that set up his 1-yard TD a few minutes later. He finished with 38 yards on seven carries.
Seattle could be compelled to keep four running backs.