Tag Archives: Leonard Williams

Super Bowl LX, The roster

Back-to-back? Defense that dominated Pats will return in 2026

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In his first team meeting in 2024, Mike Macdonald predicted the Seahawks would be in the NFC Championship Game.

“It’s inevitable,” he told his first group of Seahawks, which included many of the guys who beat the Rams in the NFC title game a couple weeks ago.

Macdonald did not predict a Super Bowl win, but he and his team delivered that Sunday, beating the Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. Afterward, he said he had “100% confidence” that his team would win. That’s certainly how it felt to us (we had predicted a 31-13 win).

Macdonald brought a vision to Seattle, and – along with some great help from John Schneider — he has made it come to life by creating the best defense in the NFL. It is a unit that is poised to dominate in 2026 — and probably beyond.

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Super Bowl LX
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It’s Seahawks vs. Patriots Redux. There are tons of great storylines. Let’s check them out …

Sam Darnold is getting all kinds of well-deserved kudos for how he has rebounded from terrible situations in his first five seasons. Christian McCaffrey was teammates with him both in Carolina and San Francisco and calls him “one of my best friends and also an incredible player.” Josh Allen doesn’t usually watch the Super Bowl, but he will Sunday because he and Darnold (fellow 2018 first-round picks) are very good friends.

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Playoffs

The Dark Side defense, by the numbers

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With no offense meant to Houston, New England or Denver, the Seahawks have perhaps the scariest defense in the NFL. It was easy to see coming.

In 2024, Mike Macdonald put together a top-10 defense — led by Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed, Devon Witherspoon, Julian Love and Ernest Jones IV.

It was clear he was building the next dominant Seattle unit. John Schneider added DeMarcus Lawrence and Nick Emmanwori, Uchenna Nwosu returned to health — and voila! Seattle ended up as the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL for the first time since the Legion of Boom days.

They call it the Dark Side.

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Franchise history, The roster, Trades

How Schneider built a Super Bowl contender as fans called for his firing

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After the 2024 season, a lot of Seahawks fans wanted John Schneider to be fired. They were understandably tired of his failure to put together an even average offensive line throughout his 15 years as general manager, and they were annoyed by a 2024 offseason that seemingly had done little to help the franchise.

It’s surprising how quickly things can change. Amid a 7-2 start that has featured major contributions from half a dozen new players and proven that Sam Darnold is indeed a franchise quarterback, Schneider has been getting a lot of credit.

In fact, in a survey of 42 NFL decision makers by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, 23 voted him as the executive of the year at the midseason point.

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#HOUvsSEA

Defense dominates; Mike Mac dreams of ‘all three phases clicking’

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“Just imagine when it’s all three phases clicking.” – Mike Macdonald to his team after a mistake-filled 27-19 win over Houston

If you had told us the Seahawks would score 27 points and beat Houston by eight on Monday night, we would have taken that. Heck, we still will – since the Hawks moved to 5-2 and kept pace with the NFC leaders with a 27-19 win.

But, as the quote above shows, even Mike Macdonald was dreaming about the blowout that should have been – and the day his team plays a complete game.

Early on, it looked like this might be one of those. The Hawks jumped to a fast 14-0 lead and kept threatening to blow the game wide open in the first half. But they kept turning the ball over, committing penalties and having other odd things happen. What should have/could have been a 24-0 halftime lead instead was just 14-6. And despite their dominant defense, the Hawks never could put away the Texans until the final seconds.

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#SEAvsJAX, Injury report

Hawks still at 80%, but Macdonald should have winning plan vs. Jags

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One of these days, the Seahawks might field a full team – and we’ll see just how powerful they really are. For now, like so many teams around the league, they have to be content playing with about 80% of their top players – their battered secondary and pass rush still not full strength.

That was not quite enough against Tampa Bay last Sunday, but trust Mike Macdonald to have learned from that defensive meltdown (370 passing yards, 38 points allowed). Even if the Hawks are again without Devon Witherspoon and Julian Love, Macdonald likely will put his defense in position against Trevor Lawrence and the Jags in Jacksonville.

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Week 12: Arizona, X's & O's

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

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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.

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Week 7: At Atlanta

Have Hawks learned enough about selves to start a new streak?

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Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks finally got themselves a quality win – and they needed it big time.

With a surprising 34-14 blowout of a red-hot Falcons team that had won three straight, the Hawks avoided the dreaded four-game losing skid that might have been the death knell for any playoff hopes (just one team out of 15 in Seattle history had overcome a streak of four or more losses to make the playoffs).

And now the question is whether they can sustain it.

“It was inevitable that (adversity) would happen, so you want to see a rebound,” Julian Love said. “We’re still learning how to win as a team. … We’re still building; we’re still learning who we are as a team.”

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Week 3: Miami

At 3-0, Hawks are on a playoff pace despite more injuries and struggling O-line

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The NFL has been totally unpredictable early this season (our Survivor pool is already down from 150 entries to a handful), so it is notable that the Seahawks are one of the only teams that have not stumbled.

Before the season, we projected a 2-1 start, with a loss to Miami. But, after Tua Tagovailoa went on IR with another concussion, the Hawks became the obvious favorites in Week 3. They then handled the Dolphins 24-3 to become one of only four teams that are 3-0 (pending Buffalo’s result Monday night).

Yeah, the Hawks are 3-0 against teams that are a combined 3-6. But, you can only play the schedule you are dealt. The Hawks can’t help that they have faced a rookie QB (Broncos), a journeyman with no receivers (Patriots) and backup QBs (Dolphins).

Their defense has put the clamps on, allowing just 249 yards (second in NFL) and 14.3 points per game (fourth). We’ll see whether they can keep that up against a couple of top-four offenses over the next three games: Detroit on Monday night and San Francisco in a Thursday night game in Week 6. (The middling Giants are the Week 5 opponent.)

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Coaches, State of the team

Players: Macdonald and ‘right coaches’ bring ‘urgency’

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Amid the hullabaloo by some overly nostalgic fans about Mike Macdonald’s rearranging of the VMAC, his players seem to get it. They know Pete Carroll’s missing hoop and the temporarily blank walls are a metaphor for a clean slate, a new beginning.

They also know the expectations are much higher now and being delivered in a more defined, exacting way than Carroll and his staff were doing over the last few years.

It’s all as it should be, and the smart ones – players and fans – understand that. The players who don’t won’t be around very long. And that’s as it should be, too.

The core leaders of this defense – Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu and Julian Love – sound bought in.

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