Broncos vs. Seahawks first quarter recap

The Denver Broncos won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half to bring out the Seattle Seahawks offense to the roar of the sellout crowd.

Sam Darnold came out with some short, quick passing game that was really successful early on in the drive. They would pick up several first downs and move into Broncos territory with ease. However, a second down sack by Ja’Quan McMillian setup a third and 10 that was followed up by a Que Robinson sack to end the drive and force the punt.

From their own 10 yard line, Bo Nix and the offense took over. It was more of the same early with J.K. Dobbins getting two yards on first down and another one yard on second down. On third and seven, Nix would nearly have his pass jumped for a pick six. Instead, Denver escaped with a three-and-out punt.

With great field position despite the decent punt by Jeremy Crawshaw, the Seahawks only needed two first downs to setup a 55-yard field goal that went right down the middle to put Seattle on the board first midway through the first quarter.

Seahawks 3, Broncos 0.

It looked like the offense was going to stumble again, but a beautiful screen pass — one that actually worked! — to RJ Harvey picked up 16 yards and a first down as they finally approached midfield for the first time in the game.

A short run and a short pass would setup a third and three at the Seahawks 48. Nix, from under center, dropped deep and went deep to Marvin Mims Jr. who had a man draped all over him where the ball was broken up at the goal line. They’d go for it on fourth down and quick snapped it. Nix handed off to Tyler Badie who burst up the middle for the first down.

They would quickly find themselves in a third and eight, but Nix would again find the open guy in Evan Engram who drove forward for the first down and firmly into field goal range as the first quarter wound down under two minutes. The run game went back into hibernation with Dobbins stuffed to bring up a third and six. Nix’s pass this time found Courtland Sutton over the middle for another first down and into the red zone to end the first quarter.