Seahawks leave smiles, frowns to open the season

SAN DIEGO — Game One of the exhibition season does not a season make, by any means.

But the Seahawks game Sunday night against San Diego at Qualcomm Stadium offered a glimmer of optimism in their 24-16 victory, coupled with elements of a disturbing trend that carried over from last season.

First and foremost, the Seahawks' offense has a chance to be very good. The starters pushed around and picked apart a formidable Chargers' starting defense during a game-opening touchdown drive.

A defensive holding penalty that negated an interception and a tipped pass caught by Seattle left guard Rob Sims that gained 16 yards were huge assists on the drive, which ended with Deion Branch dancing in the end zone after a 31-yard strike from Matt Hasselbeck.

"It was a good start for us," Hasselbeck said of the Seahawks' eight-play, 79-yard scoring drive, during which he completed 4 of 5 passes. "It was pretty crisp ... They've got some excellent players on their team, probably the best front seven in football. Pass protection was great, so it made it a lot easier."

The Seahawks' defensive starters forced the Chargers to turn the ball over on downs to start the game. But San Diego gained 16 yards on a third-and-17 play and 23 yards on the next drive on a third-and-21 play. One big gain was on a screen pass, the other on a draw play.

If that sounds familiar, it is. The Seahawks didn't get off the field often enough on third-and-longs last season, and gave up far too many big plays for their liking.

"We have some work to do there," coach Mike Holmgren said.

"Third-and-long, man, we gotta pull it together," linebacker Lofa Tatupu said. "It's a point of emphasis in our practice. It wasn't even like they were difficult plays. We warned each other for the screen and draw.

"We'll get to the bottom of it."

The Seahawks won the game after rallying from a 16-7 deficit at the end of the third quarter and scoring on three of their four fourth-quarter possessions. The last possession was quarterback Seneca Wallace taking a knee after safety C.J. Wallace preserved the victory with an interception with eight seconds to play.

A few of the notable performances of the evening:

• Wide receiver Ben Obomanu, a seventh-round draft choice in 2006, was the Seahawks' most productive player. He caught five passes for 83 yards, including a very impressive one-handed grab in the back of the end zone for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Obomanu also had a 22-yard punt return, putting together a nice portfolio to help him win a roster spot.

"I wanted to come back and show that I learned a lot from last year," said Obomanu, who was on the practice squad in 2006. "It feels good to do it in a game."

• Rookie cornerback Josh Wilson had more of a down day than up. He recovered a fumble, but got stripped on the Seahawks' first kickoff return of the second half and was too far away from Chargers receiver Malcolm Floyd on a San Diego touchdown play.

• Wallace started slowly, but came on in the second half. He lost a fumble and threw an interception, but threw a touchdown pass and finished 17 for 25 for 191 yards. Somewhat surprisingly, Wallace finished the game, taking over from the 5:54 mark of the first quarter and staying in because Holmgren wanted to see Wallace rally from his turnovers.

"Seneca's too good a player to start the game the way he did," Holmgren said. "He had to do what he did."

Wallace wanted to atone for his early mistakes, and by the fourth quarter was sharp. He completed 6 of 7 passes on the Seahawks' opening drive of the fourth quarter, right after the Chargers had taken a 16-7 lead, and threw the 17-yard scoring pass to Obomanu.

He was 3 for 6 on the next possession, which ended in Josh Brown's field goal, and 3 for 4 on the last drive, one that produced a nice cutback TD run from Marquis Weeks.

"I needed to get some work in," Wallace said.

• Defensive end Darryl Tapp, who has been a top player in training camp, had two sacks and forced a fumble.

• Brown, the Seahawks' franchise player, missed a 41-yard field goal try in the fourth quarter that would have given Seattle the lead. Strike that from the record, though — the Chargers were penalized. Brown got a reprieve and hit a 36-yarder down the middle.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com