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Mike Macdonald: "There Are A Lot Of Positives" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I'll get in trouble for that, all right, good to see. Uh,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say everybody, but yeah, good day. You know,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: two days after.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: The game, morning practice, just trying to stay sharp on
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: these ten am starts.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: So uh it's a good day.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: So well, but act later and then obviously going to
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Green Bay.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: On traveling to Green Bay on Wednesday. That yeah, yeah,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: it really excited me.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Look, it's exciting because we're we're to my knowledge, we're
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: ahead of schedule, which is really cool. So I know
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Chen has been working his tail off, which is par
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: for the course for him and our training staff just
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: uh had a great plan.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Guy's done a great job.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: And so uh yeah, so he's gonna be back with us,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: So he's gonna start kind of we have a plan
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: to kind of ramp him up here over the course
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: of the rest of the train, the rest of going
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: into the first game, and uh give us an option
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: to possibly get out there early in the season.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: What's Tory Horton's.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Ankle?
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Looking through it, it doesn't seem serious though.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Not to my knowledge.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: Is it safe to say the mostly that you're still
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: kind of like the wait and see in terms of availability.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: For well, you know, I think it's probably too early
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: to come to any conclusions, but we have a preliminary
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: timetable that gets us around the beginning of the season.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Uh, there's some.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Check mark you checkpoints we got to hit along the way.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: So the first thing is just do an individual going
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: through walkthrough standing sharp mentally, which he'll he'll be ready.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: On all that, but we got to get to do
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: that first.
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: When you watch the film, we just kind of what's
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: sat down to you from watching the field.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: We can't the city.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: There's a there's a lot of the things we felt
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: coming off the field. I thought our guys played really
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: hard all three units. There's some situational stuff. I thought
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: we did really well at the end of at the
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: end of the half, and at the beginning of the
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  Speaker 2: third quarter. There's some situational stuff that felt fell short
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a little bit, but it was great the guys.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Guys did a great job. You know.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: The spirit on the sidelines was awesome. Coaches were dialed in.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: I think our operation improved from the first game as
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: a coaching staff. So a lot of positives and I
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: think there's a lot of hunger too. There's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of eagerness to keep keep the ball rolling and improve
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: on it and go to Green Bay. MA.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Chenna is cool though for a game. What kind of
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the presidences agree for that?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Edger?
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I think he felt in the Minnesota game was probably
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: his best season later or best game last year is
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: probably when he felt his best ten as a leader
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: for US.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: On defense.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: He's a great edge player on early downs. He's got physicality,
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  Speaker 2: He's very, very incredibly smart. He's got a great feel
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: for the game, so you know, activating on some of
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: those pass rush opportunities in the play action game. I
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: think he's really good at and then third down he
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: can run inside and outside.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: He's a great game runner.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: It's got great chemistry those like guys like Leo and
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: things like that, and obviously plays really hard.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: So I had a lot of boxes right there. But
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: he's a heckup of player.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Where are you at? I guess I'm settling on the
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: offensive line and.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gett we're getting close.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if we're gonn announce it or
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: whatever about we're getting close, Mike.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Early in practice, it looks like you of positions and
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: pointed words and.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: What is the gist of that message? Oh, it was
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: just hell, wasn't anything from a leadership.
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: From a leadership perspective, what when when a young team,
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  Speaker 5: a new system has success like they have these original
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: preseason but ult grant scheme. As a leaders and coaching staff,
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: what are you trying to do big picture to get
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: them beyond the results of two preseason.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Well, this is a this is a great opportunity to
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: be relentless.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: You know, let's be popping out of our skin every
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: time we get a chance to take the field and
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  Speaker 2: play our style.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Of the ball. So that's the expectation. We had a
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: really good practice today.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: We had a really good practice. Guys, guys flew around.
