Looking lost, the new-look Seahawks fall to Broncos 27-24 in season opener

By Bob Condotta The Seattle Times • September 10, 2018 7:30 pm
With :02 seconds to play, third down and 19, Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson looks to make a desperation pass, but the Denver Broncos close in on him and makes him throw it away on Sunday at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colo. Wilson was sacked six times for 56 yards in a 27-24 loss to Denver. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/TNS)
With :02 seconds to play, third down and 19, Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson looks to make a desperation pass, but the Denver Broncos close in on him and makes him throw it away on Sunday at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colo. Wilson was sacked six times for 56 yards in a 27-24 loss to Denver. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/TNS)

DENVER — The new-look Seahawks of 2018 looked a little too much like the bad ones of 2017 on Sunday at Mile High Stadium.

Seattle’s offense had no real form and a defense with a lot of new faces couldn’t live up to the pedigree of those who had departed.

The result was a 27-24 loss to the Broncos in the season opener that likely would have been a lot worse if not for three Case Keenum interceptions.

The Broncos outgained Seattle 470 to 306 yards, including 146-64 on the ground in. This, in the Seahawks’ first game since coach Pete Carroll had declared this offseason that he wanted to get back to being a team that could lead with its rushing attack.

Seattle now falls to 4-5 in openers under Carroll, and will face another tough trip next Monday night at Chicago.

Actually, the game started well enough with an Earl Thomas interception on Denver’s second possession that led to a Seattle touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead off Russell Wilson’s 15-yard pass to Will Dissly.

But after the Thomas pick, the Seahawks were mostly just picked apart in the first half, with Keenum completing 15-of-24 passes for 234 yards, and four different Denver receivers getting at least one catch of 20 yards or more.

Doing the most damage was Emmanuel Sanders, with seven receptions on seven targets for 115 yards.

But keeping Seattle in it were the two interceptions —Thomas’, which set up the Seahawks’ first score on the 15-yard pass to Dissly, and then another by Bradley McDougald to stop a Denver drive at the 18.

Thomas played all but one series in the first half —following his interception —and he was dearly missed as the Broncos drove 75 yards in seven plays for a tying score.

It appears that Thomas was just getting some rest after ending his holdout on Wednesday and being activated on Saturday.

Seattle took a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski that was set up by Dissly’s 66-yard catch and run. That gave Dissly 81 receiving yards —more than Jimmy Graham had in any one game all of last season.

The drive stalled at the 5, though, as Wilson appeared to miss a wide open Brandon Marshall on a second down play, and then Marshall was called for offensive pass interference after he caught an apparent TD pass.

The Broncos then scored on their next two drives to take the lead —first on a 43-yard catch-and-run for a TD by Sanders, and then a 51-yard Brandon McManus field goal.

Sanders got open in front of Seattle rookie cornerback Tre Flowers and then picked his way through traffic to score.

Denver appeared ready to take command when it drove from its 36 to the Seattle 26 late in the half.

But McDougald then picked off Keenum at the 18.

Denver had 297 yards in the first half to 157 for Seattle.

The Broncos again appeared ready to take command when Von Miller simply stole the ball out of Chris Carson’s hands at the 40. But on the next play McDougald picked off a late Keenum pass intended for Sanders and returned it 39 yards to the 41.

On a third-and-seven play, Wilson hit Marshall for a 20-yard TD to tie it at 17 with 6:02 left in the third quarter.

Denver regained the lead on a 53-yard McManus field goal that followed an interception of a Wilson pass by Justin Simmons.

Then, suddenly, the game had evolved into a shootout.

On Seattle’s first possession of the fourth quarter Wilson hit Tyler Lockett for a 51-yard TD to put the Seahawks ahead 24-20.

The Seahawks rested Thomas to begin the next series and the Broncos responded with runs of 14 and five yards and a pass for 25 before Thomas returned.

But he couldn’t totally stop the bleeding as Keenum hit Jake Butt for 22 yards to convert a third-and-11 and set up a 4-yard TD pass to Thomas to make it 27-24. The play was reviewed and the call upheld.

Seattle couldn’t move on its next drive and the Broncos got the back at their own 19 with 3:28 left. A few Royce Freeman run took the ball into Seattle territory and forced the Seahawks to use all of their timeouts.

The Seahawks got the ball back at their own 12, with 1:01 left. But a Wilson fumble of a snap ran off a lot of precious time and the game ended with an interception on the final play.

On third and six with 6:16 to play in the game, Seattle Seahawks’ Earl Thomas is able to get to Denver Broncos quarterback Case Keenum, but not before Keenum is able to dump off the ball for a four-yard gain on Sunday at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colo. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/TNS)

On third and six with 6:16 to play in the game, Seattle Seahawks’ Earl Thomas is able to get to Denver Broncos quarterback Case Keenum, but not before Keenum is able to dump off the ball for a four-yard gain on Sunday at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colo. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/TNS)