Category Archives: X’s & O’s

As line shuffles, have Fleury and Darnold already fixed offense?

October 31, 2026 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks’ offense took a step back to take a step forward last Sunday vs. Kansas City, and then it took an even bigger step Tuesday when John Schneider added All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson.

It’s all very promising as the Hawks get ready to host the Bears in a very important NFC matchup on Monday night.

Yes, it will take a minute for Nelson to adjust to Seattle’s playbook – and for Grey Zabel to get used to playing on the right side. But Mike Macdonald, Brian Fleury and Sam Darnold are not concerned – they feel like they have fixed the biggest problems on offense.

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#KCvsSEA, X's & O's

The details the offense needs to fix to avoid dropping under .500

October 24, 2026 cc 2 Comments

The Seahawks, sitting at 3-3 after having given away three games with offensive turnovers, are in danger of falling under .500 for the first time since the middle of Mike Macdonald’s first season — over 30 games ago.

The danger is real, with Kenneth Walker III and the undefeated Chiefs in town for a Sunday night showdown that could become a beatdown if the Seahawks do not come prepared on offense for once.

A win over Kansas City is exactly what the Hawks need. They need to win with a good offensive performance, to show they are done bumbling along and turning the ball over. They need to win to give Sam Darnold confidence and prove that Macdonald’s faith in him is justified. They need to win to show they can beat one of the best teams in the NFL.

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NFL history, X's & O's

Are Hawks about to become 2003 Bucs?

October 17, 2026 cc Leave a comment

Mike Macdonald is not going to bench Sam Darnold, and now we have to hope he is not sending his Seahawks down the same path as the 2002-03 Tampa Bay Buccaneers – a Super Bowl champion with an elite defense that faded the next season (and beyond) due to a dysfunctional offense.

Macdonald thinks Darnold’s poor play is a symptom and not the problem – even though the quarterback has been a major factor in all three losses with six interceptions (seven in his four games total).

Macdonald thinks Darnold is still the best choice at QB.

“We have a lot of faith in Sam,” Macdonald said. “Sam has played great football for us. He’s done a lot of great things this year. He’s obviously turned the ball over more than we want to. There are things on our end that can help him play better football, and he’s part of the solution rather than the opposite.”

We have seen nothing to indicate that is true, which is why we think Darnold would benefit from sitting and watching Drew Lock play.

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The roster, X's & O's

EPA splits reveal defense is no worse for departures

July 5, 2026 cc 2 Comments

Many NFL observers have made a big deal about the Seahawks losing two starters and two major backups this offseason. Some argue that those four losses – along with an offensive coordinator change — are enough to even make them questionable as contenders in 2026.

But Brian Nemhauser (HawkBlogger) recently performed a fun exercise that confirmed what we and other savvy observers already knew: The Seahawks certainly did not get any worse this offseason.

On the contrary, on defense anyway, the Hawks are likely to be even better off (as we have said).

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#SEAvsSF, X's & O's

Offensive fade is not all Darnold’s fault

January 1, 2026 cc 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.

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#LARvsSEA, X's & O's

On defense, Macdonald outsmarted himself

December 20, 2025 cc 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.

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#HOUvsSEA, X's & O's

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

October 16, 2025 cc 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.

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#SEAvsPIT, X's & O's

The real offense needs to show up in Pittsburgh

September 13, 2025 cc 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.

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#SFvsSEA, X's & O's

What happened to Kubiak’s offense?

September 7, 2025 cc 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.

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Coaches, Free agency, X's & O's

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

March 15, 2025 cc 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 10^th-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.

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