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Head Coach Mike Macdonald Previews The Week 1 Matchup vs. Patriots · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Back in our usual, was it Wednesday? Wednesday setting. Excited
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: for the week. Guys are in great spirits. Kind of
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: going back through the process, you know. We just got
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: to be great at the things we can control at
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: this point. You know, games at the beginning of the
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: year are really just about how well we can play
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: our style of ball and trust that the results kind
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: of take care of themselves. But really excited about playing
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: at home to start the year off and.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Off we go. Look forward to today's practice.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I know we're going to have a lot of injury questions,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: but I'm not going to answer them. You can ask
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: if you want, but I won't answer them.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: When it comes to actually having an opponent this week,
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: what's the joy that you get from game planning and truly.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Diving into that? It's good.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: It's a good change of pace. It's a good change
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: of pace. again, the first, first game of the year is,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: is a little tricky. You know, like you can't be,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: you don't, you don't want to fall in the trap
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: of applying, you know, last year's things that you see
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: too much to what's going to happen this year. You know, um,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: teams will grow and evolve and change and there's different
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: personnel and on both sides. So, uh, I think our
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: focus is trying to, trying to do the things that,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: that we do that, um, our guys can go play
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: the best they can and also try to apply as
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: much pressure as you can as well. But, um, Understanding
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: how the game goes, there's going to be some things
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: that we're going to be required to make adjustments in
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: game because inevitably there's.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Going to be things that happen that you haven't prepared for.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Maybe there's not very much weight put in like a
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Super Bowl matchup?
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, you're going to watch that and try to
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: understand how they attacked you in different ways and things
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: that you did. But again, you know, you can't be
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: all in on certain things at this point.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: This will be Brian's first opportunity to call plays in
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: a regular season setting. And maybe thinking about when you
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: had your first regular season game, getting to call plays,
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: what advice do you have for him going into a
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: situation like this?
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's about, I think it's like with
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the rest of our players. It's trusting our training, trusting
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: the preparation. Definitely, you know, you feel the, shoot.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I still do that. You know, you still feel, you're
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: always going to feel There's, you know, whatever. Is it anxiety?
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Is it excitement? Those things are natural. It means you care.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: It means it matters to you. I hope our players
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: feel that.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: But it's also, you know, when you do have those feelings, understand, like, hey,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: you know, we're still playing a football game that we
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: prepared for, and take a deep breath and go let
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: it rip and let's rock and roll. You talked all
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: the way back in OTAs about putting the Super Bowl
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: in the right place, running it forward, all that.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Now that you've been through training camp, preseason, your team's
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: here week one.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: How do you feel like the players handled that? They've
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: done a great job. They've done a great job. I think.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: You're trying to put it in perspective too that we're
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: beginning this journey. It's awesome that it's week one and
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: it's exciting and there's context behind it and everything, but
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: it's also the first step of this journey as well.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Whatever comes out of the game, no matter what, we're
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: going to have to grow and evolve to become the
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: team that we want to become by the end of
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: the season.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: It's cool. How many opportunities do.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: You have to start the year off at home, drop
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: the banner, all that stuff. Put that in the bucket
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: of the singular things that happen that you can You know,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: have that moment that you work for. That's why the
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: guys work so hard is to have moments like that.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: So we definitely want to respect that when it happens.
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: You guys last year, first game, the offensive plan seemed
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: a little different than the rest of the year, only
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: one play action pass. Maybe not your best fastballs, I guess,
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: is using your parlance. How do you kind of prepare
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: differently to get the season started on a different foot
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: this year?
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: We haven't really talked about our approach last year. I
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: think we're focusing on our approach this year. I think
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: the point remains is there's going to be things that
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: happen in this game that we really like, and there's
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: going to be things process-wise that we're going to want
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: to adjust. Hopefully it's not so much on the ladder,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: but if we're doing it right, we're definitely going to
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: find things that we want to be able to evolve
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: from moving forward. I don't think you can worry about that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I think you've got to focus on let's put the
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: best plan in place, which I feel great about our
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: plan up to this point, and make the necessary adjustments
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: throughout the week, and then and then go dial it
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: up the best we can.
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: How do you approach a situation, like you mentioned, where
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: you guys played this team last year, you play them
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: the first game this year. How do you get the
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: players to kind of see this as a new matchup
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: and not just a repeat of a game that you
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: already won?
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a lot of new players involved, so that
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: makes it simpler to get that message across.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Context has changed.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, we haven't really been on top of a conversation.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: There's things that it's been a long time between the
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: two games. I think both teams would tell you that
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: we're different versions of who we are. In that way,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: it does help the message of, hey, we're a new team.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: I'm sure the Patriots feel the same way. We're focused
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: on doing what we need to do in this game
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: to make it come to life.
