It's rare that a 13-yard completion on first-and-10 is a positive for a defense, but in the case of the first play of the second half in Wednesday night's season opener, it might have been exactly what the Seahawks defense needed.

The Seahawks went into the locker room at halftime trailing, 7-0, and knowing that starting quarterback Sam Darnold was out for the rest of the game with a hip injury. Whether it was that injury or the deficit or the lack of scoring, a little bit of the energy had been sucked out of what was a fantastic crowd to start the game.

Knowing they were taking the field first to start the half, players on Seattle's defense knew they needed a big play. They needed a spark.

Safety Julian Love, a standout in Seattle's secondary and one of the team's biggest leaders, provided that spark. On the first play from scrimmage in the half, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye connected with Hunter Henry on a quick pass, and Love came flying downhill from his deep safety position to blast Henry with a vicious but clean hit to the chest. Henry, to his credit, held on for a tough catch, but that hit still got Seattle's entire sideline -- and the Lumen Field crowd -- fired up.

"We had to get the 12s involved a little bit," Love said after the 13-10 win over the Patriots. "We weren't making enough plays. So yeah, they got the first down on that celebrating when a team gets a first down, but I was like, man, let's just send it. So yeah, big hit, it was a rallying cry, just like, 'All right, somebody just make one more. One more play.'"

Love's hit definitely fired up the crowd, but it might have had an even bigger effect on the rest of the defense.

"I ain't gonna lie, it turned me up," defensive tackle Byron Murphy II said. "It turned guys up, man. When I seen that hit, I'm like 'OK here we go. This is looking like us.' I feel like when that happens too it just kind of builds off that (momentum). We just kept going and kept telling each other 'Let's continue to (make) plays. Let's continue to be us.' Then eventually the ball is going to come alive."

And it wasn't just the crowd or the defense feeding off Love's hit; the offense felt it too.

"Electric, electric," said receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who had 122 yards on eight catches, including a 45-yard touchdown. "We want to feed the crowd big plays, and we want the crowd on our side. We have the best fans in the world, so we have to use them and whenever you get a chance to pump up the crowd and make a big play and let the other team know, it's a benefit for us."

The Patriots did manage a field goal out of that drive, but only because a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave New England a new set of downs after the defense had earned a quick stop to force a punt following Love's big hit. And from that point on, the Seahawks shut the Patriots out for the rest of the game while intercepting Maye three times, including one pick by Love, one by cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett, and the other by cornerback Josh Jobe in the end zone late in the game to clinch the win.

The rallying cry, as Love called it, made a difference in what would become a dominant second half.

Love's importance to the Seahawks' defense showed up not only in obvious ways -- his fourth-quarter interception that helped set up the go-ahead Jason Myers field goal, six tackles (two for a loss), and that brutal hit on Henry -- but also in more subtle ways considering the strong performance from backup safety Rodney Thomas II.

Thomas, who was elevated from the practice squad ahead of Wednesday's game, started in place of an injured Ty Okada and played a big role in the win. His four tackles, including a great open-field tackle to limit a short pass to a 1-yard gain, a play that contributed a three-and-out deep in New England territory, which in turn gave the Seahawks good field position that amounted to the Seahawks' first points of the game, a 30-yard Myers field goal. Thomas had an even bigger play on New England's following possession, breaking up a deep pass attempt that was then intercepted by Pritchett, a turnover that set up Seattle's first and only touchdown of the game.

And as Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald noted, Thomas was able to make those plays in part because of the work Love does to keep the entire secondary operating at its best.

"Julian played a dynamite game," Macdonald said. "Rodney Thomas deserves a shoutout coming in playing really sound football. There is a lot of reps that Ty and Julian had to build that chemistry about how we want to operate and getting on the same page. So Julian really took a big time role for our team. One, making the plays, but also making sure we're in the right stuff and on the same page. So shoutout to Julian as well."

Pritchett, whose game included not just the pick but a key third-down pass breakup, noticed the impact Love had on the defense, beyond the veteran safety's own stats.

"Ju is a key piece," Pritchett said. "Just preparing throughout the week, watching extra film, and just having him in the meeting rooms, going over schemes and things like that. I would say he is definitely one of the smartest in the room, so it's definitely a blessing to have him back there with us."

Added outside linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence: "For one of our leaders in Julian Love to step up the way he did today, made a lot of plays for us. That's Love."