As the Seahawks celebrated a season-opening victory in the locker room, quarterback Geno Smith presented a game ball to Mike Macdonald, who just won his first game as a head coach.

If Smith had any words to commemorate that special moment for Seattle's new head coach, he wasn't able to share them. It was too darn loud as players celebrated their 26-20 victory over the Broncos.

"I couldn't say anything, the whole locker room was just shouting," Smith said. "Everyone was just so happy for him. he was holding the ball up, that was such a cool moment for Coach just to get that first win. I know that was important for him."

Macdonald, staying true to his lowkey demeanor, downplayed the moment and tried to turn the attention back to his players, but he did have to admit that everything that came with the day, from walking onto the field for the first time as a head coach, to hearing the Lumen Field crowd at full force, to securing his first win, made for a pretty special afternoon.

"Shoot, it was awesome, electric," Macdonald said. "The fans were incredible. I mean, they were loud. They were going no huddle on third down, so our communication I thought for the most part was great. What an awesome atmosphere. It was something special, I'll tell you that. That was really, really cool. The guys were really excited. Just told everybody, the amount that's gone into getting us ready, you're looking at six months now of foot on the gas preparation trying to get everything together; takes the whole building, the whole organization, all the fans. So just really proud of our team for getting one win."

Safety Julian Love, who had an interception, a forced fumble and a team-high 12 tackles, enjoyed seeing the team celebrate their head coach's first victory, even if Macdonald tried to deflect the attention back to his players.

"Obviously, everybody is gassing it up and wants him to blush a little bit, because we are excited for his first win," Love said. "But he quickly diverted it and made it all about us, our first win. That's just kind of the guy he is. Of course, all of us, I'm sure there will be a few bottles of wine or something on his desk, maybe a cigar or two, for his first win. We're happy for him, it's his first win as a head coach. It's a huge accomplishment. Now, we just stack. We stack wins."

As raucous as the scene was in the locker room, with Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" blaring over the speakers and players celebrating their head coach, the start of the game was anything but a party for the Seahawks and their fans. The game started about as poorly as possible for Seattle, with Smith getting sacked on first down, then throwing an interception on second down, the result of a hit as he delivered the throw. The defense held strong to force a field goal, but the offensive woes continued through the first half, with the Broncos scoring two safeties while getting two more field goals off of turnovers.

"Started just like we wanted it to start," Macdonald deadpanned after the game. "Drew it up that way. Just wanted some adversity there."

The defense held strong despite being put in some bad situations, then the offense got on track to help the team pull away for a win, and Macdonald's even-keeled demeanor helped the Seahawks right the ship.

"He was chill," running back Kenneth Walker III said of the scene at halftime with the Seahawks trailing 13-9. "The defense was really playing great all game, so they went over the adjustments, and we came together. We talked about things we needed to work on. He was calm, no yelling or nothing. He said we got to go out there and get it."

Macdonald liked how his team handled a little bit of adversity in its first game and responded well in the second half, scoring 17 unanswered points and shutting the Broncos out until late in the fourth quarter when Denver scored after Seattle built a two-score lead.

"Tell you what, on the sideline with our crew, the guys were poised," Macdonald said. "Nobody batted an eye. Knew what we needed to do to win the game, stuck to the plan, made some adjustments, and just kept playing. It's a long game. These games go 60 minutes down to the wire. Proud of our guys and the effort and the attitude, togetherness. I thought they played really, really hard, so I'm proud of the guys."

And as much as Macdonald enjoyed his first victory, and the celebration that followed, he was also already looking ahead to next week in New England knowing that a Week 1 win doesn't make for a successful season.

"It was awesome," Macdonald said of Smith presenting the game ball. "I accept it on behalf of everybody. It's special. Obviously our first win. It hasn't hit me—it's hit me and it's cool, but probably hasn't hit me yet. So maybe in a silent moment it'll come. It was special, man. I love our guys. They're bought in. They've done everything we asked them to do. Thought Geno played a heck of a game just sticking in it and executing the game plan and playing on time. One win, awesome, but we need to go do it again next week."