SEATTLE — Once the Seahawks' new coaches went old school Sunday it began to feel like old times at Lumen Field.
The Seahawks overcame a dreadful offensive first half by turning to their power running game in the second half, running all over the Denver Broncos to take a 26-20 win in the debut for rookie head coach Mike Macdonald.
After scoring 17 straight to take a 26-13 lead, the Seahawks had to hold on after Denver scored with 2:09 remaining to cut the lead to 26-20. A 9-yard pass from Geno Smith to Tyler Lockett, who controlled the ball as he stumbled to the ground, gave the Seahawks the first down they needed to run out the clock.
But it was running that won this one for the Seahawks.
They called runs on just nine of 22 plays in the first half as the Seahawks fell behind 13-9 — their only TD coming on a 34-yard scramble by Smith.
That play was the lone saving grace during a mostly inept first half of offense in which the Seahawks suffered two safeties and saw Smith sacked two times and hurried a handful of other times.
At halftime the Seahawks — in the first game for former University of Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb serving in the same role — decided to take that pressure off Smith and simply run the ball between tackles and around the ends.
The Seahawks called runs on eight of their first nine plays of the third quarter and 13 of 21 on their first three drives of the second half, all of which ended in scores.
The Seahawks opened the second half with their best drive of the game, needing just six plays to move 61 yards in 2:47 and take a 16-13 lead with 10:44 to play in the third.
The Seahawks ran the ball on five of the six plays, all handoffs to Walker. On second-and-11 at the 23, Walker took a handoff up the middle, broke to the right and wove past traffic and down the sidelines, leaping over the pylon for a TD.
The Seahawks' defense forced a fumble on Denver's next possession when backup safety K'Von Wallace — who got some regular snaps in sub packages — forced a fumble by Denver running back Jaleel McLaughlin that Jerome Baker recovered at the 47.
The Seahawks used a pass-interference penalty and five running plays — including three by Walker for 18 yards — to take it to the Denver 6.
Walker appeared to follow with his second TD run of the game over the right side. But the play was called back because of a holding penalty on receiver DK Metcalf. They couldn't move it and had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Jason Myers and a 19-13 lead.
Still, a tone had been set.
To that point the Seahawks had 78 yards rushing on 11 carries on two drives to start the second half compared to 21 yards passing on 2-of-4 attempts.
Their defense forced another three and out and the offense again responded.
With Denver loading up to try to stop the run the Seahawks went with a quick passing game, and Smith completed throws of 16, 11 and 11 — two to Lockett and one to Metcalf — to move to Denver's 30 as the quarter ended.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Seahawks backup running back Zach Charbonnet wheeled out of the backfield and down the right sideline, breaking into the open when Denver linebacker Alex Singleton mystifyingly stopped covering him. Given more time than he usually had in the first half, Smith waited for Charbonnet to come open and lofted a pass that Charbonnet caught for one of the easier TDs in recent Seahawks history.
That was pretty much that as the defense had the upper hand all day on a Denver offense going with rookie Bo Nix at quarterback.
Nix, whose reputation at Oregon was for rarely throwing the ball down the field, did nothing to dissuade that as he mostly tried to throw it to the sides.
Despite the mostly comfortable ending — a 4-yard Nix run with 2:09 left created a few nervous moments before the Smith to Lockett pass that ended it — the first half was filled with fraught.
Smith threw a pass over the middle on the second play of the game right to Singleton, who returned it to the 20.
A tackle by Seahawks safety Rayshawn Jenkins on the next play — a run by Javonte Williams — might have saved a TD. Williams gained just nine and the drive ended there, with Denver having to settle for a field goal.
That similarly set a tone as the Seahawks' defense allowed just seven first downs in the first three quarters.
The first half stats accurately reflected the offensive ineptitude for both teams.
Denver had just 121 yards on 30 plays — 25 coming on one pass — while the Seahawks had 102 on 24, with 34 coming on the Smith scramble.
The defense twice held Denver out of the end zone on drives that began at the Seahawks 20 and the nine.
The Seahawks' offensive line, which already seemed to be struggling, took another hit when right tackle George Fant left in the first quarter during the fourth series of the game with a knee injury. Fant limped slowly off the field accompanied by two team trainers and after being examined in the medical tent then walked to the locker room and was immediately declared out.
That forced four-year vet Stone Forsythe to play right tackle the rest of the way.
With the game tied at 3, Denver got a safety when Seahawks right guard Anthony Bradford was called for a hold in the end zone.
A series later, Seahawks rookie Dee Williams muffed a punt and Denver recovered at the Seattle 9. But a false start charged to Nix on what appeared to be miscommunication over the snap helped hold Denver to a field goal and an 8-3 lead.
The Seahawks responded with its only drive of the second half, capped by Smith's 34-yard scramble for a TD to make it 9-8 (the Seahawks' try for two was no good).
Denver went nowhere on its next series. But it punt was downed at the 1 and on Seattle's first play, Charbonnet was tackled in the end zone for a safety. Denver used a 25-yard pass to set up a field goal with two seconds left in the first half to take a 13-9 halftime lead.
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