Seahawks beat Chiefs on stunning final drive: Trevone Boykin, Tyvis Powell, Tanner McEvoy among stars in preseason opener

It’s the preseason, so that means that as a writer, you want to have a recap written by the time the game is over because timeliness really matters more than a ton of substance. After all, it’s the preseason: There’s already a lack of substance. However, even in the Seattle Seahawks’ preseason games we can’t be spared last-second excitement.

Down 16-9 barely a minute left, backup QB Trevone Boykin led the Seahawks on a 4-play, 88-yard drive to bring the score to 16-15 with :00 seconds left on the clock on a 37-yard touchdown pass to Tanner McEvoy. Knowing the OT was good for nobody, Seattle went for a two-point conversion on a hand-off to the recently-signed Troymaine Pope and it...was...GOOD!

The Seahawks shockingly won the game 17-16, a sentence that I never thought I’d be writing merely three minutes before this very second as I’m writing it.

Boykin finished 16-of-26 for 188 yards and a touchdown, a masterful fourth quarter performance that for many teams never would have happened; Boykin had played plenty already before giving way to Jake Heaps, but clearly the team wanted to score a touchdown and give themselves a chance to win, so Boykin came back in to finish the game in the fourth quarter. He answered by helping the offense score 11 points in the final 3:15 to open their preseason with a win.

We must also give a lot of credit to McEvoy, who came up with a huge 32-yard catch to setup the 37-yard game-winner. McEvoy finished with three catches for 77 yards, making the wide receiver depth chart even more complicated as Seattle heads into Week 2 of their preseason schedule.

Here’s a different intro I wrote before the wild final drive by Boykin. At that time, the star of the game was a different rookie undrafted free agent:

The Seattle Seahawks were very excited when they signed safety Tyvis Powell out of Ohio State after he went undrafted this year — grading him as a “fourth round” talent — and now we’re starting to see why. Powell had a huge hit on special teams in the first quarter, nearly downed a punt right on the goal line in the third quarter, and then showed great concentration on an interception in the fourth.

He’s in a competition with Kelcie McCray and Steven Terrell for snaps at safety behind Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, but his versatility to play strong and free safety, cornerback, and special teams, means he may elevate himself out of that competition altogether and guarantee himself a spot on the roster in the not-too-distant future no matter where he plays.

Here are a few of the other questions we had going into the game that were given some answers, and also just a lot more questions:

• The first string offensive line consisted of Bradley Sowell at left tackle, Garry Gilliam at right tackle, Mark Glowinski at left guard, Germain Ifedi at right guard, and Justin Britt at center. When they transitioned to the second unit, it was George Fant at left tackle, Terry Poole at right tackle, Rees Odhiambo at left guard, Jahri Evans at right guard, and Patrick Lewis at center. Based on that, we still may not know much; the biggest question now is how the first string will look after J’Marcus Webb is deemed healthy. Will they put him back at right tackle and Gilliam back on the left side? Will he stay on the bench? Will Ifedi stay at right guard?

The second string clearly played worse than the starters, but it will be interesting to see where Evans stands in a couple more weeks. I could see his future going literally either way: Starting or being released.

• The star of the first quarter was Christine Michael. The fourth-year running back has looked great in practice but he followed that up with a 44-yard performance on seven carries. When Thomas Rawls is ready to put on pads and go at 100-percent, where will that leave him and Michael? Remember that when Rawls outplayed Marshawn Lynch during Lynch’s first injured stint in 2015, Rawls disappeared from the gameplan after Beast Mode returned. The team doesn’t really have a history of “sharing carries” but this is the first time since early 2010 that they haven’t had Lynch.
• WR-turned-CB-turned-RB George Farmer gained 15 yards on seven carries but for a guy who hasn’t played the position since high school, he didn’t look too bad.
• Heaps was just 3-of-10 for 33 yards. Boykins also showed off some great scrambling ability and finished with 21 yards on three carries. It’s clear now that Boykin has a significant lead for the backup job to Russell Wilson.
• Cassius Marsh and Frank Clark were stars of the 2015 preseason and they seem to have picked up where they left off last August with another strong performance. The second string front seven with guys like Clark, Marsh, Jarran Reed, Brandin Bryant, Ryan Robinson, and co. look pretty good.
• Montario Hunter has turned some heads during training camp, but the receiver muffed a punt in the third quarter that won’t help his already slim chances. However, he had a very solid catch to open up Boykin’s final game-winning drive. By the end of the drive though he was again behind McEvoy on the depth chart.
• Stanley Jean-Baptiste suffered an injury in the fourth quarter to his left arm. He appeared to be in A LOT of pain.
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