Commentary: Why the Seahawks were lucky to win their season opener

They may have scored 17 points in the second half and gotten more than 100 yards from their running back.

They may have held their opponent to 3.3 yards per play, which would have easily been tops in the NFL last season if sustained for 17 games.

The Seattle Seahawks are 1-0 under new coach Mike Macdonald after a 26-20 victory at Lumen Field on Sunday. And all there is to say at this point is …

They’re lucky they played the Broncos.

What if I were to tell you that the Seahawks would be on the wrong end of two safeties Sunday, fumble a punt that Denver recovered on Seattle’s 9-yard line, watch Geno Smith open the season with a second-down interception returned to his team’s 20 — and still come out with the win?

What if I were to say that victory also came with DK Metcalf tallying just 29 receiving yards, and that Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was regularly given time to throw?

You probably would have figured that the Week 1 result would have been just as demoralizing as the one in last year’s opener vs. the Rams, who blasted Seattle after coming off a 5-12 season.

But you’d be wrong. The Seahawks came out on top.

It just wouldn’t have happened against almost any other team.

Wait a minute, aren’t you the dope who picked the Broncos to win?

Guilty. I’ve been wary of what Seattle is capable of given its roster and last season’s 9-8 record. Celebrated as Macdonald was for his work as defensive coordinator with the Ravens, I’m not convinced his new players’ abilities rival what he had in Baltimore.

Moreover, I thought Nix might be able to rejuvenate Denver’s offense after finishing second (to Michael Penix Jr.) in the nation in passing yards per game last season. But it turns out that when Bo has to throw the ball … what’s the word? Forward — he can’t hit his target. The man averaged 3.3 yards over 42 attempts Sunday, finding out that the dinking and dunking he got away with at Oregon doesn’t fly in football’s top league.

So the Seahawks survived. Barely. It took a one-handed grab by 10th-year receiver Tyler Lockett on third down in the final two minutes to seal the game — a game in which Seattle trailed 13-9 at halftime.

Macdonald kept it lighthearted in his postgame news conference, poking fun at the pair of first-half safeties, turnovers and general discombobulation.

“Started just like we wanted it to start. Drew it up that way. Just wanted some adversity there,” Macdonald said.

Then he quickly complimented his new team’s composure.

“Tell you what, on the sideline with our crew, the guys were poised. Nobody batted an eye. Knew what we needed to do to win the game, stuck to the plan, made some adjustments and just kept playing.”

One adjustment was establishing a ground attack that ended up netting Kenneth Walker III 103 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Smith, who finished 18 of 25 passing for 171 yards, seemed to find his footing as well. The Seahawks scored on their first three drives of the second half (touchdown, field goal, touchdown) to establish a 26-13 lead. But even then the game wasn’t secure.

After throwing two interceptions in Seahawks territory Sunday — the first costing Denver a surefire field goal and the second coming on second down — Nix finally put together a touchdown drive and got the Broncos to within six with 2:09 to go. It was more his legs than arm that did it, as the possession started with a 23-yard scramble and included no completions longer than 10 yards. Still, seven points are seven points.

Plus, the Seahawks looked as if they were going to give Denver one last chance when they faced third-and-11 from their 29 with 1:54 remaining. Then came a Broncos offsides penalty, followed by Lockett’s one-handed haul, followed by victory formation.

Let’s be clear about a couple of things here: It’s impossible to say whether the Seahawks — who finished 30th in total defense last season — have fixed their “D.” It’s a little bit like judging an artist by a paint-by-number portrait. There was no real test.

Denver was held to 20 or fewer points eight times last season and might be worse at quarterback with Nix replacing Russell Wilson. Doesn’t mean the Seahawks won’t be markedly better on that side of the ball this season, but Sunday didn’t necessarily indicate that they will.

What we do know, however, is that Seattle had a little trouble getting to Bo, who took two sacks but was well-protected for most of the game. And we know that Seattle committed a series of gaffes (not yet mentioned is Metcalf’s touchdown-negating holding penalty in the third quarter) that would have been far more costly against a quality opponent.

But hey, the Seahawks won. And it wasn’t due to a series of favorable calls from the officials, either.

Nope, the only luck involved was drawing a Week 1 opponent capable of playing that poorly.