Blanchette: Jimmy Graham back in the picture

SEATTLE – In the middle of the locker room, Jimmy Graham chatted hobbies and acquisitions with owner Paul Allen, the Seattle Seahawks’ new tight end perhaps not appreciating that whatever they share in the way of love of flying things, Allen at the moment was more jazzed about Graham – speaking of acquisitions – getting off the ground Sunday.

Funny how a game without a turnover can be full of so many takeaways.

Even stung by losses at St. Louis and Green Bay to open the season, the Seahawks did not slink back into the Clink – but then, these guys swagger in their sleep. That the NFL teed up the Chicago Bears for a 26-0 bashing in the home opener did not hurt, nor did the absence of the visitors’ starting quarterback and best receiver, nor a Chicago game plan George Halas might have discarded as too conservative back when the Bears were called the Staleys.

But mostly, it didn’t hurt that:

• Kam Chancellor was back and all was right with the Seahawks’ defensive world. Even if his 54-day holdout contributed to Seattle’s 0-2 start, every 12 – all 69,002 of them, a Clink record – roared an approving welcome, and he joined in the cabal that drenched defensive coordinator Kris Richard with Gatorade after the D’s first shutout since 2013. From pointless holdout to pointless Sunday.

• The Seahawks found a Beast-in-waiting in rookie free agent Thomas Rawls – 104 yards in relief of Marshawn Lynch and his balky hamstring.

• Pete Carroll isn’t too proud to steal. The Seahawks ripped off the “Look, Halley’s Comet!” punt return the Rams burned them with last year, though Richard Sherman eventually got hemmed in and Seattle had to settle for a field goal out of it.

• Tyler Lockett remains ridiculous.

But there are sideshows and then there are contrivances, and the swirl of Seattle’s flailing start caught Jimmy Graham up in such nonsense all week.

The Seahawks gave up their best offensive lineman and a No. 1 draft pick for the gifted tight end, of course, and he was supposed to give Russell Wilson both a break and an extra weapon. Except a week ago, Wilson threw it at him just twice, leading to Graham’s rumored discontent, if not enrollment in the Federal Witness Protection Program.

“I didn’t know I was frustrated last week,” Graham demurred again Sunday, “but to clarify things, I’m not frustrated at all – because we won.”

Still, it couldn’t have been a complete coincidence that Wilson took Seattle’s first snap and fired it directly to Graham for a 9-yard gain. That was the first of his seven catches, the most spectacular being an over-the-middle route in the third quarter that saw Graham shake loose from Brock Vereen from the left slot and then stagger-bull-dive the final 5 yards to complete a 30-yard touchdown.

“That’s playmaking,” Carroll said with admiration.

Though special as it was, Graham wasn’t the first option on the play.

“(Wilson) went through his reads and he waited on me,” Graham said. “It was a great pitch-and-catch. I just wanted to finish it.”

The Seahawks didn’t finish much of anything until Lockett cut off Demarcus Dobbs’ block and blazed 105 yards with the second-half kickoff. And, fact is, they didn’t finish a whole after Graham’s TD catch.

That is to say, the offense didn’t. The defense finished off the Bears time and again, allowing them just three snaps beyond midfield. Chancellor had but one assisted tackle, but his teammates cited his mere presence as a factor – no more so than the Bears’ lack of dimension, however.

But Graham’s integration into the offense (or re-integration, as he had six catches in the opener) at least got people off offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell’s back for a week – though it may be more pragmatism than anything else.

See, if you don’t send Graham out for passes, you’ll have to keep him in to protect. And no good seems to come of that.

But in that regard, he fits right in – the Seahawks allowed Chicago’s first four sacks of the season. Attention pass rushers: The route to the Pro Bowl goes through Seattle’s offensive line.

Even if the tight end’s frustrations were trumped up, it isn’t unfair to suggest the integration is ongoing. Sometimes Wilson will have to trust his target and not just his eyes and feet.

“You’re going to be covered,” Graham allowed, “and guys will be draped on you. But like I tell Russ, it doesn’t matter. (With) big guys, sometimes you just have to throw it.”

And Graham will be ready to catch it – especially in this stadium.

“I’ve been waiting pretty much since the trade to feel what it felt like, to be on the right side of those cheers,” he said.

Maybe they were just happy to see him in the flesh, and not on the side of a milk carton.