Category Archives: X’s & O’s

#SEAvsSF, X's & O's

Offensive fade is not all Darnold’s fault

Leave a comment

The Seahawks have scuffled along on offense for most of their six-game winning streak, scoring just two first-half touchdowns and ranking 29th in EPA per play.

In their 27-10 win at Carolina last Sunday, it was more of the same — another slow start followed by a second-half surge sparked by defense (in some games, it has been special teams).

A lot of people are continually putting the blame for the offensive struggles on Sam Darnold — partially because he continues to turn the ball over a couple times a game (he had a fumble and interception vs. Carolina).

But most of the blame belongs where we always thought it would: on the offensive line. And Klint Kubiak has not done enough — either with his opening play scripts or his other play calls — to help Darnold.

Continue reading Offensive fade is not all Darnold’s fault →
#LARvsSEA, X's & O's

On defense, Macdonald outsmarted himself

1 Comment

Mike Macdonald is a brilliant defensive coach – he has proven it with three teams (including the Seahawks) over the past few years. But sometimes he is too smart for his own good – or for his players’ good.

Thursday night was one of those times.

As hard as it is to fathom, his stellar defense surrendered a franchise-worst 581 yards to the juggernaut Rams. That included 457 passing yards from Matthew Stafford and 225 receiving yards from Puka Nacua.

Six Rams had receiving plays of 19 yards or more. Nacua had a 58-yarder and a 41-yard TD in overtime.

It was a big shock after the Hawks had held Stafford to just 130 yards in Week 11.

Macdonald admitted he tried to get too fancy in the game plan on a short week.

Continue reading On defense, Macdonald outsmarted himself →
#HOUvsSEA, X's & O's

Hawks are winning with play action, not giving up on run game

Leave a comment

“We need to improve on our run game. It’s pretty cut and dry.” – Mike Macdonald

The Seahawks have the NFL’s No. 5 scoring offense (27.7 ppg), the No. 10 offense by EPA and the No. 4 offense by DVOA – all without any consistent running attack.

There are two schools of thought about the Seahawks’ struggling running game – and both have their merits.

The first is what Mike Macdonald said on his radio show Monday: The running game is not good enough. The second is that the threat of the running game via play action has enabled the passing game to thrive and it’s a fair sacrifice to make.

Continue reading Hawks are winning with play action, not giving up on run game →
#SEAvsPIT, X's & O's

The real offense needs to show up in Pittsburgh

3 Comments

One of the most head-scratching things about the Seahawks’ loss to the 49ers in Week 1 was Klint Kubiak veering away from the formations we saw so much in the preseason, which had enabled a strong running game.

It led to a lot of failed early downs, which led to too many third-down failures and resulted in just 13 points off a 38-22 deficit in time of possession. While Kubiak kept his run-pass balance to a good ratio (26-23), he ran a lot of 11 personnel and the fewest play-action snaps in the league in Week 1 (just two). And Sam Darnold’s reads continually led to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, so the Hawks had a very one-dimensional offense.

They cannot do any of that in Week 2 at Pittsburgh if they are going to avoid an 0-2 start, a hole that typically means just an 11% chance of making the playoffs.

Continue reading The real offense needs to show up in Pittsburgh →
#SFvsSEA, X's & O's

What happened to Kubiak’s offense?

1 Comment

The Seahawks promised a new offense under Klint Kubiak — one focused on running the ball and misdirecting defenses to create a much more productive unit than Mike Macdonald’s team had with Ryan Grubb last season.

It all looked good in the preseason as the Hawks ran the ball with gusto. But that all disappeared in the 17-13 opening loss to the 49ers as Kubiak’s offense looked a lot more like Grubb’s than the one that was promised this year.

Continue reading What happened to Kubiak’s offense? →
Coaches, Free agency, X's & O's

Macdonald, Kubiak are building an offense that can hit the ground running

3 Comments

Mike Macdonald intends to win playoff games in 2025 – and he has a pretty clever plan for making sure it happens.

