Seahawks-Chiefs first half recap: Seattle starters dominant at times against KC

Five years ago this week, Russell Wilson beat out Matt Flynn for the Seahawks starting quarterback position in their preseason dress rehearsal against the Chiefs. On Friday, the two teams have matched up again for a dress rehearsal, though the focus isn’t on any position battles really, but instead a preview of just how good Seattle and Kansas City might be this season.

If this half is any indication, the Seahawks offense has a number of positives to build off of and the pass defense may be as good as ever. Outside of a lapse on kickoff coverage, Seattle is dominating a team that went 12-4 last season.

Russell Wilson stats: 10-of-14, 160 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT

Chris Carson stats: 6 carries, 31 yards, 2 catches, 44 yards

Eddie Lacy stats: 4 carries, 21 yards

Mike Davis: 3 carries, 9 yards

Jermaine Kearse with a 39-yard catch:

Rees Odhiambo getting the pass protection job done:

Jimmy Graham with a 30-yard catch before the half:

Jimmy Graham also had a 4-yard catch plus a huge pickup on pass interference that led to a 2-yard touchdown catch by Tre Madden

J.D. McKissic had an 11-yard catch. He also had a 12-yard punt return (decent) and a 12-yard kickoff return (not decent).

Paul Richardson had a 5-yard catch

Blair Walsh: 3-of-3 on field goals, 1-of-1 on extra points.

Doesn’t really matter with kickers what half it is or who you’re playing, but Walsh continues to look like a fantastic pickup for Seattle.

The Seahawks allowed a 95-yard touchdown to De’Anthony Thomas on a kickoff return midway through the second quarter.

Collectively, the Seattle defense held Kansas City to just three points on offense, though it’s possible that Tyreek Hill takes a long pass from Alex Smith to the end zone if he hadn’t dropped it. Shaquill Griffin lost track of him in coverage on the play and the fact that Hill dropped it won’t stop coaches from going over what went wrong, I imagine.

However, outside of that and another drop or two, the Seahawks defense has done a jarringly good job of keeping Smith from looking like an NFL quarterback. Not that Smith doesn’t have his issues with looking like an NFL quarterback at times already, but he is averaging less than 3 yards per pass attempt in the first half. That is about as bad as it possibly gets. This is the preseason and Hill had that drop, but all that would have done is masked the fact that his 16 other passes did basically nothing to move the offense against the Seattle defense.

Smith stats: 7-of-17, 44 yards

Spencer Ware stats: 3 carries for 15 yards (left with knee injury)

Kareem Hunt stats: 9 carries for 39 yards