The Seahawks were sloppy and out of sorts, but got the job done in the end.
Game one, win number one for Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald.
It was about as messy a first half as could be, and perhaps a better team than the Denver Broncos would’ve punished the Seahawks into an opening day loss. But that’s a hypothetical; the reality is the Seahawks didn’t sink through their myriad of mistakes and were able to win 26-20 in front of over 68,000 fans at Lumen Field. We knew there would be growing pains between the players and coaching staff,
Let’s get to the first regular season Winners and Losers of the Mike Macdonald era!
Winners
The entire defense
There is truly nothing scathing or all that alarming to say about the Seahawks defense. We have bemoaned how often the Seahawks in the latter seasons under Pete Carroll would make life way too comfortable for rookies and backup-level QBs. Under Mike Macdonald, there was no luxury of an easy day for Bo Nix. It wasn’t until deep into the fourth quarter that Nix cleared 100 yards passing, and he finished with Pi as his average net yards per attempt.
There were some run defense issues at times but nothing glaring, and Denver’s running backs were limited to 64 yards on 20 carries.
Leonard Williams had five QB hits and probably would’ve had a sixth if the refs would see this as a hold. Boye Mafe had a sack, seven pressures, and a TFL on a run stop.
Safety play was outstanding. Julian Love had an interception and was making some terrific open-field tackles. Rayshawn Jenkins was great in his debut, and K’Von Wallace had a forced fumble. The cornerbacks generally shut down their matchups (with the exception of a couple of plays allowed by Tre Brown), and Riq Woolen read Bo Nix like a book on that undercut route for an interception.
What wowed me the most was the linebacker play from Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker. It’s one game against a limited offense, but Dodson was magnificent stamping out screens and so was Baker, who had a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss.
When you force six straight three-and-outs, three takeaways, and limit the Broncos to 3.3 yards per play, you’ve had a hell of a day. Best part? Few missed tackles and constant pursuit of the ball and ball-carrier. All of those YAC plays that have killed Seattle over the past few years were kept to a minimum. The difficulty will ramp up starting with the Miami Dolphins, but they made a (most likely) bad offense look worse.
Kenneth Walker III
It took until the 2nd half to really unleash K9, but he delivered. Walker rushed for 103 yards on 20 carries, scored a touchdown and had another one called back for holding. Give him rushing lanes and he will be electrifying! Apparently he’s fine after being questionable with an abdomen injury late in the game, so that’s a relief.
Zach Charbonnet
After waiting until November to get into the end zone, Charbonnet scored his first NFL receiving touchdown of his young career. Geno Smith found him open on a busted coverage and Charbonnet showed the soft hands to catch it in stride and score. The rest of his day was not effective, but that was technically the game-winning touchdown he scored.
Tyler Lockett
Passing was at a premium for both teams, but less so for the Seahawks. How about a team-leading 6 catches for 77 yards for No. 16? No catch was more important than the clincher on 3rd and 6. What a special player, and he’s still the reliable target when you need a big first down.
Ryan Grubb’s 2nd half adjustments
The Seahawks sought to pound the rock through as many different looks as feasible. In the first half, Geno Smith accounted for 34 of the 56 rushing yards. After halftime, Seattle had 94 yards from its running backs 20 attempts. The success of the run game seemingly slowed down the pass rush, as Geno Smith was not sacked after halftime on 13 dropbacks.
Seattle was discombobulated on offense in the first half and looked a fair bit smoother after halftime. Kudos to Grubb in that regard.
Jason Myers
Don’t pretend you haven’t had some nerves regarding Myers after his missed PATs to start preseason. Two field goals, three PATs, all converted!
Losers
Offensive Line
If you want me to single individuals out, then Laken Tomlinson, Anthony Bradford, and Stone Forsythe all had horrendous individual reps and mistakes that killed drives. Bradford at least redeemed himself with some good run blocks (including on Walker’s touchdown), but the pass protection was a nightmare. The holding penalty on Bradford that resulted in a safety was unacceptable.
I gave Tomlinson the “haha it’s the Jets” benefit of the doubt. The doubt is gone. Christian Haynes needs to have a starting opportunity sooner rather than later, regardless of which guard spot he plays. If he’s worse than Bradford (which is implied by the fact that he couldn’t win the job) then I’m really concerned.