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  Speaker 2: I thought we executed well. I think the offense did
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: some great things there in the red zone. Defensively, I
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: felt like we played had a great start to practice.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: So we'll watch the tape at the end see how
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: it finished up, especially with the young guys. But I
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: thought the guys did a really good job today. Maoris,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I think I think you felt Nick out there and
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: he's got to get activated to get going. I think, so,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: you know, being ready for the calls or in the
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: game is going to help them, especially going through like
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: a game prep. I think that'll help them throughout the week, right,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: you know, you have to you have to remind yourself,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: like with rookies when they're going not all offenses are
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: the same, you know, so you kind of get used
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: to seeing our offense and that comes with like a
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: rhythm and formations and things that I expect. So when
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the picture changes, operation changes for all rookies. You know,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: that's a challenge for him, especially you're not going through
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: the cadence of the week of getting guys repaired, so
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: it's kind of places more of a premium on guys,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of win early in the down.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: When he does that, he's done really well.
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: He kind of had him.
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  Speaker 4: Someone you're thinking of another preseason game they played in
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  Speaker 4: the finale or the practice.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll see how the joint practice goes on how
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: we want to play guys. Right now, I don't have
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: him slotted playing in the game, assuming that the practice
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: goes well, but reserve the right to change that.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: You mentioned the ten am starts I have you guys
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: have had a lot of success in that really the
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: last few years.
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  Speaker 3: But is there something specific you mentioned.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: That there's no like studies behind when you practice. Mean,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: there's not like a scientific method to this thing. It's
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: just we want the feeling of what it feels like
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: to get up and get active and get gone. I mean,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: the late morning window is a good performance window for you.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: It's not as good as like mid afternoon, but so
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: if you can use it to your advantage, if you
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: get the inputs right.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: So it's just it's really just get a couple of
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: extra reps at doing it.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: So when you know when it's for real, our guys understand,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: you know, how to get their body ready to go play.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: It seems like you're got to become a close to
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: a decision on the center spot. How do you have
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: that conversation with the guy that doesn't end up becoming
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: a starter but that's battled is tailor point?
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: Those I mean, and it's you know, you're making decisions
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: with your roster, whether you know who's in on the
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: initial fifty three, who's on the initial practice squad. I mean,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: these are all big conversations that you want to have.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: But I wouldn't say this is a this is a
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: through not around thing. It says, hey, look this is
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the way we see it. This is how things have
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: played out. Who this is, who we feel like gives
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: us the best chance to go go in games. And
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: it's and it's not like this guy's can do it
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: and this guy can't. It's just you're carrying and at
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  Speaker 2: some point you have to make a decision because that's
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: the best for the team.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: So those conversations will happen at some point.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: They happened a lot last year, and uh yeah, I
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: mean this is that's it's how you have to do business,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: and a lot and hopefully these conversations aren't like a
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: surprising to anybody. To a certain extent, you want to
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: be like shocking guys. You want to you want to
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: keep that communication, you know, fluid throughout the whole process,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: so guys understand what's expected of them. And if they're
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: falling short in a certain area, uh, you give an
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: opportunity to make it right.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: And grace Abel, do you see evidence of like the
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: chemistry that has been playing together.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I haven't asked in that, but I don't see why
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: that couldn't be the case. I thought.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: I thought Jalen played a tremendous game. Coaches felt the
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: same way. Played fast, hit.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: His targets, speaking of the devil there he is. Uh, yeah,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that's probably the case. It probably exists. Great.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Just in the two games you've seen from what if you.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Liked, Well, it's not too big for him. There's poise there.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: I thought his execution has been really good. Uh still
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: plays out on the table for him, which is cool.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: There's an opportunity to grow and he'll hit those things.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, this guy talking about putting making the process
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: right is uh, just done it. He's done a phenomenal
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  Speaker 2: job and he's stayed hungry and he's chasing those little
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: details that's gonna make him a great player.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: How impress the based mobility down the line of scrimmage,
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: up the field.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: That's that's his arguably is his biggest strength is his athleticism.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: So that's that's It's fun to watch with the special.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: Teams issues on this past game and chance like a film,
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: how much of it was executions?
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Game?
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Like, what was your diagnost? What's going on there?
