The Seattle Seahawks want to go back to the future.
Under second-year coach Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks are looking to turn the clock back 13 years — when they won their only NFL championship.
Led by the Legion of Boom and an offense that [relied heavily on running back Marshawn Lynch](https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/home/unveiling-seahawks-all-time-super-bowl-squad), Seattle dismantled Denver 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII.
The Seahawks returned to the Super Bowl the next year, only to lose to New England 28-24 when Russell Wilson threw an interception at the goal line in the final seconds.
Fans in the Pacific Northwest still question why Lynch didn’t get the ball. The team hasn’t been back to the title game since.
“Had we won that game, we would’ve won another (Super Bowl),” former coach Pete Carroll has said, referring to a potential three-peat.
Lynch said he laughed in Carroll’s face on the sideline after the failed play.
“You took a dream away. You took a moment away. You arguably took a dynasty away,” Lynch said earlier this year on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” program. “You put us in the history books as the dumbest call in football history.”
Fast forward to today, with Macdonald trying to revive a ground-and-pound attack. He overhauled the offensive coaching staff in the offseason, bringing in Klint Kubiak as coordinator to replace Ryan Grubb. Seattle also hired John Benton as offensive line coach and Rick Dennison as run-game coordinator.
The Seahawks spent their first-round draft pick on guard Grey Zabel out of North Dakota State in an attempt to shore up a much-maligned offensive line.
So far, so good.
The Seahawks rushed for 268 yards on 48 attempts in a rainy Friday night preseason victory, 33-16, against the visiting Kansas City Chiefs.
Granted, the Chiefs — who have represented the AFC in three straight Super Bowls and five of the past six — were missing several defensive starters. But it’s still a big number for a Seattle offense that ranked 28th of 32 teams in rushing yards last season.
And the Seahawks’ lead back, Kenneth Walker III, sat out with a sore toe.
“It’s really encouraging,” Seattle safety Julian Love said of the rushing attack. “I don’t think you can script it better on offense in terms of the flow of how we want to play.”
The run-first philosophy also seems to have helped the quarterbacks.
Sam Darnold, [signed in the offseason to be the starter](https://deadspin.com/reports-seahawks-qb-sam-darnold-are-a-100m-match/), completed all four of his attempts on the Seahawks’ opening drive, which ended with Zach Charbonnet’s 15-yard touchdown run.
Backup QB Drew Lock took over from there and went 10 of 12 for 129 yards, throwing two second-quarter touchdown passes to Jake Bobo.
Rookie Jalen Milroe was 3 of 5 for 46 yards as the trio finished 17 of 21.
The Seahawks racked up 309 yards by halftime, averaging 8.6 per play while building a 23-7 lead.
“Just really pleased with how we started the game,” Macdonald said. “Right now our offensive operation I’m very pleased with.”
Seattle even inserted Milroe on a third-and-1 play from its own 41-yard line on the opening drive, with Darnold lined up behind the third-round pick out of Alabama. Milroe gained two yards and a first down on the “tush push.”
“That’s something we’re looking at,” Macdonald said of getting the athletic Milroe on the field.
What was noticeable Friday was that everyone on the Seahawks’ roster seems to have bought into the new philosophy. Veteran defenders like Love, DeMarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams were seen waving towels on the sideline when the offense was grinding down the Chiefs.
“It sets a tone of validation that our work is going to something,” Love said. “We see what it can be.”