‘We didn’t flinch’: Seahawks defense makes big opening statement

The Seattle Seahawks’ defense didn’t exactly have a soft landing for their first series of the Mike Macdonald era.

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The Denver Broncos intercepted Geno Smith on the second play from scrimmage and returned the ball to the 20-yard line, immediately putting Seattle with its back against the wall in Sunday’s season opener.

No problem. The Seahawks held strong, limiting the damage to just a field goal.

Later in the first half, Seattle’s defense faced an even more perilous situation after Dee Williams muffed a punt, handing the ball to Denver at the 9-yard line.

Once again, no problem. The Seahawks again kept the Broncos out of the end zone, limiting them to another field goal.

Those two red-zone stops set the tone for a dominant performance by Seattle’s new-look defense, which held the Broncos to just 231 total yards in a 26-20 season-opening win at Lumen Field.

“It’s a certain mentality that you have to have in the red zone,” Macdonald said. “Execution, things happen faster. But for our whole football team, including our defense, nobody batted an eye and we stayed poised and we did our thing down there.”

Ever since Macdonald was hired as the franchise’s new head coach on Jan. 31, there has been great intrigue over what the defensive guru’s cutting-edge scheme would look like in action.

The early results certainly were impressive.

The Seahawks surrendered just 3.3 yards per play, their fewest since Week 17 of the 2018 season. They kept the Broncos out of the end zone until the final minutes. They came up with three takeaways, including two interceptions of rookie quarterback Bo Nix.

And though Denver finished with 20 points, that number is misleading. Seattle’s defense really only was responsible for 10 points, with the other 10 coming on two safeties and the two field goals after sudden-change situations.

The Broncos are by no means expected to be a strong offensive team, but it was nevertheless quite the statement from a Seahawks defense that’s looking to reclaim its spot among the league’s best after ranking near the bottom of the NFL the past two seasons.

“This was an us-versus-us game,” Seattle safety Julian Love said. “Play top-down, play sound, communicate. Don’t let all the emotions (get to you). You saw a lot of sloppy football around the league in Week 1. That’s just the nature of it. So just try to play clean on defense … and just play ball.”

Love said the plan was to force Nix to check down underneath with short throws. It worked to perfection, as the No. 12 overall pick completed 26 of 42 passes for just 138 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions and a paltry 3.3 yards per pass attempt.

Nix’s 3.3 yards per attempt were the fewest allowed by a Seahawks defense in franchise history, among all games in which the opposing quarterback threw at least 30 passes. It also was tied for the sixth-fewest yards per attempt from any quarterback with at least 40 passes in a game since the 1970 NFL merger.

“He’s a rookie quarterback, he’s very talented obviously, but it’s Lumen (Field), first start – he’s gonna get the ball out quick, and so that’s why you see a lot of checkdowns today and a lot of great tackling by us,” Love said. “And then they tried to test the waters a few times deep, and I think we defended well. And so that was kind of the makeup of how we wanted to play this game.”

The result was a stat sheet filled with contributions from all over the defense.

Boye Mafe was a force up front with one sack, two quarterback hits and two tackles for loss. Derick Hall added a sack and three QB hits. Leonard Williams record four QB hits, one of which came as Nix threw an ill-advised pass that resulted in an interception.

Over the middle of the field, safety Rayshawn Jenkins made some pivotal tackles in open space. Safety K’Von Wallace swiped the ball free for a forced fumble. Linebacker Tyrel Dodson flew around for a pass breakup and a tackle for loss.

And on the back end, Seattle’s secondary flashed its playmaking talent. Love intercepted a deep pass just in front of the end zone at the 1-yard line, and also recorded a pass breakup, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Cornerback Riq Woolen showcased his blazing speed by under-cutting a route for a spectacular fourth-quarter interception. Cornerback Tre Brown also got in on the action with a nice third-down pass breakup.

“Mike’s whole mantra for our team is ’12 as one,'” Love said. “You want to feel like there’s 12 guys on the field on defense. … And that’s just a mindset. That’s just a swagger about us.”

Seattle’s defense routinely swarmed to the ball and displayed impressive tackling for Week 1, when there’s usually some rust in that area of the game. Dodson said their success stemmed from trusting each other.

“A lot of the guys were taking their shots, because they know where their help was,” Dodson said. “Like, (Rayshawn Jenkins) made so many big plays today on those checkdowns because he knew that if he missed it, I’m right there. So that’s what it takes. That’s his trust. That’s what it takes to build a good defense.”

And ultimately, the tone was set from the very first series. Immediately spotting Denver the ball in the red zone certainly wasn’t the way Macdonald would have drawn it up, but his defense was prepared for the adversity.

“Coach actually puts us in situations like that in practice, and that just goes to show how many resilient guys we have in this group,” Dodson said. “I mean, we didn’t flinch, not once. We weren’t like, ‘Ah, we gotta go back out there again.’ We were like, ‘OK, put it on us. Like, we’re gonna win the game.’

“I’m so proud of everyone of how they came out and played. And it starts with the preparation throughout the week. The guys prepared like no other. It’s one win, but we’ve gotta keep on stacking.”

More on the Seattle Seahawks’ season opener

• Hawks already have O-line injury trouble after Week 1 win
• Seattle Seahawks RBs key second-half surge in win over Broncos

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