During the third quarter of Seattle’s 16-3 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday evening, veteran defensive tackle Jarran Reed was asked by ex-teammate Cliff Avril on the television broadcast what he expects from the Seahawks’ defense this season.

Reed’s response: “Greatness.”

The first few series Saturday were a strong first step toward that goal. Seattle played all of its defensive starters, with rookie Tyrice Knight continuing to start in place of inside linebacker Jerome Baker, who has an injured hamstring. The Chargers played many of their offensive starters, with the notable exceptions being quarterback Justin Herbert and center Bradley Bozeman.

In two series, Seattle’s defense played six snaps and gave up 7 yards, all of which were gained on the first two plays on runs by Jaret Patterson. Quarterback Easton Stick’s first pass was a slant on third-and-3 that was dropped by a diving DJ Chark, who had Riq Woolen draped all over him.

Stick’s first pass on the following series was nearly intercepted by Woolen on a rollout to the right. Patterson’s next run was stuffed by linebacker Tyrel Dodson for no gain. And then on third-and-10, outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu pressured Stick into another incomplete pass to Chark, again with Woolen in coverage.

Even at full strength, the Chargers don’t have a very dangerous collection of offensive weapons, so Seattle’s defense should have been the better unit. Still, it’s a good sign for the start of the Mike Macdonald era that the coach’s defense came out firing.

“We played the majority of our starters on defense, so we definitely wanted to start fast,” Macdonald said. “The guys were locked in. We did a good job of getting the calls in fast, and the guys communicated well on the back end, especially when they started going fast.”

Macdonald’s defense has often been described as complex and versatile, but the debut appeared to be more vanilla, particularly on third down, where the starters were trusted to just line up and beat the guys across from them. That’s not a huge surprise, given it’s the preseason. Woolen did his part on the first third-down opportunity, and Nwosu did as well on third-and-10 when he went through rookie right tackle Joe Alt to disrupt Stick’s timing.

The dominance continued throughout the first half even when the starters (minus Knight and outside linebacker Boye Mafe) were done for the day. The defense played 25 snaps in the first half and held the Chargers to 71 yards (2.8 yards per play). Los Angeles failed on all seven of its third downs (and finished the day 2 of 13), and Stick completed just 5 of 13 passes for 31 yards and was sacked twice.

He was guilty of the game’s only turnover when he overthrew tight end Hayden Hurst, who was decked by safety K’Von Wallace as the ball ricocheted off his hands. The tipped pass was corralled by safety Coby Bryant. Seattle scored four plays later.

Coby was ready. 🎱 pic.twitter.com/zdXngaUUuB

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) August 10, 2024

“My other safety, K’Von Wallace, I pushed the No. 2 (receiving threat) to him, he made the big hit, and the ball popped out, and I had to catch it,” Bryant said.

The interception was one of many plays in which multiple levels of the defense worked together to disrupt the offense. First-round rookie Byron Murphy II got his hand in Stick’s face during the throwing motion, and the ball ended up being too high for the intended target. Wallace came down from the deep half of the field to protect the middle. Rush and coverage worked together to generate the biggest defensive play of the night.

“Team football, man,” Macdonald said. “Good pocket, guys communicated and made the right checks on the back end, we were in our spots on play-action, attacked the football and then when it comes to us, let’s go make the play and try to go score.”

Murphy and Wallace are technically backups, but they’ll be involved in the rotation during the regular season. Despite playing behind Reed and Leonard Williams, Murphy is expected to be an impact player as a rookie. His debut was very promising in that regard.

He got in the backfield several times, often beating backup center Brenden Jaimes. On a second down run in the second quarter, Murphy drove Jaimes 3 yards into the backfield before dropping the running back for a 1-yard loss.

Strong tackle by the rookie Byron Murphy II 😤

📱: Stream #SEAvsLAC on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/QKcSCQlcIm

— NFL (@NFL) August 10, 2024

Later in the period, Murphy pushed Jaimes into Stick’s lap on third-and-10, and the quarterback threw an errant pass that was tipped by rookie corner D.J. James (and almost picked off). Murphy had Stick in his grasp for a sack on the final drive of the first half but couldn’t finish the play (Derick Hall wound up with the sack).

“It was great to see (Murphy) make a couple plays,” Macdonald said. “First game action, he was all juiced and the guys were excited for him. That was cool to see.”

Macdonald’s defense was effective primarily because it played a clean game with sound fundamentals. A neutral-zone infraction against defensive lineman Mike Morris on fourth-and-8 with three minutes left to play was the only defensive penalty. There was only one obvious coverage bust, and it occurred early in the fourth quarter when the third-team defenders were in, leading to a 29-yard completion from Max Duggan to Simi Fehoko.

That was one of only two explosive pass plays allowed by Seattle; the other was a go ball given up by cornerback Dee Williams, a converted wide receiver, late in the fourth. A 16-yard carry by Patterson in the second quarter was the Chargers’ only explosive run by a running back, and in general, Seattle had a very good tackling day.

“It’s a foundational first game,” Macdonald said. “This is something we want to build on.”

Here are other notes and takeaways from the first exhibition of the Macdonald era.

O-line was OK 

Seattle rested offensive starters Geno Smith, Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Ken Walker III, Charles Cross, George Fant and Noah Fant. Second-year players Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Zach Charbonnet played a handful of snaps. Smith-Njigba caught a pair of out routes for 13 yards, and Charbonnet gained 6 yards on two carries and had a drop.

Backup quarterback Sam Howell played into the third quarter and completed 16 of 27 passes for 130 yards and a 13-yard touchdown to tight end Brady Russell. Howell was sacked on a pair of third-and-long snaps in the second quarter. On both occasions, the Chargers brought pressure.

For the most part, though, Howell had time to operate despite playing with backup linemen. Nick Harris got the nod at center over Olu Oluwatimi, playing two series, and left guard Laken Tomlinson played only the first quarter (he was swapped for rookie Christian Haynes just before Russell’s touchdown).

The offensive line is one of Seattle’s biggest concerns, and it’s perhaps a testament to the new coaching staff that when the Chargers weren’t blitzing, Howell and third-string quarterback P.J. Walker either had time to throw or a lane to step up and run. The only glaring whiff I saw was second-year lineman Tuli Tuipulotu badly beating right tackle McClendon Curtis, though Howell was able to evade the sack and throw the ball away. Otherwise, the offensive line provided decent protection.

Ball hawks

The Seahawks were credited with six passes defensed — despite Woolen not getting credit for one on his interception — and had a few other plays on the ball as well. On James’ pass breakup, Bryant nearly had a diving interception. James almost had an interception on third-and-4 in the second quarter thanks to nickel pressure from Artie Burns.

In the fourth quarter, linebacker Patrick O’Connell had a pass breakup that was nearly picked off by James. The Chargers’ three quarterbacks averaged 4.2 yards per attempt on 32 passes, and much of that was due to Seattle flying to the ball, which is a credit to how fast the defense played throughout the game.

Running back battle is on

Second-year running back Kenny McIntosh led Seattle with 40 yards on eight carries and two first-down runs. Undrafted rookie George Holani made something out of nothing on his 11-yard touchdown run but totaled just 13 yards on his next five carries. He was stuffed twice on the 1-yard line in the third quarter. Undrafted rookie Kobe Lewis had 33 yards on 10 carries and twice moved the chains on third down, though he was also stuffed at the goal line in the third quarter.

Other factors like special teams, receiving skills and the ability to pass protect will factor into the competition to be the third running back, but when looking just at the ability to tote the rock, all three backups made good first impressions by moving the sticks and finding creases. The offensive line deserves credit, too.