Standout moments from Seahawks’ preseason opener

You wouldn’t have expected anything less from a Pete Carroll-coached team.

In his return both to Seattle and the NFL, Carroll watched his new team, the Las Vegas Raiders, fall behind early and trail by 13 at halftime against the Seahawks Thursday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

But the Raiders clawed back, as his Seahawks team had so many times before on the same Lumen Field turf, and tied the game with 1:12 left on a 51-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson.

When Jalen Milroe couldn’t lead Seattle down the field, Las Vegas was able to move into position for a 55-yard attempt by Carlson on the final play and it appeared as if Carroll would leave Seattle with something to celebrate.

Instead, Seattle rookie Jalan Gaines blocked the kick and the game ended there in a 23-23 tie — the NFL got rid of preseason overtime in 2021.

“You never want to tie a football game,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “That kind of stinks. But a lot of great things on both sides of the ball, special teams as well.”

Seattle grabbed a 16-3 lead thanks to a stifling defense that snared two interceptions and some big plays on offense, as well as a running game that gained 68 yards on nine carries in the first quarter when the Seahawks were facing what was the bulk of the Raiders’ starting defense, including standout end Maxx Crosby.

Seattle finished with 170 yards rushing on 32 carries, 5.3 per attempt.

“You felt the line of scrimmage, felt the physicality,” Macdonald said of the offensive line that included rookie Grey Zabel getting his first start at left guard. “I thought we ran the ball well.”

Seattle played what are three of their projected starters on the offensive line — Zabel, right tackle Abe Lucas and right guard Anthony Bradford — for the first two series.

“I thought we kept the quarterback clean for the most part especially in the first half,” Macdonald said. “So a lot of good stuff.”

Carroll played his offensive starters, including Smith, in for one series and sprinkled in a few defensive starters for a couple series. But by the second quarter it was a game for backups.

Here’s some more of what stood out:

Milroe sees first action

The Raiders’ comeback from a 23-13 deficit early in the fourth quarter allowed Seattle to see how Milroe would react under pressure.

With Seattle taking over at its own 22 with 1:12 left, Milroe threw a 14-yard pass to Ricky White III to start the drive. But he was incomplete on the next two and then sacked on third-and-10 and Seattle had to punt.

“Would have been great to be able to close it out,” Macdonald said.

The final series capped an up-and-down outing for the third-round pick who played the entire second half.

Milroe’s first two drives, each in the third quarter, were derailed by holding penalties, one called on tight end Brady Russell that wiped out an apparent 45-yard gain by Jacardia Wright.

But the Seahawks played mistake-free on his third drive and moved 65 yards in nine plays to score on a 1-yard TD run by Wright that made it 23-13. Seattle ran it on seven of the plays, many when Milroe made what Macdonald said was the right decision on zone-read plays to hand it off instead of keeping it based on the way the Raiders were playing their ends.

“He made some good decisions operation-wise there,” Macdonald said of a drive when Seattle had seven carries for 36 yards. “Not getting greedy and handing the ball off and having effective runs, thought that was good stuff for not really prepping him for it.”

Milroe put his running ability to use when he bootlegged to his right to get past the Raiders rush and fired a 15-yard pass to Tyrone Broden that helped set up the TD and was 2-for-2 for 29 yards on the drive.

After the Raiders scored again and Seattle had to start at its own 6-yard line on its next drive, Milroe got the Seahawks out of danger with a 27-yard run when he kept the ball on a zone read and raced around the right side.

However, Milroe threw incomplete on a rollout a few plays later on a fourth-and-1 giving the Raiders the ball at the Seattle 45 with 4:12 left. It appeared as if he might have gotten the first down if he’d ran it.

He then overthrew Broden on second down on the final drive before taking a sack and giving the ball back to the Raiders.

Milroe finished 6-of-10 passing for 61 yards and 38 yards rushing on three attempts.

“I thought Jalen played well,’’ Macdonald said. “… there are some things we want to be a little cleaner on, but throwing the ball accurately, throwing it on time and then when it wasn’t there extending plays with his legs I thought was pretty cool.’’

“For me it was just awesome being in Lumen Field,” Milroe said. “Now the biggest thing is just keep on building and see every opportunity for us to just get better.”

Lock rallies after sluggish start

Backup quarterback Drew Lock played the first half and got five series. Seattle scored on three of the last four.

The first ended in an interception when Lock tried to hit rookie receiver Tory Horton deep on a third-and-10 play. The ball hung in the air and Raiders safety Isaiah Pola-Mao undercut it for an interception at the Raiders 9.

“Got to take care of the ball,” said Lock, who took full blame for the throw.

Seattle held and responded with a TD drive spurred by two Raiders defensive holding penalties and a couple big plays by running back George Holani (more on him in a moment).