And needless to say, a full game of Forsythe at right tackle is not comforting. Hopefully George Fant is okay.
Dee Williams
Seattle’s backup punt returner is Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and I’d rather see him catching passes and not punts. Dee Williams is here to do one thing: play well on special teams. He muffed a punt and then inexplicably tried to pick it up, resulting in a turnover. Williams let another punt sail over his head and get downed at the 1.
Williams is a great story but I’ve got a pretty low tolerance for nightmare special teams returner play.
Laviska Shenault Jr
Seattle’s other return specialist had one decent return but otherwise committed a false start and had a yard on two offensive touches. He’s no super speedster but he didn’t look especially quick out there, either.
DK Metcalf
A ticky-tack hold to take away a Kenneth Walker touchdown? Yes. I think it was a letter of the law hold and it’s well away from the play. I’d say he’s unlucky there. He also committed OPI on a pick play where he didn’t really run a route, nullifying a Jaxon Smith-Njigba catch. I’m a little more annoyed he couldn’t come down with that contested catch on the deep shot on Patrick Surtain II. That’s a play I believe the absolute best receivers in the NFL make, and Metcalf has rarely been great at tracking the ball and high-pointing in those situations.
Metcalf finished with 3 catches for 29 yards, although the plus side of his size and frame is he drew a flag on Surtain.
Coaching staff game management
These plays ultimately did not matter, but they’re still worth acknowledging as questionable decisions.
After Geno Smith’s touchdown run, the Seahawks went for two (and failed). I don’t really ascribe to “too early to go for two” anymore, and I fully understand why they wanted to go up by three points. The problem I had was not going for two again when it was 25-13 after Zach Charbonnet’s touchdown. Convert and you’re up 27-13, don’t convert and the Broncos need two touchdowns to take the lead anyway. Kicking the PAT wasn’t a good decision.
I also did not like throwing the ball on 2nd and 19 with under five minutes to go on the botched screen pass. That was a free timeout for the Broncos when running the clock was more important than trying to get out of a jam. Even on the preceding play Jaxon Smith-Njigba ran a sideline route and the clock would’ve stopped if not for DK Metcalf’s interference penalty.
You live and learn.
Final Notes
- I’m a little hesitant to make Geno Smith a winner given the way that game started, but he settled in after the poor start. I didn’t really say any other bad plays apart from the interception (which was affected by the low hit, but I’m not sure Tyler Lockett is that open to begin with), and his touchdown run was electrifying. His final statline is 17/25 for 171 yards, a touchdown pass, a touchdown rush, and an interception. Not spectacular, but very steady once everyone settled down.
- Quiet day for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, whose only catches came in the first quarter. A familiar feeling given what happened last season due to the poor pass protection.
- I could not believe how slowly Noah Fant turned on that 3rd and 11 offside play. It looked for all the world he’d get the first down and we wouldn’t need to see Tyler Lockett’s heroics on the next play. Fant did hold his block just well enough on Walker’s touchdown, so he did make an impact in a different way.
- Speaking of TE blocking, AJ Barner had one error on a Charbonnet screen but otherwise he and Brady Russell made their presence felt as blocking tight ends.
- Dre’Mont Jones was a non-factor in his debut at edge. I think the only pressure he had was against Denver’s backup left tackle after Garrett Bolles got hurt.
- Byron Murphy II had a decidedly quiet game. That was his first time playing a first-team offensive line for an extended period and it was decidedly different than what we saw in preseason. It’s early days, but that was one of the few “negatives” on defense.
- I said that the New England Patriots game would be tougher than it looked due to that defense. They actually pulled off the big upset over the Cincinnati Bengals, holding Joe Burrow and company to just 10 points on the road. New England also rushed for 170 yards and didn’t turn it over. Jacoby Brissett is nothing special but he’s definitely better than Bo Nix, and that should be a tougher matchup on paper for the Seahawks, plus it’s on the road.
- Enemy Reaction and the Denver Broncos might be an even better combo than ER and the 49ers. See you Monday!