Mike MacDonald and his staff obviously deserve the chance to enjoy the celebrations after he claimed his first win as the Seattle Seahawks head coach.
Seattle got the job done, the Seahawks putting an extremely sloppy first half behind them to see off the Denver Broncos 26-20.
But MacDonald will also know his team has plenty of work still to do, most notably on an offensive line that struggled markedly for long periods.
Seattle's O-Line has long since been a weakness, and the Broncos were consistently in the Seahawks' backfield in the first half, registering two sacks and five quarterback hits on Geno Smith. Seattle's issues up front were exacerbated by a knee injury to veteran George Fant that saw him ruled out for the game.
Fant was deputizing for injured right tackle Abe Lucas, and his injury forced Seattle to turn to a third-stringer in the form of Stone Forsythe, whose missed block as the Seahawks tried to run the ball from their own one-yard line was responsible for the second Broncos safety of the game with 4:24 remaining in the second quarter. The first came when the Seahawks were called for a holding penalty in their own endzone with 11:22 left in the second.
If Forsythe is needed to be the right tackle for several weeks, it could create a huge problem for Seattle on a side of the line where the starter at guard, Anthony Bradford, is far from convincing.
The issues endured by Denver's rookie quarterback Bo Nix, who threw two picks on his NFL debut in a raucous road environment, meant the miscues that defined the first half for Seattle ultimately did not prove costly.
However, if Smith, who was picked off on his first throw of the day after coming under duress, faces such disruption in games against better teams with quarterbacks better prepared for the moment, the Seahawks will have difficulties rising to the expectations of many who see them as a dark horse candidate to win the NFC West.
There were a lot of positives for Seattle in a winning effort. Kenneth Walker ran the ball extremely well in a 103-yard effort on the ground that also saw him find the endzone, while an aggressive defense feasted on a rookie quarterback reticent to push the ball downfield, backing up offseason claims from cornerback Devon Witherspoon that the Seahawks would adjust to his scheme quickly.
Safeties Rayshawn Jenkins and Julian Love, who had an interception of Nix in the endzone and racked up 12 tackles, both stood out, as did Seattle's new linebacker pairing of Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker.
Dodson was particularly impressive, flying around the field and recording 10 tackles in his first game as Seattle's green dot wearer on defense. There will be substantially tougher tests ahead, but the athletic gifts of that quartet at linebacker and safety enabled MacDonald to call the kind of aggressive and diverse defensive gameplan for which he became renowned during his time in Baltimore.
The likelihood is that MacDonald will have his defense ready for those more difficult challenges that lie ahead. The burning question for the Seahawks is whether the offensive line will be able to withstand those sterner examinations.