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: How have you sensed that the players have handled the
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: stuff that can potentially come with winning a Super Bowl
• 5:36
  Speaker 6: and complacency and all that? How have you felt like
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: they've handled that?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: I feel like our guys have done a great job.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I feel like if we would have sniffed it out,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: we would have addressed it. But I feel like when
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: we've gone out on the field, our intent's been really good.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Are there days that we felt like we probably could
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: have grown more or could have done a better job?
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think that's what happens.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: But if you're intense in the right spot and your
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: preparation's right and there's I mean, look, there's things on
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: top of my head preparation-wise that we did in the
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: offseason that are under my purview of control that I
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: definitely want to adjust moving forward. But I think that's
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: just our mentality. We're always kind of searching for ways
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: to make what we do better.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: The process, Mike, besides the scout team and running the
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: scout plan and game plan.
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: How has the process for the players changed from training
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: camp to this week?
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Well, we've been in a quote unquote in-season schedule here
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: for maybe two weeks. So the guys understand like the
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: cadence of the day, which, you know, we do that
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: on purpose. So it's not this like shock to them,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: shock to the system. But, you know, we do certain
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: things each day that are focused. It's way more, you know,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: more dialed in game plan wise. You know, we're not just,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: we're not in an install schedule or.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: We're going against different opponents.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: So you have to understand the different techniques and the
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: personnel and you know, the adjustments we're trying to make to,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: you know, our kind of bread and butter calls on
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: how we want to, you know, play the game.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: When were you running New England scout team stuff?
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Was it a couple weeks ago? Um, really don't feel like,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: probably not in the best interest to answer that. Mike,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: how have you seen the rookies from when they got
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: the phone call embrace the opportunity for them.
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: To be ready for game week?
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Um, I think it's different for each guy. I think
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: everyone's been on their different journey. This is a different
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: rookie class.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: It's smaller.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I've had some guys that haven't been, um, available, you know,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: throughout the off season. So, um, that's kind of a,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: a cause for just a different timetable, but the guys are,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: they're going to be, they got great opportunities in front
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: of them.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I think it's a great class. Uh, but.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: We'll see, you know, we'll see, we'll see how, we'll
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: see how they do throughout the week.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: And the opportunities they have.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: But, um, I'm thinking like Bud, you know, your heart
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: goes out to Bud. I mean, he's having a great camp,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: doing all the things, and I'm excited for J.D. to play,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: you know, go down the list, excited for Bo Steve.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, all those guys, the guys that are available now,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: I'm really excited for.
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: Is the timing of the game still weird at all,
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: or is it just as simple as, hey, Saturday is
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: a Wednesday and you go from there?
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I think it was a little funky.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Before two days ago, but now it's just Wednesday.
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  Speaker 5: Some of the best offenses in football are really good
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: on first and second down, but for some reason struggle
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: on third down. Talk about how you think about the
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: importance of early down offense versus late down offense.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I think every yard matters.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: You know, there's a– so you're itching or you're scratching
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: and clawing for every yard, you know. So it's how
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: you went on the sideline. It's, you know, a four-yard
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: run is different than a three-yard run. A seven-yard run
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: is different than– I mean, it's just– and it's all contextual,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: you know. where the ball falls on the field.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: If we get a, if we get a third down
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: stop on, let's say it's third and 73 and we
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: stop them for a 10 yard game. Well, that's way
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: better than getting a stop for a 20 yard game.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Cause now our punt return comes more alive, you know,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: because we have more space. So it's kind of all
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: phases are always kind of interlocked. And so I think
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: you feel throughout the week or throughout the game of
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: like how well you're winning those like yard by yard
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: matchups of trying to create more advantageous situations for your
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: team to, so you can be more aggressive.
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: You mentioned they're one of the best first and second
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: down offenses, especially passing last year. What did you see
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: that allowed them to be so effective?
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: They're also pretty good on third down, too. I think overall,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: they've been a really explosive offense, and it comes in
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: different ways. It comes in the run game, in the
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: core and on the perimeter. It's come in the in
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: the action game. It's come off schedule. It's come off
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: on outside lane throws. They do a really good job.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: The proof's in the pudding. So I wouldn't just limit
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: to early downs, but it's kind of in every aspect
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: of their offensive ways is they've had success.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: They had that success last year. They changed a lot
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: of their receiving core this offseason. How does the addition
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: of A.J. Brown and Romeo Dubs maybe create some different
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: challenges that you guys have to deal with that you
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: didn't have in February?
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: That's another example of there's new personnel on both sides
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: of the ball and you can guess all you want
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: on how they're going to use their new players based
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: off of what they've done in their past and how
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: they've utilized players in their offense in years past, but
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: At best, that's an educated guess. We're going to have
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: a way that we expect to try to have an
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: understanding of where they're going to be, and then we
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: have to do a great job in the game of
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: understanding how they've been utilized and how we're structuring our
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: coverages to combat that.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: It's one of.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Those examples where I don't think you have all the
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: answers laid out in front of you going into the game.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: The ownership situation has all kind of settled down.
• 11:11
  Speaker 7: Have you had any more.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: Contact with them at all?
