3 winners and 2 losers from the Seahawks Week 1 win over the Broncos

The Seahawks didn't exactly get off to the start we expected, but they finished strong to seal the first win of Mike Macdonald's career. The Hawks winners all showed up in the second half of this game.

It looks like some things will never change in Seattle. All good 12s remember how the Seahawks would make us pull out half of our hair early in the game, right? Then things would start to click. More often than not, our beloved Hawks would come back late and put the game against the Broncos away. Seattle didn't waste as much time in the 2024 season opener, as they got things straightened out in the third quarter.

As I recall, there used to be a guy who worked for the Hawks who had an interesting call-and-response routine. He had a lot of great sayings, but this really particular stands out for me right now. He'd ask the team if you could win a game in the first quarter, and they'd respond, "No!" He'd repeat the question, moving on to the next quarter. Each time, the response would be a resounding, "No!" But when he asked if you could win the game in the fourth quarter - well, you know the answer as well as Pete Carroll did.

The Seattle Seahawks had so many winners, I had to put them into groups

The funny thing is, you can almost win the game in the third quarter. The Seahawks certainly gave it their best shot against the Broncos. After falling behind 13-9 in the first half, Seattle came out firing. They forced Denver to punt after losing three yards on their first series, forced a fumble on their second series, then posted another three-and-out on the Broncos final series of the third quarter.

The Seattle offense was just as effective as their defense in the third. Geno Smith was throwing strikes all over the field, and Kenneth Walker was slashing his way through defenders time after time. But let's get to those winners and losers, shall we?

Winner: The Seahawks run defense

Yes, the defense was great throughout the game. The biggest improvement - okay, one of the biggest - was the Hawks' defense against the run. The Broncos running backs had 20 carries and gained just 64 yards. Not to get mathy or anything, but that's just an average of 3.2 yards per carry. Denver quarterback Bo Nix upped their average considerably with 35 yards on 5 carries.

Most of his damage was done on a 23-yard scramble. Denver's total of 99 yards is a far better number than the 170 yards they allowed every game in 2023 after Uchenna Nwosu was lost to injury. Speaking of injuries...

Loser: the Seattle trainers' room

Kenneth Walker had a great game. After he was basically shut down for the first half, he exploded in the second and finished with 103 yards on 20 carries. Unfortunately, he missed the last two Hawks series with an abdominal injury. Seattle certainly could have used him as they couldn't move the ball without him. After his exit, Seattle only gained exactly zero yards on their next two series, until a spectacular catch by Tyler Lockett salted away the game.

Besides Walker, the Hawks trainers will be busy this week with right tackle George Fant. At least, we hope they'll be busy. He was injured in the first quarter, and things looked pretty bleak for the Seahawks at that point. Happily, the offensive light got their act together after all. But there's no doubt this is a better team with Fant on the line, and especially with Walker in the backfield.

Winner: the vision of Mike Macdonald

There's already been so much written about the magic of Mike Macdonald's defense, I don't think I need to delve too much into that. Suffice it to say, it's tricky to operate against and it's darn good. I've already discussed how much better the Seahawks defended the run, but there's much more to this defense than that. Virtually every Hawks defender had a big play, from Julian Love to Riq Woolen, from Boye Mafe to Leonard Williams.

Seattle was exceptional against the pass as well. Yes, they were facing a rookie QB in Nix, that's true. But if the CBS crew said it once, they probably told their audience a dozen times about how mature and experienced Nix was compared to a typical NFL rookie. Well, the experienced rookie threw 42 passes and connected 26 times for 138 yards. That 3.29-yard average is the seventh-lowest of all time in games with at least 40 attempts, per Pro Football Reference. That's not good for him, but great for the Hawks.

Macdonald's defense also put on a tackling clinic in this game. Denver had one drive start at the Seattle 20 after Geno Smith's interception, and another at the Seahawks' nine-yard line after a Dee Williams muffed punt return. They gave up two field goals after gaining three yards on that first drive and losing two on the second. Best of all, Devon Witherspoon said the Hawks only showed a small preview of their repertoire.

Loser: the Seahawks offense in the first half

You knew we were going to get to this eventually. There's no way to sugarcoat this. The Seahawks' offensive line was exactly that in the first half: offensive. On their first three series, Seattle gained a whopping total of nine yards. Geno Smith had no time to throw, no pocket, and no chance to escape the pocket. Their stout defense gave them decent field position to mount a 26-yard drive, which ended in a 50-yard Jason Myers field goal.

The second quarter looked a bit more promising at first. Smith moved the chains on back-to-back completions to DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. From Denver's 34-yard line, he took off running and didn't stop until he was in the Broncos end zone. Unfortunately, Zach Charbonett was tackled in the end zone for Denver's second safety on the very next Seattle series. Seattle only gained one yard on their final drive of the half. So things were looking pretty gloomy for the offense after 30 minutes.

Winner: the Seahawks offense in the second half

That gloomy day disappeared as the Hawks took the field to start the second half. The Hawks' offense, close to invisible in the first half, roared to life. Geno Smith marshaled his team on three scoring drives. The Hawks gained 179 yards in the third stanza and posted 17 points on the scoreboard. They held the ball for 9:24 of the 15:00. 88 of the 179 yards came on the ground, most by Kenneth Walker III. I'd say that's a balanced attack.

The Seahawks offense ground to a halt in the fourth quarter. As I noted earlier, that's in large part due to the absence of K9. Ryan Grubb has some work to do, that's for certain. The Seahawks have to capture what made everything click on those three drives in the third and eliminate the issues that derailed them in the rest of the game. They can't win consistently by playing 15 minutes of great football, no matter how great it is.

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