What to watch when Seahawks open season vs. Broncos
Seahawks vs. Denver Broncos
Where: Lumen Field
When: Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
TV: CBS with Spero Dedes (play by play), Adam Archuleta (analyst) and Aditi Kinkhabwala (sidelines).
Most recent game in series: This is the first time the Seahawks and Denver have played since the season opener in 2022, which was the first game for the Broncos with Russell Wilson as QB following his trade from Seattle. The Seahawks won 17-16. Denver leads the overall series 35-20.
Point spread: Seahawks by 6.
Key injuries: Outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (knee) and tight end Pharaoh Brown (foot) have been ruled out. Everyone else on the 53-man roster is considered healthy enough to play. Second-year player Derick Hall is expected to start for Nwosu at strongside linebacker.
The big story: The Seahawks open their 49th season as Mike Macdonald makes his regular-season debut as the ninth coach in team history. They are 3-5 in games in which a new head coach is making his debut. That includes beating the 49ers 31-6 in Pete Carroll’s debut in 2010.
Key matchup: Seahawks front seven vs. Broncos offensive line
Former Oregon standout Bo Nix, a first-round pick, will get the start at quarterback as the Broncos decided to move on from Wilson. Expect Macdonald to dial up a number of blitzes and pressures to try to make life as uncomfortable for Nix as possible. The Seahawks will need to win some one-one-one battles up front against what is a mostly experienced and highly paid offensive line (sixth-highest overall in the NFL this year via Spotrac.com). Denver returns starters at every spot but center, where former UW Husky Luke Wattenberg will get his second NFL start.
The Broncos allowed the second-most sacks in the NFL the past two years with 115. Coach Sean Payton intimated he blamed Wilson for a lot of those and is confident that number will decrease.
The Seahawks hope to get an increased interior pass rush with first-round draft pick Byron Murphy II and a full season of Leonard Williams and will count on Hall to give them some pass rush on the edge in place of Nwosu along with Boye Mafe on the other side. Hall had a strong preseason and will be looking for his first career sack.
Key player: Center Connor Williams
Williams, a starter for Miami the past two years before suffering an ACL injury on Dec. 11, practiced fully all week and is expected to start at center. Williams did not play in the preseason, so his first snap Sunday will be his first live snap as a Seahawk. Williams was not mentioned on the injury report all week, so the assumption is he’s ready to play a full game. But if needed, Seattle could rotate in second-year player Olu Oluwatimi, who worked as the starter most of camp. The rest of the offensive line appears set with George Fant at right tackle, Anthony Bradford at right guard, Laken Tomlinson at left guard and Charles Cross at left tackle.
Key stat: 18-3
That’s the Seahawks’ record in their past 21 home openers dating to 2003. Two of the losses came in the last three years – 2021 (33-30 OT defeat to Tennessee) and 2023, a 30-13 loss to Matthew Stafford and the Rams. That defeat made a difference in L.A. making the playoffs instead of the Seahawks and set the stage for the coaching change that followed at the end of the season.
Three other things to watch
Debuting a new inside linebacking corps
The Seahawks will finally get a look at their new inside linebacking duo of Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker.
Dodson played some in the preseason, but Baker sat out because of a hamstring injury. Baker is healthy and practiced all week. Dodson, who played last year in Buffalo, will play the middle linebacker spot manned last year by Bobby Wagner and will get the play calls from Macdonald to relay to the rest of the team. Baker, who played previously with Miami, will fill the weakside spot manned last by Jordyn Brooks.
Macdonald said he’s expecting Baker to be able to hit the ground running despite missing the preseason and doing no live tackling.
“I think he’s confident,” Macdonald said. “It is just not having to bring someone to the ground is something a little bit new for him. But he’s a pro. He’ll be fine. Excited to see him play.”
What to expect out of the new offense?
The game will also be the debut of former UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb in the same role with the Seahawks. Grubb has cautioned that the offense will be tailored to the players he has with the Seahawks and not to expect a carbon copy of what he ran at UW. Players have said all week that little of what Grubb’s offense contains was shown in the preseason, and they are excited to see what it looks like in a real game.
“We kept it pretty vanilla during the preseason on both sides of the ball,” receiver DK Metcalf said. “But Grubb is known for his explosive plays down the field. So, just looking forward to him opening up the playbook so that we can exploit defenses and push the ball down the field.”
Unleashing K-9
For all the understandable focus on what Grubb dials up for the passing game, the Seahawks’ running game will be equally important. The key to that his third-year running back Kenneth Walker III. The team kept Walker out of the preseason to avoid even the chance of injury. Teammates and coaches have raved about how he’s looked in practices.
“I’m expecting a lot out of Ken,” Grubb said. “I think this offense, anytime you have any team, you’re looking for the guys that are the best with the ball in their hand, and I don’t know if there’s anybody better on our team. I think Ken’s been top three in the NFL on missed tackles forced, and that’s one of the stats that we value the most is what can a guy do with the football when there’s a tackler right there, and Ken’s really elite at that.”
Prediction
Seahawks 27, Broncos 17
A rebuilding team coming into Lumen Field with a rookie quarterback is about as favorable of a matchup as the Seahawks could have wished for Macdonald’s debut. Optimism appeared to have only risen as training camp progressed, with players raving about Macdonald’s changes to the defense and Grubb’s to the offense. The few glimpses of the starters in the preseason were promising enough to make us buy in until shown otherwise.
A few other predictions:
Mike Vorel: The Mike Macdonald era will begin with a win – as Geno Smith enjoys an efficient day and Seattle’s new-look defense forces rookie quarterback Bo Nix into a turnover or two, to the delight of the fans at Lumen Field. Seahawks 24, Broncos 17