Dave Boling: Seahawks’ halftime adjustments get Mike Macdonald era off to solid start with win over Broncos

SEATTLE – Halftime in the Seattle Seahawks locker room on Sunday had to go something like this:

Mike Macdonald – “Look, guys, I’m new at this head-coaching stuff, so maybe I shoulda been a little clearer before the game when I told the offense that I wanted them to get the ball into the end zone. Yeah, I should have specified … Denver’s end zone, not ours.”

Once the Seahawks got that misunderstanding straightened out and stopped giving up safeties to the Denver Broncos, the Hawks opened the season – and Macdonald’s tenure – with a 26-20 victory at Lumen Field.

The easy angle is to try to extrapolate this performance as an example of Macdonald’s coaching personality and promise. It’s early, but fair.

Even the awful start, when trailing 13-9 at halftime, was valuable as a challenge for Macdonald’s composure and capacity to adapt.

“Started just like we wanted to start,” Macdonald joked when he stepped to the podium afterward. “The guys were poised, nobody batted an eye. I was proud of our guys, the effort, the attitude.”

Macdonald wouldn’t elaborate on the halftime changes other than to reference some scheme changes.

The changes were obvious. The defense was tasked with merely continuing as they were, rallying to the ball, playing fast and aggressively. It led to vastly improved tackling compared to the last two seasons.

The coaching, every day, has been “run to the ball with intent,” linebacker Tyrel Dodson said.

But the offense needed to fire off the ball and capture the line of scrimmage. What had become obvious in the first 30 minutes was that this offensive front is far better at run blocking than pass blocking.

Of the Hawks’ 56 rushing yards in the first half, 34 came on a scramble by quarterback Geno Smith.

So much simpler, with four new starters in the front five, to point them downfield and tell them fire out on the count. It changed the tempo of the game.

Perhaps one of Macdonald’s assistants unearthed an old call-sheet from the Seahawks’ Chuck Knox era, and on their first possession in the second half, Kenneth Walker carried five times in six plays, including a 23-yard touchdown.

Walker picked up 102 yards on 20 carries and flashed his potential in this new offense. Tough yards? Walker is absolutely nasty with the ball.

Walker not only threw a nice block on Smith’s touchdown run, he made one of the most physically dominating move while being tackled behind the line. So often, Walker spins away or powers through defenders for positive yardage, but this time, he was hemmed in, with 240-pound linebacker Baron Browning weighing down his shoulders.

Like doing squat reps with the Bronco, Walker lifted Browning in the air and flipped him to the ground. It had to be the most impressive 4-yard loss of the new season.

“K-9 was really a beast for us, today,” Smith said. “He really set the tone for us.”

Smith admitted that he and the Seattle offense was “very ugly at the start, but everyone was picking each other up, and the defense kept us in it the whole way.”

Several of the Hawks used the same phrase to describe Macdonald’s demeanor on the sidelines, through both the unsightly first half and the promising second half: Cool and calm.

This being his first game as a head coach, the 37-year-old Macdonald was presented the game ball by Smith in the locker room.

Macdonald sounded uncomfortable taking the credit.

“I accepted it on behalf of everybody,” Macdonald said. “It was special. I love our guys; they’re bought in. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to.”

In probably the least surprising moment of the strange game, veteran receiver Tyler Lockett came up with a fingertip catch from under blanket coverage on a third-down pass to allow the Hawks to run out the clock.

“He’s so clutch, time and time again, week after week,” Smith said of Lockett. “That really sealed the game for us. That’s who he is, that’s why we love him.”

Denver may not be very good at this point, but the Seahawks played a half of offensive football that had to be as poorly as they could, but still came away with a pretty convincing win.

They tackled, they pursued, they played very aggressively. Maybe the throwback uniforms they wore on Sunday predisposed them to pound the football.

Whatever. It worked. It got the Macdonald era off to a solid start.

“One win, awesome,” Macdonald said. “Now we gotta go get another one.”