After shaky first half, Seahawks open Mike Macdonald era with win vs. Broncos

SEATTLE – Mike Macdonald walked swiftly off the field Sunday holding his left index finger aloft and telling the remaining crowd, “That’s one. That’s one.”

As in one win he has on his coaching ledger following the Seahawks’ 26-20 victory over Denver in his NFL coaching debut.

The number one could also have stood for the first moment of adversity in his coaching career as an ineffectual offense had the Seahawks trailing 13-9 at halftime.

It could also have stood for the first comeback win of his career as the Seahawks scored on their first three possessions of the second half to take control.

And if you really wanted, it could also have stood for the first time in his career Macdonald got a shoulder rub on the sidelines during the game from a former player.

That happened with 2 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the first quarter when Marshawn Lynch – one of many former Seahawks on hand for the team’s annual alumni day – was caught by TV cameras sneaking up behind Macdonald and briefly rubbing his shoulders.

It was a moment that the comeback win allowed Macdonald to laugh about later.

“Yeah, never had a former player talk to me midgame,’’ he said. “It’s pretty cool. I was like, we have another three quarters to play. It’s awesome. He’s one of my favorite players of all-time. He’s incredible. Yeah, funny. Came up right behind me. I found myself talking to him as they were taking the field. I was like, ‘Oh, shoot, I need to call on first down.’”

In the excitement of the game, Macdonald said he hadn’t realized Lynch actually gave him a brief shoulder rub until told later.

“Is that what he did?’’ Macdonald said. “I guess I blacked out.’’

That was a fitting reaction as most Seahawks fans also wanted to black out what they’d seen during the first half, which began with a Geno Smith interception on the second play of the game.

“Shoot, man, interception on the first drive, can’t have that,’’ Smith said. “That’s the worst way to start a game, with a turnover.’’

It never really got better during a bumbling, stumbling and fumbling first 30 minutes for the Seahawks in which they turned the ball over twice inside the 20, gave up two safeties and only had something cheer about only because 33-year-old Smith showed that he still has wheels, evading a heavy rush to rumble 34 yards for Seattle’s only TD in the first two quarters.

“Started just like we wanted it to start,’’ Macdonald deadpanned.

To be fair, half the team – the defense – actually did start the way they wanted to start, holding Denver to field goals on each of the early turnovers, which helped keep the game at 13-9 at halftime.

“The defense really held it together and helped us out a lot and put us in a situation to where even though we made all those mistakes we were able to come back and correct them and be able to come back and win,’’ Lockett said.

But the offense needed to start over at halftime and knew it.

Smith gathered the offense at one point telling the players essentially to stick together.

“Just stay poised, stay calm,’’ Smith said. “If we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, if we don’t beat ourselves, we’ll get rolling.’’

Maybe more importantly, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb at halftime decided to ditch most of the long-developing passes and start running the ball.

The Seahawks had 15 drop backs on 24 plays in the first half, with Smith sacked twice and able to complete a long pass of only 19 yards and just 8 of 12 for 59 yards.

But in dramatically changing course, the Seahawks ran it on five of their first six plays of the third quarter on a series that came after the defense forced a three and out.

“Hey, like let’s go run the ball,’’ Macdonald said of the message at halftime. “We’ve got a lot of football to play. Let’s stay poised. We’re right where we want to be. We didn’t get here the way we wanted to, but there is a lot of football to be played.’’

Kenneth Walker III got the ball on all five runs (sandwiched around one Smith pass to Tyler Lockett for 13 yards), ripping off gains of 5, 6, 15, 4 and 23 yards for a TD down the right sideline that gave the Seahawks a 16-13 lead and set the tone for the rest of the game.

“Oh, definitely,’’ Walker said if the offense knew the emphasis was going to be on the run in the second half. “We talked about it, Grubb, O-line knew, too.’’

The next two series were more of the same.

After a Denver fumble forced by K’Von Wallace and recovered by Jerome Baker, the Seahawks ran it on four of five plays sandwiched around a defensive pass interference penalty to move into range of a 28-yard Jason Myers field goal (which came after a DK Metcalf holding penalty nullified an apparent Walker TD run).

With Denver’s defense softened up, the Seahawks went to the pass as Smith completed four straight on the next drive, capped by a 30-yarder to running back Zach Charbonnet in which Bronco confusion left him wide open down the sidelines.

The Seahawks, which had just 56 yards rushing on 10 carries in the first half (including the 34-yard Smith scramble) had 93 yards rushing on 19 running back carries in the second half (90 on 23 overall).

“Made a couple adjustments on some of the schemes they were running,’’ Macdonald said of the better running game in the second half. “I thought the O-line played well in the second half. Ken in particular really runs so hard.’’

The Seahawks had to stave off one last bit of nervousness as Denver cut the lead to 26-20 with 2:09 left on a 4-yard run by quarterback Bo Nix.

It was a rare highlight for the former Oregon standout whose college issues throwing downfield seemed to come to the fore again – he completed 26 of 42 passes but for just 138 yards.

The Seahawks needed one first down to win the game and got it when on third-and-6, Smith threw it to Lockett on a crossing pattern. Lockett had to reach and snare the ball with one hand while tumbling to the ground.

“That big time third-down catch really sealed the game for us,” Smith said. “That’s who he is and that’s why we love him.’’

That they are also learning to love Macdonald seemed apparent, as well, when Smith presented him with the game ball.

“Yeah, it was awesome,’’ Macdonald said of that moment. “You know, I accept it on behalf of everybody. It’s special. Obviously our first win. It hasn’t hit me – it’s like hit me and it’s cool, but probably hasn’t hit me yet. So maybe in a silent moment it’ll come. It was special, man.’’