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a few times. It's been great. It's
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: been a great conversation.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I know John's probably been in more contact with them
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: than I have, but it's been all positive.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: It's like any new relationship.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I think at this point we're at the beginning stages
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: of trying to understand where everybody's coming from and what
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: everybody's trying to get done. There's a lot of parallels,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: which is great. There's a lot of alignment, but I'd
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: say you're at the infant stages of this whole process,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: but it's definitely exciting.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: You've signed Terry and Arnold since we last talked to you.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: What is kind of the plan for him.
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: Now that he's in the building?
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: He's in the building and be part of our program
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: and learn the heck out of our defense and keep
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: training and stay ready for if and when there's an opportunity.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Continuity is something we talk about with offensive line or
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: just kind of the number of people, but how does
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: that show up on special teams? Where is the most
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: obvious benefit to continuity on special teams?
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Fortunately right now we do have that, um, on our team. Um,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I don't think, I don't think it changes much from
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: any of the other two phases. I think just having
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: an understanding about how we do business every day, um,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: kind of the, the, the transition costs of being able
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: to go from an idea from J or Fitz's.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Head, uh, us executing it on the field.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: I think that's, that's expedited, but, um, you know, our
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: special teams is, uh, part of our core identity here
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: about how we operate and how we play football. So
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: we have a lot of great players that are on it,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: and I think we also have a lot of great
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: competition on roles based off of how game plans are
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: going to shake out. So guys can carve out a
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: role for them for the ones that are in the
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: building right now.
• 12:55
  Speaker 7: With the safety spot, you only got three on the
• 12:57
  Speaker 7: active right now, and Nick's obviously coming back still. What
• 13:00
  Speaker 7: did you see out of A.J., Rodney, and Max kind
• 13:02
  Speaker 7: of during camp and everything? Because presumably you're going to
• 13:05
  Speaker 7: need at least one of them this week to come up,
• 13:07
  Speaker 7: but just kind of how they've performed and what do
• 13:09
  Speaker 7: you like about them?
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Those guys have done a great job to earn themselves
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: a spot on the 70. Very excited for them. They've
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: definitely earned their spot right now and I think it's
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: going to be an ongoing competition of how we deploy
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: our people throughout the season, at least the beginning of
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: the season on how that shakes out.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Excited about all those guys. Avery Smith, what are your
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: initial impressions of him? All about ball.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Just Messaged him, he's like, keep being him. Now you're
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: part of the squad. So there's a responsibility of contributing
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: your personality and the things that you do. It's not
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: so easy being a rookie that just got traded for,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: but just keep chipping away every day. But he's really
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: attacked the scheme. There's a lot of parallels in what
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: he was asked to do in L.A., which is cool.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: And our coaches are doing a great job with him.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Joking about this being the Toledo Seahawks now.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I was too, yeah.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: So what is it about the way that they coach
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: up their players that stands out to you? They've got
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: other guys in the league, Quinnian Mitchell being another one.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I wish I could give any answer to that, Corbin.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know. They do a good job. They put
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: out really good players.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: So maybe we could borrow something from them, you know.
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: Bigger picture with Sam, what have you thought of the
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: offseason he had and realizing it's not a new offense?
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: How have you seen him take to just whatever new
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: stuff that Brian is bringing in?
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Well, I think Sam's also been active in what we're
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: doing and how and, like, that relationship with Flurry and Jake,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: for that matter, of really building something that he has
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: a lot of confidence in. And you can see that
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: how he's playing every day. But a lot of consistency.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I think he's, I don't know, call it assertive. It's
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: hard to say, like, more confidence. But it's just, you know,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: we're in place.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: You know, going into last year, we're kind of discovering
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: each other and what we liked and what we didn't,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I think. having an understanding about, you know, what his
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: wheelhouse was to going into the whole process, I think
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: that really helped.
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: You mentioned Jadarian.
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: We obviously didn't see him in the preseason games, but
• 15:10
  Speaker 7: how excited are you to kind of see him unleash that,
• 15:12
  Speaker 7: and where do.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: You feel like he is? Yeah, very excited about it.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, it's a big week for him,
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: his first game, and like kind of his first NFL
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: carry at some point, you know, but like that's why
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: we practice the way we do. It's why we train
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: the way that we do. It's why we think the
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: way that we do. It's Take a deep breath. Go
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: stack a great play and go do it again. But
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: we're excited for it.
• 15:33
  Speaker 7: I know you don't want to talk about injuries detailing,
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: but can you characterize Nicky and where he's progressed in
• 15:38
  Speaker 7: the last month from where he was to where he is?
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Not really.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Can you give any sense, though, because we've seen on
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: hard knocks his ebbs and flows in recovery and Just
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: how he's handled this.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Nick's been fantastic. And our training staff's been fantastic.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't an easy situation for him. But he's
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: done a great job to work through all that.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Anything else?
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: All right, thank you.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Thank you.