Winners and Losers from Seahawks 33, Chiefs 16

You know what’s great about a blowout win for the Seattle Seahawks? The Winners and Losers column gets to be very light on losers. That’s way more fun than the several times in the past few years I’ve refused to even have “Winners” after a Seahawks game.

Preseason is preseason and the score doesn’t matter, but you want to see good performances, good football, and signs of a well-coached team that is establishing its identity. I think we know what the Seahawks’ identity will be under Mike Macdonald starting this season.

Let’s get to the W&L for the Seahawks’ 33-16 beatdown of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Winners

Offensive Line

Hot damn wasn’t it cool to see the Seahawks offensive line actually move forward? I’m still TBD on pass protection against first-team defensive lines, but John Benton has them looking bare-minimum competent thus far. The run blocking looks like it’s gelling brilliantly, and the results are evident when you’re not too far from 300 yards on the ground. Grey Zabel looks the part of a starting NFL left guard and the running backs are grateful for his quality preseason play. Josh Jones looks like a viable backup at either tackle position. Anthony Bradford’s calling card is his run blocking and he had a key block on Damien Martinez’s long run. Even guys like Bryce Cabeldue and Mason Richman were impressing deeper into the game.

There’s almost no chance the Seahawks will flip the switch from dreadful to as amazing as we saw against Kansas City, but I would be stunned if this year’s group is still a bottom-five unit.

Zach Charbonnet

What I saw from Charbonnet in camp matches how he looks in an actual game: he’s as fast and as explosive as he’s ever looked. That he had actual holes to run through was a big help but I think he could be in for a career year if this run blocking is not just a product of preseason dominance against backups. My counter to this is presumptive starters Charles Cross and Olu Oluwatimi are out, so imagine how much better things could be when they’re back… and lest we forget Kenneth Walker’s return.

But Charbonnet was the story of that touchdown drive and I’m hyped to see what Zach and K9 can do with a line and scheme that won’t give opposing defenders concierge service to access the backfield.

George Holani

Holani had his night begin with a long kick return nullified by a Drake Thomas holding penalty, but he needn’t worry when he can just rip off a 30-yard run as soon as he’s in the game with Drew Lock. Last year, Holani narrowly lost out to Kenny McIntosh for the RB3 competition. This year’s Holani looks determined to grab that RB3 spot, and his versatility on special teams and as a pass-protecting running back could see him make the 53-man roster on this occasion.

Drew Lock

After one possession of Sam Darnold, Drew Lock had...