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Mike Macdonald: "Leonard Williams Is Playing At An Elite Level" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, man, what a what a crazy game. Uh.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: I think that like the first time ever that ever
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: happened in the NFL, Like the whole series of events
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: in the first half.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: But our you know, our guys are resilient, and we
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: didn't we didn't bat an eye.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: We stayed you know, stayed the course.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: There's some crazy, you know, sequences events that just happened,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: and but you know, you got to stick to the plan.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: You gotta stay together, and our guys did that. And
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: then to be able to close it out was was
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: awesome for us. Obviously a lot of things. Obviously we
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: got to clean up on really all three phases. We've
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: got to protect the ball better in the in the
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: kicking game, for sure, so we'll definitely review that, and
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: that'd be great to we need to be able to
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: convert in the black zone, uh, you know, the low
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: red zone on offense. So but it's great to be
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: able to close it out as a great drive at
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: the end by our offense. We nominated Dicko as the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: honorary player of the game for not being available for
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: us having to go for it on fourth down.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: In all seriousness, I mean, I do want to like
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: just officially.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I don't know how this works, but if we can
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: nominate Leonard Williams for Player of the week, he's just
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: playing at an all time elite level and you know,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: to have a pick six. I think they told me
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: he was going about seventeen and a half miles an hour,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: which was pretty fast for a man that size. So
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: he's playing, he's playing his mind out of his mind
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: So it was Dixon hurt while you went fourth on
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: fourth and sixty fourth.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: That was that was a fun conversations in the headset.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: He was not gonna punt the rest.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Of the game.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: The plan wasn't for him not to punt the rest
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: of the game.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: So either Jamia could have gone out there and punted
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: or we would have gone for it.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: So would have been one of the two.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: The pick six, I mean, obviously, anytime the defense coorse
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: is big, but given everything that's going on in the
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: game at that point, the turnovers, the touchdown return, for
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: him to do that, just how big was that?
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Well? I mean that was a team play.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, uh, just getting to his landmark, making a
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: play on the ball obviously, and then the rest of that,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, I can't wait to watch it on tape,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: but it just felt like everybody got into plus mode.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: We got some really critical blocks to kind of escort
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Leo and the end zone. So everybody deserves credit. But
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: that was that was a big time playing the game.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Probably the play of the game.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: It's a lot of focus on Ellen Williams and all
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: the plays he made. He talked about the second and
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: ten play before this act where Julian Love diagnosed the
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Datoss screen of the middle.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a great play.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I mean that the second third, fourth down was you know,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: we just talked about just being in the being a
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: rough spot just where we want to be on defense
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: and those guys that staying mentally just in present, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: from play to play. But to be able to see
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: that play and make it was awesome. We weren't able
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to create a lot of third and lungs and so
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: it was great to get him in that situation finally,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: been awesome to convert earlier in the series. But you know,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: it's the NFL. They got great players too, and they
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: made a play.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: So fourth and sixth the percentage just converning that have
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: to be so low.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, did you give serious thought to actually having
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Jason Myris pond there was a yeah.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I didn't think of I did think about it, but
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: I just you know, it's just one of those deals
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: where it was best for us to go for it.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: What did happen to Michael there?
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: What was his injury? Yeah, he kept going back spasms,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I think, so what we're calling it. So he's in
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: good spirits and everything. It's just a matter of we
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: just got to get it loosened up. I guess I'm
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: not sure how that works.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: On the third and twenty sixth play where they got
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: twenty four.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Yards, well, is an extended play, and I think we
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: our flat player ended up plastering one of their guys
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: and so the zone got kind of drained, and so
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: you know, we'll look at that and make sure our
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: rules are sound so you know we're not getting drained
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: in zones and stuff on extended plays.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: But I think that was just that Julian's tackle on
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: that last if he also had the force fumble just
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: over in a past breakups. Overall, what's he been giving
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: you this season?
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean both, you know, both with Kobe two
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: and then ray Sean coming in and playing at a
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: high level.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: In our nickel and dime spot.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Really those three guys right now or letting us do
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: a lot of things that most you know, some defenses
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: aren't able to you know, be able to play man
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: demand playing the playing all three areas at the zones,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: you know, all three levels of defense, excuse me, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: then be able to blitz. So they kind of do
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: everything which lets us opens up our playbook.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Is just your general message at halftime because they get
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: to any one points the first half, then you should Yeah, I.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Mean, it was just say, like, you know, it might
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: have been the craziest first half of all time and
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: we're down you know, whatever amount of points. It was
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: like five points or something, and so just kind of
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: stick to the playlists.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Go how do you I mean the kickoff stuff, is
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: that all just fundamental errors or I.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Guess how do you explain?
