SEATTLE – There was rain and 89% humidity when the Seahawks and Chiefs kicked off at Lumen Field on Friday night.
In other words, a perfect night for football.
The Seahawks then unveiled an old-school offense that seemed to fit the conditions, running for 119 yards on 13 attempts and a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, and 174 yards on 23 carries in the first half with a 23-7 lead at halftime. By the final whistle, the Seahawks claimed a 33-16 win over the Chiefs.
Those stats accurately depicted a first half of physical domination on both sides of the ball by the Seahawks, who had 309 yards at halftime, averaging 8.6 per play, while holding the Chiefs to 104 yards on 20 plays.
The win improved Seattle’s record to 1-0-1 in the preseason, which concludes with a game next Saturday at Green Bay.
Here are four things that stood out:
First-team offense dominant early
As coach Mike Macdonald had said the team would do, Seattle played most of its first-team offense for the first drive, including quarterback Sam Darnold and receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp.
The only healthy offensive starter who didn’t play was running back Kenneth Walker III.
Darnold was flawless on his first drive as a Seahawk, hitting all four of his passes for 34 yards, and several times getting out on the run to complete passes, an aspect of his game that figures to be a part of Seattle’s offense this season.
In a two-play sequence, Darnold first boot-legged to his left to complete a 13-yard pass to fullback Robbie Ouzts then on the next play rolled to his right to hit rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo for 9 yards.
Those two plays set up a perfectly executed 15-yard touchdown run by Zach Charbonnet through a huge hole on the left side of the line.
Rookie left guard Grey Zabel and left tackle Josh Jones each drove their men off the line, and tight end Eric Saubert then pulled from the right to give Charbonnet a clear path and cap a 10-play, 81-yard drive.
Darnold headed to the sidelines after that, his work for the day – and maybe the preseason – completed.
The play was emblematic of how Seattle’s offensive line appears to be adapting well to the outside-zone scheme of new first-year coordinator Klint Kubiak and offensive line coach John Benton.
One caveat is the Chiefs had only six starters on their defense, going without stars such as defensive tackle Chris Jones, linebacker Nick Bolton and cornerback Trent McDuffie.
Still, the Seahawks had a similar-looking running performance early last week against the Raiders, and repeating that seems to give that more validity to the idea that Seattle’s running game could be better this year.
All of the running backs looked good early. Charbonnet had 45 yards on five carries, all on the first series, while George Holani had 49 yards on five carries in the first half. Rookie seventh-round pick Damien Martinez – looking far more comfortable than a week ago – rushed for 39 yards on seven carries.
Defense makes big early stand
Seattle played much of its starting defense for one series, as well.
Those who didn’t play were veteran defensive linemen Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed and DeMarcus Lawrence, as well as injured weakside linebacker Tyrice Knight.
The Chiefs started most of their starting offense with one big exception – quarterback Patrick Mahomes sat out, and former WSU star Gardner Minshew started in his place. Tight end Travis Kelce also sat out, as did starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor.
The Chiefs moved from their 25 to Seattle’s 15, aided by what appeared to be a Seahawks mistake. Minshew hit running back Isiah Pacheco for a 22-yard gain on a third-and-2 play.
Pacheco burst easily into the open in the right flat as Seattle rookie safety Nick Emmanwori was late to get over after appearing to still be getting a signal at the snap.
The Chiefs decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 at the 15 and handed the ball to fullback Carson Steele. But as he leapt into the line, he was met by Seattle starting safety Julian Love with an assist from Ernest Jones IV and held to no gain.
The first-team defense headed to the sidelines after that drive, having at least proven that if they hadn’t been flawless, they’d come up big when it mattered.
And Macdonald undoubtedly liked what it said about his team that two of the biggest veteran leaders on defense combined for a big play in a meaningless preseason game.
Milroe gets one snap early, a lot late
Drew Lock took over after Darnold departed after one series and led Seattle to touchdowns on three of his four drives, stopped only when a play-action pass on fourth down at the 2 came up incomplete (no matter, Seattle defensive tackle Brandon Pili tackled running back Elijah Mitchell for a safety on the next play).
Lock played one series into the second half before departing, completing 10 of 12 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns and also rushing twice for 34 yards, making clear that the backup QB job is his.
Rookie Jalen Milroe finished out the game – though not before having gotten one play on the first drive.
Facing a third-and-1 at their own 41, the Seahawks inserted Milroe along with Darnold. Milroe lined up under center with Darnold moved back behind him and took the snap and pushed forward for a 2-yard gain.
Milroe got his first full possession with 3:30 left in the third quarter. After Milroe completed a pass for 20 yards to Ricky White III for a first down, the Seahawks were stopped and had to punt for the first time in the game.
On his second possession early in the fourth quarter, Milroe led Seattle from its own 40 to the K.C. 5 before the drive was stopped, ending in a Jason Myers 23-yard field goal.
Milroe completed two of four passes on the drive for 26 yards and also scrambled once for 5 yards.
Milroe got two more series later but each time Seattle called runs on three plays and then punted, in true run-out-the-clock mode.
Milroe finished 3 of 5 passing for 46 yards with five rushes for 18 yards.
Milroe figures to play most, if not all, of the Green Bay game as Darnold will get significant work in a joint practice on Thursday. Lock also may have gotten extensive work against the Chiefs with a plan to give more snaps to Milroe against the Packers.
Bobo states his case
While Jake Bobo has become a fan favorite who has proven capable of making some big plays on offense and special teams in his first two NFL seasons, he hasn’t seemed assured of a spot on Seattle’s roster this year in what has been an especially competitive receiving room.
But Bobo stated his case for a spot about as clearly as he could Friday night with two touchdown catches in the first half, each from Lock.
The first came on a 12-yard receiver screen when Bobo took advantage of some good blocking to scoot easily into the end zone.
The second came with just 34 seconds left in the first half when Bobo beat Kansas City third-team cornerback Joshua Williams on a fade route and hauled in the pass in the back of the end zone.
Interestingly, Bobo also was back to return when the Chiefs finally punted late in the third quarter. Rookie WR Tory Horton, who handled punts last week, was no longer in the game at that point.