It’s called familiarity. He is returning nearly his entire 10th-ranked defense from 2024 (and making it better), and he his putting together an offense that he expects to literally hit the ground running.

It started with bringing in a veteran offensive staff full of guys who had worked together before. Macdonald knew Klint Kubiak would bring run game coordinator Rick Dennison, offensive line coach John Benton and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. All have worked with him in the past.

Then, when free agency began this week, Kubiak was key in the Seahawks recruiting both Sam Darnold and Marquez Valdes-Scantling – who both know Kubiak and the offense.

Continue reading Macdonald, Kubiak are building an offense that can hit the ground running →
Coaches, Contracts, State of the team, X's & O's

Hawks will extend Geno; Kubiak has ‘best vision’ for using DK

1 Comment

While the Seahawks are certainly likely to move on from a few highly paid players, one thing has become very clear over the last couple of days: Geno Smith and DK Metcalf will be back in 2025.

Mike Macdonald and new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak both emphasized Smith is Seattle’s quarterback and said they have big plans for Metcalf.

In an interview with FOX 13, Macdonald said Kubiak will “utilize the entire roster,” Smith can help the Seahawks win the Super Bowl and Metcalf will be the “main focal point” of the passing game.

Macdonald seemed to put all of the scuttlebutt about Smith and Metcalf to rest with his strong words about both. And NFL Network also reported on Super Bowl Sunday that the Hawks plan to give Smith a raise while keeping themselves “flexible” to acquiring a long-term quarterback.

Continue reading Hawks will extend Geno; Kubiak has ‘best vision’ for using DK →
Coaches, X's & O's

If Grubb can’t turn offense around, will he be one & done?

1 Comment

When Mike Macdonald hired Ryan Grubb to be his offensive coordinator back in February, we looked back through modern NFL history to find success stories from guys who had made the jump from college coordinator to NFL play caller. There were few to find.

In fact, a notable failure involved another former Husky, Steve Sarkisian, who joined Dan Quinn in Atlanta and promptly took that once vaunted offense backward.

We wrote then:

Grubb’s success or failure will come down to whether he can maximize his players. The biggest challenge for most play callers – certainly for Seattle’s last few – has been adjusting within games to what defenses are stopping. Grubb and company faced an NFL-style defense – one put together by Macdonald, in fact – in the title game against Michigan, and they had major trouble against it. Grubb will need to show he can adjust when his script fails. … It won’t be a shock if Grubb ultimately doesn’t have the answers.”

Well, Grubb has not proven to have the answers in his rookie season. And, if his unit continues to fail, it would not be a surprise if Macdonald followed Pete Carroll’s path and fired his OC after his first year as Seattle’s coach.

Continue reading If Grubb can’t turn offense around, will he be one & done? →
Week 12: Arizona, X's & O's

Defense is now ‘locked in,’ but can Hawks find key to offense, too?

2 Comments

Mike Macdonald finally has his defense playing the way we all expected. After three pretty dominant weeks against NFC West foes, including a 16-6 clampdown of Arizona in Week 12, that unit looks capable of holding down most offenses the rest of the way and helping the Seahawks make the playoffs.

But the offense is going to have to start doing its part.

Before we get to the offense’s problems, let’s start with the defense’s turnaround, which hopefully has not come too late.

Continue reading Defense is now ‘locked in,’ but can Hawks find key to offense, too? →
Coaches, X's & O's

Time to stop the ‘independent contracting’ on defense

Leave a comment

Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks are 4-4 largely because the defense has been struggling with the same issues that plagued Pete Carroll’s unit over the past few years: poor tackling and terrible run defense.

It has led to a lot of speculation about why Macdonald has not yet fixed the problems he was expected to resolve by this point in his first season.

More on Hawkszone rundown podcast


This week, we got some answers and Macdonald explained how he is going to try to finally fix these chronic flaws that have carried over from one coaching program to another. If he does what he says he is going to do, the defenders should be able to play faster and more aggressively, ideally helping them cause havoc and create turnovers.

Continue reading Time to stop the ‘independent contracting’ on defense →