The Seahawks just handed the Denver Broncos a brutal 17-14 overtime victory on Thursday Night Football, and honestly, it felt like watching two different teams wearing the same uniform. This is an incomplete squad, no doubt, even with some shiny pieces such as the best offensive player alive and two of the most exciting young defenders in the league. But the formula we followed in 2026? That was a blueprint for defeat, not victory. For a good, healthy fourth quarter plus the first 2:49 of overtime, it looked like we were the defending Super Bowl champs. Outside of that? Not so much.
Mike Macdonald’s Defense Deserves So Much Better
Seriously, for literally the majority of this game, the Seahawks defense was nigh impenetrable and put the offense in position to go get the win. You can’t stop an NFL offense better than what Mike Macdonald’s crew did. They gave up 14 points in the second quarter, sure, but after that, they held the Broncos to a pathetic 24 total yards for the *rest of regulation*. Think about that! Denver’s drives after the second quarter looked like this: Punt, End of Half, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, End of Half. This unit, with our two most exciting young defenders, is playing like a 6-0 team intent on repeating. It’s psychically hard to believe the team that put up those defensive numbers lost this game.
This Offense Is Just Giving It Away
But we did lose, and the third loss of the season is on the offense entirely, although special teams made a special appearance. For all the coolness that Rashid Shaheed’s final punt return exuded, a missed 47-yard field goal is a big reason we even went to overtime. Then, in the extra period, Denver might not have been in field goal range to begin with without a mishandled kickoff and a holding flag on the return. The real killer, though? We lost the turnover battle by three. When you’re giving away points and possessions like that, all your pretty stats are fool’s gold. This offense is playing like an 0-6 team intent on repeating the same mistakes week after week. Our opponents know they can just sit back, be patient, take zero risks and wait for party favors. It’s their best hope, and it works half the time. Sam Darnold gift wrapped the victory for Denver by putting extra air under a late pass, snuffing out one of our scoring chances. This isn’t new, either: we saw a pick six in Washington as the margin of defeat, and an end zone fumble against the 49ers costing us, too.
We just won a title in the calendar year we’re living in! This is our championship window, and you don’t get those every decade , well, we *do* get those, but still! It wouldn’t take a completely clean game from Seattle to flip these losses into victories. We need to be a Jaxon Smith-Njigba on offense, sharp and precise, not fumbling around. This team has the talent, especially with our defensive genius Mike Macdonald leading the charge. But the offense has to clean it up, and fast, if we want to even think about defending our title. Go Hawks!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Field Gulls.
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