SEATTLE — The first two plays of Mike Macdonald’s career as a head coach began with him watching his quarterback get sacked and throw an interception while simultaneously getting hit on the throw.
“We started exactly the way we wanted to start. We thought it out that way. We just wanted a little more headwind,” said the new coach of the Seattle Seahawks ironically.
Fortunately for Macdonald and the Seahawks, that ugly start and unsightly first half set the stage for a strong second half and a 26-20 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday, giving the league’s youngest head coach his first win.
Kenneth Walker III ran for 84 of his 103 yards and a touchdown in the second half, sparking a comeback after a first half riddled with sloppy mistakes.
The Broncos led 13-9 at halftime, thanks in part to two safeties, but Walker changed the momentum in the third quarter when Seattle refocused on the running game. On Seattle’s first drive of the second half, he gained 53 yards on five carries, capped by a 23-yard touchdown run. Walker’s other TD was taken back because of a penalty, but he still managed the seventh 100-yard rushing game of his career.
Walker appeared to be injured on a 7-yard run early in the fourth quarter and did not play the rest of the game because of a muscle problem in his abdomen. Walker said he will recover.
“When we went in and made adjustments, everyone was focused. We were ready. As you saw in the first half, things didn’t go according to plan, but after making those adjustments, we just felt like we played better as a team,” Walker said.
Seattle quarterback Geno Smith struggled in the early stages of the Seahawks’ offense, but found his 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 for 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 running game opened up, we were able to get some speed and then start passing the ball. That’s when you saw our offense really blossom,” Smith said.
Macdonald won his debut after being hired as the NFL’s youngest head coach to lead Seattle forward after 14 seasons under Pete Carroll’s tutelage. And he will be pleased with the defensive performance through 3 1/2 quarters.
Denver’s rookie QB Bo Nix completed 26 of 42 passes for 138 yards and was intercepted twice 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 the game with 231 yards and committed three turnovers.
“I thought he seemed calm and composed,” Denver coach Sean Payton said of his rookie QB. “I felt like he was very comfortable and ready.”
Nix led a late drive to cut the Broncos’ lead to 26-20 with 2:09 left on a 4-yard touchdown run, but Seattle was able to run down the clock after Tyler Lockett made a one-handed catch on a third down, the last of his six catches.
“Overall, I think that despite our poor performance, we were able to ruin our chances of winning at the end,” said Nix.
Denver scored twice thanks to safeties, becoming only the second team since at least 1960 to score thanks to two safeties in a season opener. Both safeties fell in the second quarter – once when Anthony Bradford was penalized for holding in the end zone and later when Charbonnet failed to exit the end zone on a running 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.
Seattle lost right tackle George Fant to a knee injury in the first quarter. Fant grabbed his right knee while blocking a pass play and needed help getting to the sideline. He was replaced by Stone Forsythe and Macdonald said they were unsure of the severity of the injury.
Denver left tackle Garrett Boles suffered an ankle injury in the second half and did not return, but Payton said he believes Boles will recover.
Broncos: host Pittsburgh next Sunday.
Seahawks: next Sunday in New England.
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