For the majority of the first two quarters of Sunday’s season opener against the Denver Broncos, starting with an interception thrown by Geno Smith only two plays in, the Seattle Seahawks’ offense found itself seemingly stuck in reverse with constant self-inflicted wounds.
Aside from Smith’s 34-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter that briefly gave Seattle a 9-8 lead, the offense sputtered in the first 30 minutes, punting three times and spotting Denver seven points off of the interception and a pair of safeties in the second quarter. Barely averaging north of four yards per play, they were held to 102 total yards while converting only one out of five third down opportunities, unable to run the ball or protect Smith well enough to get their passing game untracked either.
Scoring just nine points on eight first half possessions, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb couldn’t have scripted a much worse debut for his offense. But the first-time NFL play caller remained calm and even-keeled as his team entered the locker room, not hitting the panic button and ready to scheme up some much-needed adjustments with Seattle trailing 13-9 at the break.
“He was the same as always. That’s what I love about him,” Smith said of Grubb’s messaging as the game unfolded. “He’s the same guy every day, no matter the situation, no matter what’s going on. But he’s got that same calming tone and calming demeanor… Really, it rubs off on all the coaches and all the players and I think that’s a big part of why we were able to find our groove.”
Acing his first major test, Grubb quickly went back to the drawing board during a lightning fast intermission, shifting his emphasis towards running the football. In the first half, with Smith’s long touchdown run excluded, the Seahawks ran nine times for just 22 yards, barely averaging north of two yards per carry against a stingy Broncos defense.
Rushing for nearly 100 yards in the second half by himself, Ken Walker III and a bullying offensive line served as the on-field catalysts for an impressive comeback, helping the Seahawks score 17 points in the final two quarters and secure coach Mike Macdonald’s first win as an NFL coach with a 26-20 home win. Up in the sky box, Grubb did his part masterfully recalibrating his offensive game plan, putting his players in a position to succeed after a challenging first half.
“Credit to those guys. They understood what we had to do, made the adjustments, and emphasis more in the run game,” Macdonald said after the game. “Give it to K9 [Ken Walker III], let him do his thing. That’s how we’re going to have to operate. If we’re going to be successful, teams are going to take things away, and you need to be able to move and shake in game to be able to move the ball on the ground.”
Considering how Denver had been playing alignment-wise up front, Grubb opened up his bag of schematic tricks coming out of the half, turning towards a more gap-oriented attack to help his offensive line lather up a bit and get after the opponent physically. Right out of the gate in the third quarter, this subtle adjustment paid dividends as Seattle marched 61 yards on just six plays with Walker capping the drive off with a scintillating 23-yard touchdown run to retake the lead.
After rushing for just 17 yards in the first half, Walker followed five and six-yard runs with his longest run of the game at that point on a traditional power run. Sent in motion before the snap, rookie tight end AJ Barner executed a wham block on the unblocked outside linebacker Baron Browning, while left guard Laken Tomlinson successfully chipped linebacker Alex Singleton pulling up the C-gap, springing the back for a 15-yard gain.
I haven't watched every single snap Grubb coached at UW, but I watched a very large majority and I can't say that I saw this setup with two guards trap blocking. But it worked beautifully with K9 making one defender miss.https://t.co/IvkDQUTAVF
— Corbin K. Smith (@CorbinSmithNFL) September 9, 2024
Three plays later, Grubb dug even further into his playbook, dusting off an old school trap play with a twist. Rather than simply leaving the defensive tackle unblocked, the Seahawks also left the outside linebacker unblocked, with the right guard trap blocking the edge and the left guard trap blocking the defensive tackle once he penetrates into the backfield. With both guards executing their blocks, Walker then slipped through a missed tackle and darted outside, using a subtle block by tight end Noah Fant to get to the sideline, outrun a pair of oncoming defenders, and dive into the end zone.
As Smith noted post-game, the success of Grubb’s adjustments in the run game had a positive domino effect on the rest of the offense, opening up the passing game and helping alleviate pressure on Smith from Denver’s pass rush. Completing north of 75 percent of his passes after halftime, including a 30-yard touchdown to running back Zach Charbonnet on a wheel route to open the fourth quarter, the veteran quarterback and the rest of the unit found their groove to orchestrate the comeback after a dismal start.
“Obviously, when you start out the way we started out that first quarter and that first half, a lot of coordinators would say ‘Let’s just pass it,'” Smith commented. “I thought Grubb trusted our o-line, I thought the o-line did a great job of settling down and really took over the game. K9 was a beast today, he really set the tone for us, and then Zach got in there and did his thing. Once the run game opened up, it allowed us to then get into some of our tempo stuff and then started to pass the ball. You started to see our offense really come alive.”
Now that Grubb has some of his concepts on regular season film, things will only get more challenging in the short term with opposing coordinators better equipped to game plan for his system. But at the same time, he will also have better intel on upcoming opponents and their defensive plans than he did against the Broncos, and even with the wide array of gap concepts he utilized, his playbook features plenty more looks he hasn’t unveiled yet.
If Sunday was any indication, regardless of the situation, Grubb should do just fine when it comes to adapting his offense to different game scenarios and opposing personnel/formations. And, if things do go awry as they did for most of the first half, Smith, Walker, and the rest of the Seahawks will have plenty of confidence in him being able to quickly right the ship with swift adjustments while maintaining his trademark even-keeled composure.
