Rapid Reaction: Ground Attack Fuels Seattle Seahawks' 26-20 Comeback Win vs. Denver Broncos

Following a disastrous first half on offense, the Seahawks turned to Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet to come from behind after halftime for a season-opening win.

Sep 8, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) rushes against the Denver Broncos during the first quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

SEATTLE, Wash. - After giving up nearly as many points on safeties as they scored on offense in the first half, the Seattle Seahawks turned in a dominant, physical second half performance on both sides of the ball to pull away in final two quarters for a 26-20 season-opening win over the Denver Broncos, opening the Mike Macdonald era in victorious fashion.

Bouncing back from an interception thrown on the second play of the game, Geno Smith played efficient football, completing nearly 75 percent of his passes for 162 yards, throwing a 30-yard touchdown to running back Zach Charbonnet, and running for a 34-yard score. Pacing the ground attack, Ken Walker III rushed for 103 yards and opened the second half with a 23-yard touchdown to give Seattle a 16-13 lead it would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

Defensively, safety Julian Love snatched an interception to thwart a potential scoring drive by Denver in the second quarter and safety K'Von Wallace forced a fumble in the third quarter that was recovered by linebacker Jerome Baker. Boye Mafe and Derick Hall each added sacks and three combined tackles for loss.

Kicking off a new season in the win column, here are five takeaways from Seattle's Week 1 comeback victory at Lumen Field:

1. Rebounding from a dreadful first half, Seattle's offensive line settles down in the second half.

Immediately after the opening kickoff, the Broncos made life miserable for Smith, first blasting him on the opening snap when right tackle George Fant was beaten inside by Jonathan Cooper for a sack. On the ensuing play, defensive tackle D.J. Jones beat center Connor Williams off the snap and penetrated the pocket, wrapping up Smith below his knees and leading to an underthrown pass landing right in the hands of linebacker Alex Singleton, setting Denver up with incredible starting field position. For the half, Smith was sacked twice, hit three times, and pressured on numerous other occasions, preventing the offense from getting untracked. In addition, guard Anthony Bradford got nailed for a hold and blew a block on separate snaps from the one-yard line, leading to a pair of safeties.

After halftime, however, even with Fant sidelined by a knee injury that forced him to exit early in the first quarter, the Seahawks started to find their rhythm up front. Doing a better job of keeping defenders away from Smith, the veteran quarterback completed nine out of 12 passes for 103 yards and while he was still hit several times by an aggressive Broncos defense, he wasn't sacked once in the final two quarters. Buying himself a little extra time by stepping up into the pocket with quality protection around him, he was able to bait Singleton into looking into the backfield, allowing Charbonnet to come wide open on a wheel route to extend Seattle's lead to 13 midway through the third quarter.

2. An awakened run game opens up the offense after halftime, unlocks entire playbook.

As part of their first half offensive disasterpiece, the Seahawks not only couldn't protect Smith, but they couldn't get any semblance of a run game rolling. With the exception of the quarterback's second quarter scamper where he juked out safety P.J. Locke on his way to the end zone, the team ran nine times for 22 yards, barely averaging over two yards per carry, including Walker being held to 19 yards on seven carries in the first two quarters. At that stage, the Broncos were seemingly snuffing out every run play in the backfield.

Making excellent schematic adjustments during intermission, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb flipped the script early in the third quarter, opening up his diverse playbook with an emphasis on gap-oriented schemes. Leaning on Walker heavily on the first drive of the half, the explosive back followed up five and six-yard carries with a 15-yard tote on a power run, following behind the pulling guard's well-executed block. Three plays later, Walker slipped a pair of tackles and followed a quality block by tight end Noah Fant, sprinting to the sideline and eventually diving into the end zone for a 23-yard score to give Seattle a 16-13 lead. Before leaving with an abdominal issue, Walker rushed 13 times for 84 yards in the half, keying the offense's second half revival running with power and flash.

3. Mafe, Hall deliver in Uchenna Nwosu’s absence with disruptive performances.

Last season, the Seahawks' defense fell apart after Nwosu suffered a pectoral injury, particularly defending the run, creating questions about how the unit would be able to perform without him on Sunday as he battles through a sprained knee. For at least one week, however, Mafe and Hall did everything they could to silence those questions, wreaking havoc off the edge both as rushers and run defenders in strong debuts thriving in Macdonald's scheme.

Picking up where he left off last season, Mafe turned in one of Seattle's most important defensive plays in the first half, using his speed to chase down Bo Nix as the quarterback tried to scramble for a first down on a third down pass play and tackling him out of bounds for a sack to force a punt. He later added a four-yard tackle for loss to open the second half and wrapped up the game with two quarterback hits and two tackles for loss added to his sack. As for Hall, he outdid his teammate in the quarterback hit department, blasting Nix three times, including bringing him down at the line of scrimmage for his first career NFL sack in the closing moment of the first half. If those two players can be that disruptive with Nwosu returning soon, Macdonald should have a fun edge rushing group to unleash this season.

4. With backs against wall, defense gets the job done in crucial situations off turnovers.

As Macdonald and several players attested following the game, the Seahawks were far from perfect on defense, with many echoing frustrations about allowing Nix to score a touchdown in the final minutes to trim the lead to six points. However, aside from that drive not meeting expectations, the unit kept the team in the game in early by stepping up in the shadows of their own goal post off of turnovers, preventing the Broncos from extending their lead beyond five points at any point in the first two quarters of play.

Following Smith's interception by Singleton, nose tackle Johnathan Hankins stuffed Javonte Williams for a one-yard loss on 2nd and 1 and Nix threw an incompletion along the sideline on third down, forcing the Broncos to settle for a Will Lutz field goal. Later in the half, undrafted rookie cornerback Dee Williams muffed a punt at Seattle's 10-yard line and Denver recovered, only for the opponent to go backwards on three plays and once again be held to a short Lutz field goal. On their third red zone trip of the half, Love wound up picking off Nix at the goal line, sending the Broncos to the sideline with no points to show for a promising drive. In total, the Seahawks limited Sean Payton's crew to 13 total points on four red zone trips and a dismal 28 percent third down rate, dominating in key situations.

5. A mixed bag at best on special teams for Jay Harbaugh’s squad amid rule changes.

Making his first jump to the NFL, Harbaugh will have plenty of things to clean up on film on special teams, starting with Williams' struggles on punt returns. There were a few times where he opted not to fair catch punts around the 10-yard line and one of them was downed at the one, leading to Charbonnet being stuffed in the end zone by Zach Allen for a second safety in a single quarter. Adding in his muffed punt, his miscues contributed to five points for the Broncos in the first half, but the organization remains confident in his ability to impact games as a returner. As for kick returns, Laviska Shenault didn't bust any of his returns, but did have a decent 31-yarder in the new dynamic kickoff rule setup to open the game.

On the positive side, Jason Myers connected on both of his field goals, including a 50-yard bomb in the first quarter. Punter Michael Dickson averaged almost 50 yards per punt, launching booming kicks off his foot all afternoon long as expected from the All-Pro. The Broncos also didn't find much success returning kicks and punts, as the Seahawks tackled well in coverage and limited the opposition to 23 yards per kick return and under 10 yards per punt return. Receiver Dareke Young and safety Marquise Blair led the charge, each finishing with a pair of special teams tackles.