Key takeaways from first half of Chiefs vs. Seahawks

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Everything is coming up Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Eve. They lead the Seattle Seahawks 17-3 at halftime and their performance has been just as dominant as the box score indicates. The Seahawks get the ball to start the second half, but given the way the Chiefs’ defense has played, I’m not sure that’s a good outcome for Seattle.

Here are a few quick takeaways from the first half of play:

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The Chiefs didn’t run the ball a single time on the opening drive in Week 16 and they went three-and-out. They ran the ball on three consecutive plays on the ensuing drive with gains of seven yards, five yards and five yards. It was the same story last week really, where it felt like the team forgot about the run early and as soon as they started mixing it in, they started to thrive.

The Seahawks run defense is one of the worst in the NFL, averaging 4.9 yards per carry heading into this game. Kansas City must find ways to take advantage. Isiah Pacheco, Jerick McKinnon and Ronald Jones all need opportunities to carry the ball. Set up the play-action passing game and take some deep shots with Mahomes, but run-first should absolutely be on the mind of this team.

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The defense is playing like they have something to prove this week and they’re proving it alright. The first five possessions for Seattle resulted in either a punt or a turnover on downs. The Seahawks didn’t get a first down until under the eight-minute mark in the second quarter. It was full-on dominance from this unit with them swarming to the football and wrapping up on every single play.

My favorite part about it is that there were some flash plays from a number of rookie defenders. George Karlaftis, Joshua Williams and even Leo Chenal made some key plays that helped the team have such a dominant first half of the defensive side of the ball. That’s the type of growth that you want to see from your rookies during this time of the year with the playoffs around the corner.

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It’s something new every week for this unit. This week it was the kick return game and the punting game that had errors early. On kick return, the team allowed a 48-yard return to Seahawks RB Godwin Igwebuike. It took Harrison Butker slowing Igwebuike down for LB Jack Cochrane to catch up and force him out of bounds. If it wasn’t for that heads-up play by Butker, this might have gone for a touchdown.

Chiefs P Tommy Townsend had a chance to pin Seattle deep near the end of the first quarter. That didn’t happen, unfortunately. The ball went out of bounds after an awkward punt. This might have something to do with the frigid temperatures and how cold/hard the football is. It could affect his grip on the snap and impact the punt.

The good news on special teams is that Harrison Butker is perfect on field goals and extra points through the first half.