RENTON (AP) — Between the penalties and an offense that staggered, Pete Carroll had to settle for the Seattle Seahawks' preseason opener being the first chance to start making evaluations.

Seattle was called for 13 penalties and its offense struggled at times in a 21-16 loss to Denver on Thursday night.

The biggest area of concern going into and coming out of the opener was the play of Seattle's offensive line. The Seahawks played only one regular starter — guard J.R. Sweezy — while using a group of backups to try and protect quarterback Russell Wilson.

The results were mixed at best. Wilson was sacked twice and forced to scramble a handful of times. Most of the attention was on rookie Justin Britt, who has a chance to win the starting job.

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