After the Seahawks secured the first victory of Mike Macdonald's head coaching career, and after quarterback Geno Smith presented his coach with a game ball in the locker room, Macdonald acknowledged that his first game in Seattle was "something special" but also said it probably wouldn't all sink in right away, and said he was already thinking ahead to his team's Week 2 matchup in New England.

When Macdonald returned home Sunday evening, however, he allowed himself to celebrate with some friends and family who came to town for the game.

"You have to," Macdonald said Monday. "We worked tremendously hard, and a lot of family and friends were in town, too. So, it was cool to take a breath and watch the rest of the Sunday night game, enjoy each other's company, and cherish the victory."

Sunday night's game, of course, featured a pair of teams the Seahawks will see this season the Lions and Rams, so while Macdonald was enjoying the evening with his family and friends, he also may have had his coaching hat on at times while watching Detroit's overtime win.

"There's some coaching thoughts, but I was rooting for the Lions," he said.

In addition to Macdonald enjoying the first victory, here are six more things we learned from his

1. Macdonald likes the resilience his team showed to start the season.

Macdonald's first game as a head coach couldn't have started off much worse, with the offense turning the ball over two plays into the game, but the defense responded with a quick stop to hold the Broncos to a field goal. Plenty more issues came up in the first half, from sacks to penalties to a pair of safeties, but the defense held strong, and the offense responded with a strong second half, resulting in a Seahawks win. It wasn't how any coach would draw up a first half, but Macdonald saw good things in how his team responded.

"It's a shout-out to where our football team is and their mentality," he said. "It shows us that we have the right guys, and their mentality is right where it needs to be. They also know that we're going to enjoy the heck out of this game, but we're on Monday now, and we're working on towards the next week. We enjoyed it last night. We're football people, man. We're like, 'Hey, we're on to the next,' and we have to. You want to stay ahead of these things."

Leading the charge was quarterback Geno Smith, who was sacked on his first play of the season, the hit while delivering a throw on the next play, causing it to flutter into the arms of waiting linebacker. But Smith not only played well in the second half as the offense got its act together, he helped rally his teammates with his messaging after the early struggles then again at halftime.

"People are going to look at how he's handling those situations, and he's the first guy that stands positive," Macdonald said. "You just felt there was no panic from Geno, and he knew it was going to come around. And it's just a matter of time. So, I wasn't surprised. It's what I expect from Geno (Smith). It's what we all expect from him, but that's the type of guy that he is."

2. Tyler Lockett's game-clinching stuff was "big-time stuff" from multiple players.

As well as the defense was playing all afternoon, the Seahawks would have no doubt like their chances if they needed to stop the Broncos late in the game to secure a win, but in the end, the defense didn't have to come back on the field, because facing a crucial third-and-6 with 1:48 left on the clock, Smith hit Tyler Lockett for a 9-yard gain after Lockett hauled in a one-handed catch on a pinpoint throw that Smith put in pretty much the only possible place that Lockett could make the catch in tight coverage.

Macdonald was impressed with the throw and the catch, but also with how the offense operated as a whole on that play.

"If you've seen it, you understand," Macdonald said of the throw and catch. "There was no space there. And then from the other angle, bringing him with the one hand and then the guy's all over him. There's a lot of things going on in that play. Like, DK (Metcalf) took a great angle to change the corner's angle and chase, to make him have to undercut the throw where he couldn't play the outfield hand, which is the hand that (Tyler) Lockett caught the ball. Guys have to set guys up for success too, so, that was a great play by DK. And then it takes time to run from this side of the field to that side of the field, so the o-line (offensive line) has got to hold up in five-man protection, and they did. That's 11 guys working as one right there. That's big-time stuff."

Lockett missed a lot of time in training camp with a thigh injury and did not play in the preseason, but Macdonald was still not surprised that the 10^th-year receiver came through with a team-leading 77 receiving yards.

"Not with a guy like Tyler," he said. "He's a savant, you know? He's extremely bright, picks it up very fast. You felt that in the spring as he started to pick up the system. So, mentally, that definitely wasn't a question."

3. Seattle's safeties did "a tremendous job" in their first game together.

Seattle made some significant changes at safety this season, moving on from Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams, and signing Rayshawn Jenkins and K'Von Wallace. And Macdonald really liked what he saw from starters Julian Love and Jenkins, as well as Wallace, who played in three-safety packages. All three players made big plays individually, including an interception by Love, a forced fumble by Wallace, and several sure tackles in space by Jenkins, including one that might have saved a touchdown, and a couple others on third down. But what also stood out to Macdonald was how they operated together for the first time while playing in a loud environment.

"They did a tremendous job," Macdonald said. "I'm just very proud of those guys. We're operating in and out of different personnel groups. Guys are changing some positions and things. Different disguises they're asking to do, different checks, and orchestrated it beautifully. They did a great job. They deserve a lot of credit, and to do it in our environment that we're creating, and things are moving and shaking, and they're running plays that you haven't necessarily seen over the course of the preseason, it was an impressive start by those guys."

4. The offensive line got better in the second half, but "there's room for improvement" overall.

Seattle's line struggled at times in the first half both with protection and costly penalties. Things got better in the second half, and as the line settled down, the offense as a whole functioned considerably better. Macdonald like that in-game improvement from the line, and he expects that group to continue to grow.

"There's room for improvement," he said. "No one's going to turn the tape on in the first half and be excited about what they saw. But to their credit, they kept plugging away, and I thought in the second half, the guys played well together. There are a couple of plays you want back. But, on the whole, I thought the second half did a great job of those guys responding and coming back and playing some good football."

5. Boye Mafe played a ton and played well.

Ideally the outside linebacker rotation is deep enough that no player will be called upon to play 60 snaps in a game, but that's what Boye Mafe did on Sunday, in part because Uchenna Nwosu is sidelined by an injury, and in part because Mafe was playing very well and handling the workload without slowing down.

"I thought he did play really well last year, and being more of an all-three-down type of player for you, where he can be out there in all the different situations," Macdonald said. "I think he played upwards of 60 snaps last night and played fast. It didn't seem like he got tired. He ran to the ball on the play he made on the 3rd-and-medium there in the fourth quarter where (Bo) Nix got out; that was just an extraordinary play. The mentality of, hey, these are the things we need you to do, let's go attack them. Let's get it done. To his credit, he's answered the bell each time. So, I expect him to keep making those strides, and I think the sack numbers will start to show."

6. Nothing new on Kenneth Walker III and George Fant's injuries.

The Seahawks had a pair of injuries coming out of the game, a knee injury that knocked right tackle George Fant out of the game in the first quarter, and an abdomen injury that sidelined running back Kenneth Walker III late in the fourth quarter.

Walker said "I'm good" when asked about the injury after the game, but beyond that, Macdonald said there was nothing yet to report on either injury.

"Nothing new right now," Macdonald said of Walker. "Just taking it taking it day by day with K9."

On Fant, Macdonald said, "Yeah, same thing as with K9. Best I could put it is just day-by-day right now."