Tag Archives: Mike Macdonald

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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#SFvsSEA, Playoffs

Deja Niners — and then the Rams (if they can handle Chicago)

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Two weeks ago, we started a trip to Hong Kong/Thailand as the Seahawks were getting ready to play the San Francisco 49ers. As we return from Thailand, it’s like time stood still: The Hawks again are preparing to play the 49ers.

The big difference, of course, is that the Seahawks happily did not have to play in the wild-card round because they smushed the 49ers in that big-deal Week 18 game. The 49ers managed to get by the Eagles 23-19 on Sunday to gain another chance to play in Seattle.

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#LARvsSEA, X's & O's

On defense, Macdonald outsmarted himself

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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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#LARvsSEA

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

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

And the Seahawks are so resilient that they 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

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“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

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“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

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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’

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“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

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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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#SEAvsLAR

Blowout wins send Hawks, Rams into huge Week 11 clash

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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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