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, seem like it's kind of a comedy of things
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: on each one on the I'm talking about our kickoff right, Yeah,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: he has missed a couple of mistackles here, and then
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: we we had a miscommunication on another one, so we
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: gotta we gotta take a look at that and make
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: sure we're on the same page and we're go in
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: the right direction.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: You're first place for December.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Now what does that mean to you?
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Well, we talk about December football, and this is when
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: you want to be playing your best ball. I wouldn't
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: say this is our best game, but we won and
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: that's all it matters. So it's about stacking those wins.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: And you got to play a certain rand of ball
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: to win in December. And this is all you can
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: ask for is a chance to take it home down
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: the stretch. So we're right in it and off to
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Arizona we go, no matter ways dropped.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: From nose on that interception.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: How often have.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: They done that? How often does a nose drop?
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: We just tell everybody, hey, os two drops a game,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: so you can rush the rest of the time.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: What what what happened to dk Metcalf when he came
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: out for those couple of plays?
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: He tweaked his knee and then did a bunch of
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: tests and stuff, and.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I think he's I think he's going all right. Right now,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: we'll see.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Did you get a sense of Lao Maya how he
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: did this first start?
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: You know, I think our offensive line, for for the
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: most I thought we ran the ball well in spurts.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: You know, it just needs to be more consistent. I
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: think he you know, probably started off.
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  Speaker 2: I think he started out off a little slow on
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: a couple of assignments, but bounce back and gave us
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: a winning performance.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Just in general, with Leonard, what do you make of
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: the season he's having.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, I had a hard time thinking that anybody's
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: playing better than him right now, So.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: We'll take Leonard over everybody else.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: The fourth down, the fourth and your guys fourth and one.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: When Gino got sacked there, I guess what happened on
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: that play.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: I didn't wanted to see.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Well, I think they they did a great job of
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: matching the route and then and then.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So that made him hold the ball.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: You know, those are situations where it's kind of this
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: sounds crazy, but it's better to throw it away than
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: take a sack in that situation because the reason you're
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: going for it is if you don't get it, you're
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: getting it on them.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: You know, you get the field position. So but they,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: you know, credit to them, they made a great play.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: What did you think of gs did? I mean, we
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: won the game. He took care of the ball for
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the most part.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: He made some critical fourth down extended plays that not
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: a lot of people on this planet can make.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: And then.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: If I he managed the game, well, we didn't have
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: to ruin any timeouts. I mean, those are the types
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: of game that's that's that's the way he has to
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: play for us to win, and he did that.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: I'm guessing one of those plays is the one where
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: he's going backwards and hits Jackson.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: And just yeah, I think that was fourth down, wasn't it.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I mean just everybody involved getting into extended play mode.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: And then Geno giving a ball he can catch and
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: the I mean, that's that's a tough ball to catch
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: for Jackson and he did a great job tracking it
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: and coming down with it.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: It was a big time on the red tone possession.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: You guys didn't make it in from the four yard
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: line and there's five passes inside the four yard line.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: What were the thought.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Process behind that?
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I don't want to I want to get into like
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: the thought process on it, but we do. We do
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: have to be better in those situations. We have to
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: be able to convert those. So we're gonna we'll look
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: at how we're game planning it, what we're calling, and
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: of all the things right there, So we need to be
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: more effective in those situations.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: You, Murphy.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: And also I'm sorry by boy to enable Williams to
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: make those plays.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Can you talk about his team? Yeah? Well, yeah, you're right,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: it's a team.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: It's a team pass rush, and you have to be
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: able to knock out early now in plays, uh, to
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: get the quarterback to hold the ball in pass situations. So,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know Leonard's playing incredibly well right now,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: but the guy like Jared Reid comes to mind that
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: is playing really good football for us.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: I think.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Byron can play the A gap and the B gap
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: really well for us on early downs. He doesn't give
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: as many Pastor's opportunities because of what because where Leo's at,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: and because we're trying to maximize his opportunities as well.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: But when he does get those chances.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: He's done a great job and he's gonna he's got
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: a pack of a future.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Don't have a great feel for how the edge guy's
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: played right now, but boy A and Derek Hall and
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: and Draymond. I think Draymond's been playing really good ball lately.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: So those three guys are I mean every the front
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Is.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: I think there's a really good chemistry in that room,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: and so you know, they're happy for each other's success,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: and they're they're playing like that.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: They're not.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: We're not playing selfish football up front. We're playing smart.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: We're playing together and that's what's going to take for
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: us to win down stretch.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: When the Jets have eleven penalties and.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Eight in the fourth quarter, do you feel like you
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: guys are getting the second life each time there? And
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: how important is it to take advantage of those.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when teams, when teams give you opportunities
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: to take advantage of breaks, you have to capitalize on
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: those things. I could speak for our team. I don't
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: know how many penals we had, didn't feel like as many.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: It was like four or five penalties. So our guys
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: are Our guys are playing clean football, which is good.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: We need that. But it's good to take advantage of opportunities.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't given them anything else. Thank you, Thanks guys,