Tag Archives: Mike Macdonald

Macdonald on historic comeback: ‘Great teams figure out a way to win’

December 19, 2025 cc Leave a comment

Mike Macdonald knows he has a great football team because it can beat in team in any style of game.

And the Seahawks are so resilient that it can give up a franchise-record 581 yards, go minus-3 in turnover margin, trail by 16 midway through the fourth quarter and still rally to beat the “other best team” in the NFL with a two-point conversion in overtime.

That’s what the Hawks did to the Rams in a wild 38-37 comeback that (a) clinched a playoff spot, (b) gave the Hawks control of the No. 1 seed and (c) got the Big Game Monkey off Sam Darnold’s back.

Macdonald said he was “really, really proud” of his team for overcoming all of the negatives in the massive NFL battle royale.

“What a friggin’ football team you guys are,” he told his players afterward. “What a freaking football team, man! We’re the freaking Seahawks! Let’s go!”

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#INDvsSEA

Hawks barely survive Colts to make Rams rematch matter

December 15, 2025 cc Leave a comment

“Games are going to be like this coming down the stretch. You’ve got to figure out ways to win them, and I’m proud that we did.” – Mike Macdonald, after the Seahawks beat the Colts 18-16 in the final seconds

Even with Old Man Rivers at quarterback, the Colts gave the Seahawks all they could handle Sunday – but the Hawks survived and are still in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

If the Hawks had embarrassingly lost to Philip Rivers (the newly unretired 44-year-old), their rematch against the Rams on Thursday would not have carried the same meaning. But it remains as big as they come — both teams tied atop the NFC at 11-3, with the winner taking the lead for the No. 1 seed. If the Hawks win, their odds of getting the bye and home field in the postseason will jump from 26% to 51%.

They are going to have to come to that game a lot more prepared than they were for the Colts. Shane Steichen outcoached Mike Macdonald in the first half, the defense seemed to be looking past Rivers to the Rams, and the offense continued its recent pattern of slow starts and its seasonlong trend of bad third-down play.

Macdonald told his team afterward: “We’re gonna have games like that coming down the stretch, OK? They can come in all shapes and sizes. All we gotta do is just go to the next play and figure out a way to win.”

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#MINvsSEA

Bears, Rams, Hawks lead frantic NFC race for top seed

December 1, 2025 cc Leave a comment

“We’re in the death zone now. The NFC’s jumping, it’s popping, there’s great teams all around. You’ve got to win these games.” — Ernest Jones IV

The Seahawks’ defense was not happy that it did not hold down the lowly Titans properly in Seattle’s Week 12 win at Tennessee. Well, DeMarcus Lawrence, Ernest Jones IV and the rest more than made up for it in Week 13, leading a 26-0 shutout of Minnesota.

That helped the Seahawks catch the Rams, who lost 31-28 to surging Carolina (6-3 in the last nine) on Sunday. The Hawks, Rams and 49ers (who beat Cleveland) all have nine wins – matching the current top seed, Chicago, which beat Philadelphia on Friday and has lost just once since an 0-2 start.

The Packers and Eagles have eight wins, so the race for the NFC’s top seed is going to be fast and furious over the final five weeks.

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#SEAvsLAR

Let’s reserve judgment on Darnold, who will have more chances to prove himself

November 19, 2025 cc Leave a comment

Shortly after the Seahawks signed Sam Darnold back in March, Matt Hasselbeck talked about Darnold’s need to develop the “clutch gene.”

That was a reference to Darnold and the Vikings’ failures in the final two games of 2024, including a blowout loss to the Rams in the playoffs.

On Sunday, Darnold threw four interceptions that led to a 21-19 loss to the Rams instead of what could have been a comfortable win.

As former Rams QB Kurt Warner put it, “I think some guys have the ‘big game gene’ and others not so much. Not saying he doesn’t, but hasn’t shown it at this stage of his career.”

While a lot of fans are writing off Darnold as a paper tiger, we are going to let the season play out before making that judgment. Darnold has played too well across most of this season, and he will have a few more chances to prove his mettle.

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#SEAvsLAR

After close loss, Macdonald proclaims Hawks ‘a great team’

November 17, 2025 cc 1 Comment

“Obviously we’re disappointed, but it’s very clear to me that we have a great team.” – Mike Macdonald after the Seahawks lost to the Rams, 21-19

Imagine if Sam Darnold had played a normal football game – one without four interceptions and a 1-for-4 red zone performance. The Seahawks could have blown out the Rams. That is clearly what Mike Macdonald was thinking after the Hawks fell short, 21-19, on Sunday.

Darnold’s poor performance aside, Macdonald seemed quite satisfied with how his team played. It was a big litmus test for his defense, and that unit’s dominance clearly validated to him that the Seahawks are in fact a Super Bowl contender.

“Obviously we’re disappointed, but it’s very clear to me that we have a great team,” Macdonald said. “We’re going to learn to win games like that, and we’re going to learn from weeks like this. We’re young. You’ve got a young head coach — I’m learning how to prepare our team from week to week. So we’re all learning, we’re all growing. I actually think that’s a competitive advantage for us as we start to grow.”

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Franchise history, The roster, Trades

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

November 12, 2025 cc Leave a comment

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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#SEAvsLAR

Blowout wins send Hawks, Rams into huge Week 11 clash

November 10, 2025 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks and Rams are clearly the class of the NFC West and among the very best in the NFL as well, as they both proved by eclipsing 40 points in blowout wins against division opponents Sunday.

They have been on a collision course for division dominance for weeks now – and that head-on clash is coming in Week 11 as the pair of 7-2 teams finally square off.

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The roster, Trades

The promising future of the Hawks this year and beyond

October 23, 2025 cc Leave a comment

As the Seahawks take a week off to rest, self-evaluate and prepare for the final 10 games, they are in great position – both for this season and beyond.

At 5-2, they are one of seven NFC teams with a winning percentage over .700 – and right where we thought they would be, positioned for a second-half run into the playoffs.

By DVOA, they actually are rated the best team in the league – thanks to the top-ranked special teams and the No. 2 defense. Their net point differential (plus-57) is fifth.

The Hawks are blowing away Vegas projections, which had the Hawks finishing with seven or eight wins (a 7.5 over/under). We had predicted at least 11 wins. Well, this team is on a pace for 12. Looking at the rest of the schedule, the Hawks look capable of a 7-3 finish – thus a 12-5 record for the season.

This is clearly a playoff team. The bigger question: What happens once the playoffs arrive? Do the Hawks have what it takes to go all the way?

Let’s look at what they have and what they might need to make a Super Bowl run this year and beyond.

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#HOUvsSEA

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

October 21, 2025 cc 1 Comment

“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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#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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