But once the second quarter began — and the Raiders also had only backups in the game — Lock found his stride, completing seven of 10 passes for 93 yards and a 10-yard TD to Horton and a passer rating of 110.8. Lock finished 12-of-22 for 147 yards, a TD and an interception and a passer rating of 71.6 with Seattle up 16-3 at halftime.

Holani makes case for third running back spot

Seattle’s top two running backs — Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet — sat out. That left the starting duties to second-year vet George Holani, who is battling with rookie Damien Martinez for the third running back spot.

Holani took full advantage by rushing for 61 yards on seven carries in the first quarter alone, including a 24-yard TD run, as well as a 20-yard gain on a screen pass on a third-and-10.

Macdonald indicated Holani helped himself with his play.

“He’s the guy that does everything right all the time,” Macdonald said.

Holani had a gain of 19 yards on the second play of the game, helped by a block from fullback Robbie Ouzts, who showed throughout how much of a factor that position may be in Seattle’s offense this season.

On the play, Ouzts had to adjust his planned blocking assignment and end up taking on Crosby.

“Hey, that’s your second play as an NFL player and you just go execute at a high level and we pop an explosive run.” Macdonald said. “That was pretty cool.”

Holani then scored on a 24-yarder in the second quarter in which he cut back to the left side, again aided by an Ouzts block.

“You felt him,” Macdonald said of Ouzts.

Martinez finished with 10 yards on six carries and also muffed a kickoff in the fourth quarter.

Cornerbacks get timely picks

Each of the first-half interceptions were pulled off by cornerbacks battling for roster spots — Josh Jobe and Nehemiah Pritchett.

Jobe’s night began rough as he was beaten for a 17-yard gain to convert a third-and-14 midway through the first quarter and then the next play got called for hands to the face.

But on the first play of the second quarter, Jobe caught up to a badly underthrown deep pass by Aidan O’Connell down the left sideline, returning it from the Seattle 19 to the 47.

Later in the quarter, Pritchett broke off his coverage to quickly jump in front of an O’Connell pass at the Raiders 35, returning it to the 27.

Each time, Seattle was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct when numerous starting defensive players ran on the field to celebrate.

Macdonald said he liked the enthusiasm the starting defenders displayed and called it “the cost of doing business.”

But he said it can’t happen again.

“We do have to show those guys those penalties did affect us in the game,’’ he said. “Changed the field position. We really can’t afford to be doing that going forward. But having the enthusiasm, having guys fired up for guys making plays, that was pretty cool.’’

Jobe is battling for the third cornerback spot and will get competition soon when Shaquill Griffin returns to practice after missing much of the last two weeks. Pritchett, a fifth-round pick last year, is hoping to earn a roster spot.

Emmanwori gets brief action

Second-round pick Nick Emmanwori played the first two series for the Seahawks, getting nine snaps, then headed to the bench, coach Mike Macdonald appearing to want him to give him just enough action to get his feet wet some.

Emmanwori had one tackle, coming when he lined up on the left side of the line and then roamed to the right to chase down Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty for no gain.

“We wanted him to get his feet wet, go affect the game as best he could, and I thought when he was in there we felt him,” Macdonald said. “Sent him on a couple of pressures and did a good job.”

Jeanty, the sixth overall pick after a standout career at Boise State, was held to minus-one yard on three carries in playing the first two series.

Arroyo, Horton power passing offense early

Seattle veteran receivers Cooper Kupp, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marquez Valdes-Scantling all sat out, as did starting tight end AJ Barner.

That left a lot of snaps and targets early on for rookie receiver Tory Horton and tight end Elijah Arroyo.

Arroyo, the 50th overall pick, caught both of his targets for 14 yards, including a 10-yarder on a third-and-6 that kept a drive alive that led to Seattle’s first TD.

Horton, a fifth-round pick, had three receptions on seven targets for 31 yards and a TD.

Horton’s score came in the second quarter and put Seattle ahead 13-3. On the play, he matched up in the slot on cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly, who played in five games for the Seahawks in 2023.

Horton got a step on Kelly with a quick cut to the left. Lock fired the pass and Horton caught it at about the 5 and raced into the end zone for his first NFL TD — if only the preseason kind — and then a leap into the stands.

“You just felt him in those situations, which was a continuation of what we are seeing in practice,” Macdonald said. “So it was great to see it in a game setting.”

Morris, Smith lead other standouts

A few others who stood out included:

• Third-year defensive lineman Mike Morris helped his case with a quarterback hit, a tackle of Jeanty for a 4-yard loss and two tackles overall. It was a positive that Morris was even playing as he left practice early on Tuesday with a lower body injury.

• Third-year rush end Tyreke Smith finished with three tackles, a tipped pass and a quarterback hit and also drew a holding penalty that nullified an apparent 24-yard Raiders passing gain.

• Along with some solid blocking Ouzts also caught one pass on two targets for 17 yards.