Matt Calkins: How Seahawks showed some promise in win, despite Chiefs sitting stars

Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times on Aug 16, 2025

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — Note to readers: Every few paragraphs, scroll back up and read the following line:

It was a preseason game in which the Chiefs sat five defensive starters along with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

That’s italicized, but it might as well be bolded and underlined, too. There isn’t much one can glean from a football contest in mid-August, especially when Kansas City studs such as Chris Jones, Drue Tranquill, Nick Bolton, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson joined their all-world quarterback and tight end on the bench. But the operative word there is much. The Seahawks still showed a few things in their 33-16 win at Lumen Field on Friday night— things that might boost the confidence of a fan base unsure of what to make of this new-look roster.

For starters, the run game. As Seattle Times Seahawks writer Bob Condotta pointed out earlier in the week, owning the ground game in the preseason doesn’t necessarily foreshadow regular-season success. Seattle had 156 rushing yards in its preseason opener against the Chargers last year but ended up ranked 28th in the league in rushing. However, in two straight games this preseason, the Seahawks have run the ball with ease: first racking up 170 yards on 32 carries vs. Las Vegas last week, then on Friday, collecting 268 yards on 48 carries. A whopping 174 of those yards came in the first half on 23 carries.

Zach Charbonnet had 45 of those first-half yards and took the last of his five attempts 15 yards to the house on Seattle’s opening drive. Second-year running back George Holani added 49 first-half yards on five carries, including a 30-yarder. None of this is going to affect the Seahawks’ over/under win total in the sportsbooks this season, but it’s an auspicious start for a team whose preseason offensive mantra has been to run the rock.

Of course, they’re going to throw it quite a bit, too. And in quarterback Sam Darnold, they have a new, not-totally-proven face behind center. Whether Darnold will resemble the Pro Bowler who threw 35 touchdowns against 12 interceptions last year for the Vikings, or the mediocrity who tossed 63 TDs against 56 picks in the first six years of his career remains to be seen. But in his first preseason game as a Seahawk on Friday, Sam went 4 for 4 for 34 yards. A short 5-yard pass to AJ Barner to start, a 7-yard toss to Jaxon Smith-Njigba to follow, then a 13-yard pass to Robbie Ouzts and a 9-yard throw to Elijah Arroyo. His MVP odds didn’t increase, but he did what the Seahawks wanted him to do.

And really, that was the theme of Friday’s game — Seattle doing what it wanted to do.

In 2012 and 2013, the Seahawks went 4-0 each preseason before putting together two of the more impressive seasons in franchise history — one of which led to a Super Bowl title. Pete Carroll made an effort to set a tone early, which may well have translated when the games started to matter. Of course, the 2008 Lions also went 4-0 in the preseason before becoming the first 0-16 team in NFL history. So Seattle playing well in its first two preseason games, the first of which ended in a 23-23 tie? Who knows? But there were flashes Friday.

There was safety Julian Love and linebacker Ernest Jones IV combining to stuff Chiefs fullback Carson Steele on fourth-and-1 on the Seahawks’ 15 to force a turnover on downs in the first quarter. There was nose tackle Brandon Pili and linebacker Drake Thomas combining to stuff running back Elijah Mitchell for a safety in the second quarter. And, of course, there was receiver Jake Bobo — still fighting for a spot on the 53-man roster — reeling in two touchdown receptions in the opening half.

I know. Back to the second paragraph in this column. Still …

“It sets a tone of validation that our work is going to something,” Love said. “We see what it can be.”

The truth is that we aren’t going to know much about this Seahawks team until the regular season begins. And even then, it may take some time to figure out what they’re capable of given the roster turnover — which includes the departures of Geno Smith, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Is it encouraging that backup QB Drew Lock went 10 for 12 for 129 yards and two touchdowns should something happen to Darnold? Sure. Was it cool to see kicker Jason Myers make a tackle in the open field? Yeah.

It’s still the preseason, though. The Seahawks came into training camp with potential for a quality season. Nothing changed on that front Friday.

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