Well, at least they scored.
The Seattle Seahawks’ starting offense finally got its first points of the exhibition season, a 52-yard field goal by Jeff Reed on the team’s 12th drive of the preseason.
But other than that, Seattle’s offense looked overmatched in a 23-20 loss to the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field on Saturday evening.
Broncos backup kicker Steven Hauschka kicked a 51-yard field goal as time expired to win it for Denver.
Seattle’s young offensive line failed to contain the speed and athleticism of a Denver defensive front led by Pro Bowl player Elvis Dumervil and this year’s No 2 overall draft pick, linebacker Von Miller.
Both players repeatedly crashed the edges and beat Seattle’s green offensive tackles, Tyler Polumbus and James Carpenter, to quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, as Denver (2-1) finished with five sacks against Seattle’s starters.
Equally frustrating for the Sea-hawks (1-2) was their inability to run the ball.
New offensive line coach Tom Cable’s zone blocking scheme could muster only 18 rushing yards with the starters on the field.
And the Seahawks totaled a measly 53 yards and two first downs with Denver’s starting defense on the field.
“Obviously an idiot can see it’s not good enough,” said veteran offensive guard Robert Gallery. “That’s life in the big leagues. I can say we have a young group, but that doesn’t really matter at this point. Guys have to be ready to play, and we’ve got to put a good product on the field.”
Jackson threw for 93 yards and his first touchdown for the Sea-hawks on 13-of-22 accuracy.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do as a whole offense,” Jackson said. “Pass protection is not just solely on one person, or one unit. It’s all about me getting the ball out, backs protecting, the receivers getting open, the offensive line protecting and making sure we target the right guys.
“And we’ve got a lot of work to do as far as getting that together.”
Rookie undrafted free agent Doug Baldwin continued his bid to make the team with a 105-yard kick return for a score midway through the four quarter.
“The blocking was phenomenal,” Baldwin said. “It was easy once I hit the first hole. Those guys mowed everybody down.”
Baldwin’s return would have been a team record if it had occurred during the regular season – 4 yards longer than Leon Washington’s 101-yard return for a score last year against San Diego.
Baldwin’s return was actually the first in Denver in two preseason games after 16 straight touchbacks.
Along with Baldwin’s impressive return, one of the few bright spots for Seattle was the play of its defense.
Seattle gave up two long drives for scores – an 80-yard drive that ended in a 2-yard touchdown run by Knowshon Moreno in the first half, and an 85-yard drive that Denver quarterback Kyle Orton finished with a 6-yard scoring pass to Eric Decker on the Broncos’ opening drive of the second half.
Other than that, Seattle’s defense held its own. Included in the big-play department was an interception by defensive end Chris Clemons in his first action of the exhibition season, a sack by Marcus Trufant on a corner blitz that helped stall another Denver drive, and defensive linemen Junior Siavii and Red Bryant combining to stuff a fourth-and-1 run by Denver running back Willis McGahee from Seattle’s 45-yard line.
That was about it for Seattle’s highlights.
The Seahawks’ first-unit offense finally moved the ball with some consistency in the final quarter, but by then Denver had put in its second-unit defense. Seattle’s first-team offense scored its first touchdown of the season on a nine-play, 83-yard drive that culminated with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to tight end Dominique Byrd.
Along with Hauschka’s winner, Denver kicker Matt Prater had field goals of 57 yards and 42 yards.
With Seattle’s offense sputtering in the first three exhibition games, Seattle coach Pete Carroll said the first unit might play more than teams traditionally play their starters in the team’s final game against Oakland at CenturyLink Field on Friday.
“We still need to play, “Carroll said. “We’ve got things we need to get done. So I don’t care about tradition in the fourth preseason game. That doesn’t matter to me. We’ll do what we’ve got to do.”
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437
eric.williams@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.