DENVER -- The Seahawks found themselves in a hole early after the Broncos put together a pair of touchdown drives, but with the defense buckling down and dominating the rest of the way, Seattle was able to manage just enough offense to claw back into the game and force overtime.

Once again, however, turnovers proved to be Seattle's undoing, with an interception in overtime putting the Broncos in range for the game-winning field goal that gave Denver a 17-14 victory, dropping Seattle's record to 3-3.

Here are six rapid reactions to Thursday night's loss:

1. It was a rough day for the Seahawks offense.

The Seahawks have been inconsistent at times on offense this season, but were still scoring at a good rate, having put up at least 29 points in each of their previous four games.

That streak came to an end on Thursday, however, with Seattle managing just three points through the first three quarters before finally putting together a pair of scoring drives to send it to overtime. Once again, turnovers were an issue, with the Seahawks committing three of them, including a critical interception in overtime that gave the Broncos a short field to send the game to overtime.

In addition to those turnovers, there were five sacks allowed, many of them drive-killers, and too many promising drives that stalled out without resulting in points.

2. The defense settled down well after allowing two long touchdown drives, permitting the offense to eventually get going and force overtime.

On their second possession of the game, the Broncos were able to do something few teams have done against Seattle this season: put together a long scoring drive without the benefit of penalties. So far his season, the majority of scoring drives against the Seahawks have come either off of short fields following turnovers, or on drives aided by penalties. But in the first and second quarters, the Broncos were able to put together a methodical 16-play, 74 yard touchdown drive without any help from penalties. The Broncos followed that with another long touchdown drive, going 79 yards in nine plays, though this time with the help of some penalties, a facemask on Byron Murphy II on a third-down screen pass that came up short of the line to gain, and a 20-yard pass interference penalty on Devon Witherspoon in the end zone.

After those two touchdown drives, the Seahawks defense got back to being its dominant self, getting stop after stop as the Broncos managed just two first downs through the rest of regulation, punting on all seven of their full possessions, not including the end of the first half and when they took a knee at the end of regulation. In overtime, the defense once again got a quick stop, but thanks to the interception, Denver was still in range for the game-winner.

Even with those two touchdown drives, the Seahawks held the Broncos to 168 total yards and an average of just 2.9 yards per play.

3. Sacks have been a problem for the Seahawks offense the past two games.

The Seahawks started the game moving the ball well, picking up a couple of first downs to get past midfield on their opening drive. But then Sam Darnold was sacked on back-to-back plays, and the Seahawks had to punt. In the third quarter, when another promising drive got into Broncos territory, Darnold was sacked on third down to end the possession, and to make matters worse, Jason Myers missed the ensuing field goal attempt.

Seattle's next two possessions also ended on third-down sacks, the second of which knocked the Seahawks out of potential field goal range or a possible chance to go for it had they had a more manageable fourth down.

Those five sacks were just part of what was a lot of pressure Denver was able to get on Seattle's quarterback, with the Broncos recording 17 quarterback hits and it comes on the heels of the 49ers sacking Darnold five times on Sunday. Regardless of who is to blame on any given pressure -- sometimes the offensive line is at fault, but other players need to do their job in pass protection as well, and sometimes sacks are the quarterback's responsibility -- it's something the Seahawks need to clean up for the offense to function better.

4. The Seahawks got Rashid Shaheed more involved in the offense.

Rashid Shaheed has not been as involved in the offense early in the season as much as he or the Seahawks were probably expecting given how strong of a training camp the receiver had. His lack of production wasn't about Shaheed not doing his job, his coaches said, but rather it was just a case of the ball not finding him.
On Thursday, the ball came Shaheed's way more often, resulting in a season-high 66 yards on five catches, including a 42-yard contested catch on a deep ball. Shaheed also scored a 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter after a George Holani touchdown run to make it a 3-point game.

Shaheed also had 118 yards on returns, including a 31-yard punt return late in the fourth quarter to give the Seahawks good field position for their final possession in regulation, which ended with Jason Myers' game-tying field goal to send it to overtime.

Shaheed did unfortunately fumble on an end around in the first half, a rather fluky fumble with the tackler's knee hitting the ball as both went to the ground, just before Shaheed was down, but the defense was able to get a quick stop to keep that turnover from causing more damage beyond the loss of possession.

5. Jaxon Smith-Njigba just keeps having monstrous performances.

Like the rest of Seattle's offense, Jaxon Smith-Njigba didn't put up big numbers in the first half, catching just two passes for 11 yards. The reigning AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year would not be denied for the entire evening however. Smith-Njigba, who came into the game with a league leading 583 yards and seven receiving touchdowns, got hot in the second half, helping lead his offense on a pair of scoring drives to tie the game, and finished with 134 yards on a season-high 12 receptions.

It was Smith-Njigba's fifth game this season surpassing 100 receiving yards, and with that he becomes just the sixth player in the Super Bowl era to reach that mark in at least five of his team's first six games, joining Stanley Morgan (1986), Marvin Harrison Sr. (2000), Adam Thielen (2018), and Stefon Diggs (2023), according to NFL Research.

6. Ernest Jones IV had another big game to lead a strong defensive effort.

As mentioned above, the Seahawks defense played fantastic after the Broncos got their two early scores, and one of the players leading the way was inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV. Jones led the Seahawks with nine tackles, one for a loss, and recorded a sack for the third straight week. Jones' three sacks are his most as a Seahawk, only six games into the season, and his most since he had 4.5 in 2023 with the Rams.