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: This isn't like a this isn't a cop out, but
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: it's it is. It's execution. You know what we're asking
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: these guys up is very clear.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Uh, sound We're not doing anything crazy right now schematically,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: and we have to we have to be able to
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: get runners down and get off blocks and make plays
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: and not get field position flipped on us.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: They don't hold him.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: He was out of here today, so not in a
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: heavy capacity. He was out of here today. Yeah, hopefully
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping he practices against Green Bay.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: You still think any tyree night for a week ones possibility.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: We're we're gonna get some more information in a few days.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: That'll that'll have some more clarity on uh, on his situation.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: But I'd say optimistic.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: Do you have an understanding how the virtual measurement system
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: is supposed to work?
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: No, I gotta get some clarity on that because it, uh,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: you know, we were laughing while while they were doing
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: it that you know, this is like ticket forever.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: But I'm sure, I'm sure they're working out kinks or
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: whatever however all that works. But I'm for it.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, at some points it should be pretty quick
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: and I think it's probably the most accurate thing.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: So why not do it?
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: Do you like to tackle the first?
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: I think by our bar account again, I think we
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: had five missed. Again, then UH put a little bit
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: more rack after these miss ones than the first game,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: but I thought the tackling has been strong in both
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: both performances.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Ken got back today. When he's been out on the field,
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: what have you seen from him in this camp?
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: He looks he looks great, he's fast, he's hit his
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: you know, hitting his targets, reading out pretty well. It's
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: excited to have him out there, you know, I think
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: is when he's been out there, it's been been really good.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: With the time he's missed between his spring and the summer.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Like, where are you at with kind of the balance
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: of trying to take care of him and protect him
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: but also needing him to get those reps in.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. It's uh, it's a balance.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: You know. You got to just make the best decision
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: you can.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot of walk through reps they
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: need to be have, but at some point, you know,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: you have to your point that you got to do
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: it on the field so you feel confident to go
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: out there and execute at a high level and play
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: your best football.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: So that's something that we're working through.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: And he's doing the best he can and we're doing
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: the best we can as a coaching staff and We're
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: just just got to work together on this thing as
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: as it unfolds.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Practice plan is, Yes, has any.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: Change for your plan on the joint practice for last
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: year's week two of the preseason this weeks the last
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: week that changed the term?
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Maybe you want to get out there and how you
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: going to approach it?
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Well, it's it's it's just one so it is a
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: little bit different. You do have to kind of keep
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: the timetable. But I think that's one of the reasons
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: why you just do one practice. But now this is
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: an opportunity for our ones and twos to be in
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: this environment and practice against a great team and get
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: some great work in. That's you know, he's done a
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: nice job. I know you had the holding call, but
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: he's really working on his on his on his run
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: game stuff. You know, Max doing a great job with them.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: The vets in the room are doing a great job.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: I thought he's caught the ball with strong hands, been
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: decisive in his routes, playing fast. Uh, they're there's another
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: level he can take it. He knows that and and
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: he's gonna get there. You know, he's Uh, he's doing
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: a lot of great stuff.
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: That touchdown is that exactly the value he brings and
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: what you attracted to give.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Well's I mean that's a that's a that's a routine block.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: But that's something that we're we do a lot of.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Consistent execution. Absolutely, guys steadfast in his approach, how he operates.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: He can do a lot of things.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: He's not just to in line why he's not just
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and he can do a lot of you know, second
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: tight end, moved tight end type stuff too, and catch
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: the ball well, runs good routes.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: He's tough, a lot of a lot of positives with
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: with sobby.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Special teams too.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Yeah, you talked about it.
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: I think Ratford before kind of how he transformed his
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: body a little bit maybe in the off season.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: Have you seen that really manifest himself, especially in these games.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Well, I think when you watch the tape, he felt
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: the physicality and then I thought he finished plays the
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: best that he has on tape up to this point
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: was it was this game. So let's keep stacking those performances,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: you know, let's let's stay relentless on a play and
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: play out basis, and and he can play some really
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: really great football if he does that.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: Have you guys major decisions on the Saturn Right card yet.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Uh, I don't know, maybe maybe not M