Double-, triple-teamed, debuting rookie Byron Murphy the most impressive Seahawk in LA

TACOMA – It’s not fair. But it’s true: Byron Murphy gets compared to Aaron Donald.

A lot.

He looks like Donald, with his massive legs and huge upper body on a relatively shorter frame.

Saturday, he was playing his first NFL game on Donald’s old home field.

So maybe it’s fitting the Los Angeles Chargers gave Murphy Aaron Donald-like treatment in the Seahawks rookie’s first NFL game Saturday night.

The Chargers double- and even triple-teamed Murphy at SoFi Stadium in a preseason opener. It was like the focus Donald got for years on this field, until he retired this offseason as the All-Pro defensive tackle for L.A.’s other NFL team, the Rams. First down, third downs, two and three blockers came at Murphy.

Yet Seattle’s 16th-overall choice in the NFL draft this spring spent much of his first pro game in the opponent’s backfield. He led a dominant performance by new coach Mike Maconald’s defense in the Seahawks’ 16-3 win over the Chargers.

Simply put, Murphy was the most impressive player on the SoFi Stadium field Saturday.

“Yeah, great to see him make a couple plays,” Macdonald said on his way out of L.A. “You know, first game action, he was all juiced. And the guys were excited for him.”

All spring into training camp this summer, the league’s youngest head coach at age 37 has been giving tough love, publicly, to his top rookie and 21-year-old defensive tackle.

In May Macdonald said the 6-foot, 306-pound Murphy needed to get into better shape to make it through entire practices. Last week he said Murphy didn’t have the first few practices of training camp that he would have liked to have.

Saturday in L.A., Murphy had the debut he and the Seahawks believe is the start of something hugely impacting to a defense that finished 30th in the 32-team NFL last season.

Macdonald kept his new defense mostly plain against the Chargers. No use revealing in an exhibition a month before the games get real the deceptions and changing on the fly he did last season to make the Baltimore Ravens the league’s best defense.

But on the second play following Coby Bryant’s interception and undrafted rookie George Holani’s 11-yard touchdown run off it gave Seattle a 13-0 lead in the second quarter, Macdonald got a bit creative. He moved his defensive front. It was the kind of ruse which confused offenses that played the coach’s Ravens last year.

Off the change, Murphy overpowered Chargers center Brenden Jaimes immediately after the snap. His speed out of his stance beat Jaimes. Then he mauled Jaimes with straight power. He pushed the center 2 yards into the backfield. Then he dropped onto Chargers running back Isaiah Spiller for a 1-yard loss.

“Man, the play call came in. We had a little movement going along the line,” Murphy said. “I got the call, made the movement. The O-lineman came at me. I pressed him, knocked him back. Got some great knock-back. Good penetration. Made a play in the backfield.

“TFL.”

That’s tackle for loss.

Murphy made so many of those as one of the nation’s best defensive tackles at the University of Texas, he casually tosses out the football-ese abbreviation for it. Like it’s his middle name.

Entering in the first quarter after Macdonald had his veteran starters begin the game, Murphy pushed L.A.’s offensive linemen into their quarterback, backup Easton Stick. Murphy split double teams. He made ball carriers change directions.

He should have had a sack in the second quarter, when he again broke into the backfield. He grabbed Stick around the legs. But he was off-balance. The QB eluded him. Stick ran into Seahawks linebacker Jon Rhattigan for the sack, instead.

“I should have made that play,” Murphy said. “It’s a learning thing, just finishing the play. Something I need to work on.”

Five minutes into the second quarter, Murphy blasted through the right side of L.A.’s line. He pushed Joe Alt, the fifth pick in this year’s draft (11 spots ahead of Murphy), 3 yards back into Stick. Murphy bowled guard Foster Sarell 4 yards back. Alt and Sarell yanked off Murphy’s helmet trying to hold him back. His head bare and unprotected, Murphy kept charging.

At times, Seattle’s new number 91 looked like the strongest, fastest player on the field.

He absolutely looked worthy of all the attention Chargers blockers gave him.

“Man, it was truly a blessing. It was great,” Murphy said. “From the first snap to the last, you know, I had fun.”

He called his first NFL game “a total boost.”

“Because Coach Macdonald, you know, he’s big on defense,” Murphy said. “He’s been preaching to us since OTAs (in May), training camp. …

“I feel like now we can really see his vision after today, after this game.”

Next for Murphy and the Seahawks: two joint practices against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville Wednesday and Thursday. Those promise to be contentious, before their preseason game there next Saturday.

Macdonald was already looking forward to those joint practices before he even left L.A. Saturday night.

“We’ve got a big week ahead of us practicing against Tennessee and then having another game against those guys,” the coach said. “So we’re looking forward to that.”

So is Murphy. He expects more from himself and this new Seahawks defense in Tennesssee this coming week.

“I feel like it’s time to take it up a notch,” Murphy said. “So, like, that’s what we’re going to do.”