SEATTLE — The first two plays of Mike Macdonald’s career as a head coach started by watching his quarterback get sacked and throw an interception while being hit as he threw.
“Started just like we wanted to start. Drew it up that way. Just wanted some adversity there,” the new Seattle Seahawks coach wryly said.
Fortunately for Macdonald and the Seahawks, that ugly start and an unsightly first half set the stage for a big second half and a 26-20 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday, giving the youngest head coach in the league his first victory.
Kenneth Walker III rushed for 84 of his 103 yards and a touchdown in the second half and sparked a rally following a mistake-filled first half littered with sloppy mistakes.
The Broncos led 13-9 at the half thanks in part to two safeties, but Walker changed the momentum in the third quarter as Seattle recommitted to the ground game. He gained 53 yards on five carries on Seattle’s first drive of the second half, capped by a 23-yard touchdown run. Walker had another TD called back on a penalty, but he still produced the seventh 100-yard rushing game of his career.
Walker appeared to injure himself on a 7-yard run early in the fourth quarter and didn’t play the rest of the game because of a muscle issue in his abdomen. Walker said he would be OK.
“When we went in and made adjustments everybody was locked in. We were poised. Everything (didn’t) go as planned as you saw in the first half, but after those adjustments just felt we played as a team better,” Walker said.
Seattle quarterback Geno Smith was part of the early struggles for the Seahawks offense but found a rhythm in the second half. Smith ran for a 34-yard touchdown in the second quarter — the longest run of his career — and hit Zach Charbonnet on a 30-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter that gave Seattle a 26-13 lead.
Smith finished 18 of 25 for 171 yards.
“Once the run game opened up it allowed us to then get into some of our tempo stuff and then start to pass the ball, and then you started to see our offense really come alive,” Smith said.
Macdonald won his debut after being hired as the youngest head coach in the NFL tasked with moving Seattle forward following Pete Carroll’s 14 seasons in charge of the franchise. And he’ll be thrilled with the defensive performance for 3 1/2 quarters.
Denver rookie QB Bo Nix was 26 of 42 for 138 yards and was twice intercepted on careless throws — once by Julian Love at the Seattle 1 and the other time by Riq Woolen in the fourth quarter. The Broncos finished with 231 total yards and committed three turnovers.
“I thought he seemed calm, poised,” Denver coach Sean Payton said of his rookie QB. “I felt like he was very comfortable and ready.”
Nix did put together a late drive and pulled the Broncos within 26-20 with 2:09 left after scoring on a 4-yard run. But Seattle was able to run out the clock after Tyler Lockett’s one-handed catch to convert a third down, the last of his six receptions.
“Overall, I think as poorly as we did, we gave ourselves a chance to win there at the end,” Nix said.
Safety dance
Denver scored twice on safeties, becoming just the second team since at least 1960 to score on two safeties in a season opener. Both safeties came in the second quarter — one when Anthony Bradford was penalized for holding in the end zone and later when Charbonnet was unable to escape the end zone on a run play. The only other team since 1960 with two safeties in an opener was the New Orleans Saints against Cleveland in Week 1 in 1987.
Injuries
Seattle lost starting right tackle George Fant to a knee injury in the first quarter. Fant grabbed at his right knee while blocking on a pass play and needed help to get to the sideline. He was replaced by Stone Forsythe and Macdonald said they’re unsure the severity.
Denver left tackle Garrett Boles suffered an ankle injury in the second half and didn’t return, but Payton said he thinks Boles will be fine.
