How the Seahawks usually handle Opening Day

With the 2023 season just a week away, this is a simple review of how the Seattle Seahawks have fared over the past 10 seasons on Opening Day. I was primarily looking for result, offensive balance, and any interesting footnotes on the defense.

2022. 17-16 win over Denver Broncos. 28 passes, 19 carries. 177 passing yards, 2 TD, with 4 fumbles recovered.

2021 - 28-16 win over Indianapolis Colts. 23 passes, 27 carries. 140 rushing yards but 4 passing TD.

2020 - 38-25 win over Atlanta Falcons. 35 passes, 20 carries. Again, 4 passing TD. Jamal Adams had 12 tackles, a sack, 2 TFLs, and two more QB hits.

2019 - 21-20 win over Cincinnati Bengals. 20 passes, 25 carries. 267 total yards of offense. This was the year Chris Carson fumbled, a sign of things to come. Not a single wide receiver outside Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf caught a pass.

2018 - 24-27, loss to Denver Broncos. 33 passes and only 64 rushing yards on 16 attempts. 470 yards of offense allowed, but the defense had 3 interceptions.

2017 - 9-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers. 27 passes, 18 carries. Russell Wilson’s QBR was 26.1, the lowest of any of these opening games.

2016 - 12-10 win over the Miami Dolphins. 43 passes and 32 rush attempts, which is really quite impressive consider the 12 total points. I’m not sure you could replicate that in today’s game. Seattle’s defense had 5 sacks, 7 TFLs, 5 passes defended and 10 QB hits, all of which is a lot.

2015 - 31-34 OT loss to the St. Louis Rams. 41 passes, 124 yards rushing on 32 carries. The defense recovered three fumbles, Lockett had a punt return TD, and they still could not overcome.

2014 - 36-16 win over Green Bay. 28 passes, 207 rushing yards on 37 carries.

2013 - 12-7 win over Carolina Panthers. 33 passes and 26 carries. Doug Baldwin had a 3-yard carry if anyone cares.

10 year total: 7-3 on opening day. Incidentally the Pass-to-Run balance was also 7-3 in favor of pass, but those weren’t all the same games.

Another aspect I was interested in: the average range was eight different receivers completing a pass, with four of them being WRs. Which is to say, the chances of Jake Bobo going from undrafted to making a catch on opening day in his NFL debut is remarkably high.

As one might expect, Pete Carroll consistently has his team motivated and prepared to rise to the challenge when given the entire summer.

This will be the second opener at Lumen for Geno Smith, and interestingly enough, the first Seattle Week 1 without Russell Wilson on the field since 2011.