Lefko: Why you should be encouraged by Seahawks’ offense

The Seattle Seahawks’ offense will never be worse than it was during the first half of Week 1 against the Denver Broncos. I feel confident in saying that we will not see an interception two plays into the game and two safeties happen in one half the rest of this season – or perhaps even over the entire career of Mike Macdonald and this coaching staff.

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That isn’t to say the offense will never struggle again. It is going to have a clunker. Things will go wrong in a game, and at some point, they may even score fewer points in a half than they did on Sunday. Yet what that season-opening win showed was that these issues won’t be systemic.

Much has been written about the Seahawks’ sterling defensive performance (and you can find all of those terrific articles on our website), so we won’t delve into the on-field product here. But the purposeful, clinical efficiency that was the embodiment of Mike Macdonald’s vision for the defense was reflected in the offense, as well.

People around the league often talk about the “Week 1 lies” that can form due to a small sample size. We might even be guilty of that right now, but there are fundamental values that are revealed about teams. Last season, the opener revealed that the Seahawks were thoroughly outcoached (they were held to just 12 total yards in the second half), and that issue permeated throughout the season.

This year’s opener, a much different story. Kenneth Walker III carried the ball 20 times on Sunday. There was only one time last season, Week 6 against the Cardinals, where he had more than 20 rushing attempts in a game. The Seahawks found a mismatch and they exploited it.

The same thing played out with the passing game. Wide receiver DK Metcalf was covered all game by the best cornerback in the NFL, Patrick Surtain II. On the other side of the field, the Broncos had a second-year cornerback. The end result: a team-high in targets and receptions for Tyler Lockett, including the game-sealing catch.

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It seems obvious, but that concept of “keep things simple, especially if they are working” seemed to be missing from the offense over the past couple of seasons. Seahawks wide receiver Dareke Young joined us Wednesday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob and said in regard to the offense: “People really haven’t seen anything yet. To be honest, this past game we kept it simple with the calls, really didn’t have to open up the playbook against those guys.”

That’s pretty much all you need to know about why there should be a lot of excitement about what this offense can achieve and what that first game revealed about new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. He came from the UW Huskies to the NFL with high acclaim that bordered on reverence for his abilities as a play-caller (coming up with a successful play on fourth-and-1 from your own 29-yard line with the game, season, and shot at a national title on the line will help with that as well), but the lingering unknown was how that would translate to the NFL. It’s clear now that a great football mind transcends those boundaries.

The Seahawks were able to have success on offense while keeping it simple, and in perhaps the one instance where they “opened up” the playbook – a TD pass to Zach Charbonnet – quarterback Geno Smith praised the play call from Grubb and recognition of where a mismatch would be based on the personnel the Broncos had on the field.

With arms wide open. pic.twitter.com/ket85szHpB

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 9, 2024

It also wasn’t lost on Smith how composed Grubb was throughout the game.

“I thought Grubb did a tremendous job at, you know, staying disciplined and staying with the run game,” Smith said.

It is one game. The offensive line had its issues and health remains a concern, especially at right tackle. No team has ever been perfect, so there will be games and chunks of the season where problems will pop up. Yet an offense that felt like it lacked cohesion in the past now seems fully aligned in a purposeful vision. Take that as a part of a much-improved whole and it’s easy to see a world of possibilities that await for this team in the near future.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• ‘That’s special’: A look at the best defensive play from Seahawks’ opener
• Schlereth says Seahawks did one thing better than he’s ever seen in NFL
• Why the Seattle Seahawks’ defense has Daniel Jeremiah raving
• Upon Further Review: Three Seahawks stats that stand out from Week 1
• Salk: Seattle Seahawks played their best defensive game in years

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