Latest / Seahawks Press Pass / Head Coach Mike Macdonald On Preparing For Sunday: "Let's Go Play Great Seahawk Football"
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
- 0:01Speaker 2: Greg was a part of today's media media session. Awesome,
- 0:09Speaker 2: all right, Uh, I'm sure got a great lot of
- 0:14Speaker 2: great injury questions.
- 0:16Speaker 1: Go ahead.
- 0:19Speaker 2: Yeah, Charles is good. Uh, you know, we'll see how
- 0:22Speaker 2: today goes. But we're optimistic for the game. But uh,
- 0:27Speaker 2: just working through working through his foot.
- 0:29Speaker 1: So how did Sam look yesterday?
- 0:31Speaker 3: Uh?
- 0:31Speaker 1: Good? Good? In terms of the plan, We're still still
- 0:35Speaker 1: on the plan. So uh.
- 0:38Speaker 2: I wasn't part of the offensive walkthrough just now, but
- 0:39Speaker 2: they said it went really well and feeling good.
- 0:44Speaker 4: Needs to have his arm and shape.
- 0:47Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not sure if that. I don't know if
- 0:49Speaker 1: I know the right answer to that.
- 0:50Speaker 2: I mean, if he feels better than he did going
- 0:55Speaker 2: into the game, and he showed that he could throw that,
- 0:58Speaker 2: and so.
- 1:02Speaker 1: You'd like him to get some throws before Sunday. What's
- 1:05Speaker 1: going on with Mary Kaye? Yeah, Mariy what was it again?
- 1:11Speaker 1: The knee? Your ankle? Uh yeah, just uh knee from
- 1:16Speaker 1: the game.
- 1:16Speaker 2: But it's not I mean kind of go day by
- 1:19Speaker 2: day right now and how it's going him him and
- 1:21Speaker 2: Josh for that matter.
- 1:22Speaker 1: It's just how it goes going into into Sunday. Day
- 1:27Speaker 1: to day. Yeah, we go for.
- 1:30Speaker 5: Some reason is logan next time you start looking at
- 1:32Speaker 5: Gray at left tackle, how that work.
- 1:37Speaker 2: We have a plan for it, you know, I don't
- 1:38Speaker 2: really want to say what we do, but we have
- 1:41Speaker 2: a plan for it.
- 1:45Speaker 6: When you when you look at the you mentioned yesterday,
- 1:47Speaker 6: like explosives or how you get all the points that
- 1:49Speaker 6: the Rams had in the last game when you look
- 1:51Speaker 6: at I think it was like ten or something. Was
- 1:53Speaker 6: there any theme there of how they got all those
- 1:56Speaker 6: that you noticed?
- 1:57Speaker 2: Well, let me clarify it's it's not like exclusive to
- 2:01Speaker 2: that game. I mean, that's a that's kind of a
- 2:03Speaker 2: that's kind of the normal recipe for not playing very
- 2:06Speaker 2: good defense is given up explosive plays. So, uh, yeah,
- 2:11Speaker 2: they did some good things where I mean, Stafford made
- 2:15Speaker 2: some great throws, you know, and and you know you
- 2:19Speaker 2: got a we can play them better, you know, I
- 2:21Speaker 2: mean and and uh in the run game, I felt
- 2:26Speaker 2: like it was probably more leaky yardages than explosives, like that,
- 2:28Speaker 2: they hit some explosive runs in the in the first game.
- 2:32Speaker 2: And then you know, there's just things we need to
- 2:34Speaker 2: be better aware of and be in a better positioned
- 2:36Speaker 2: to to play those plays without kind of getting at
- 2:38Speaker 2: all the details. But Uh, better execution by us will help,
- 2:42Speaker 2: and then better played by us and let's go play ball.
- 2:48Speaker 4: Like Kobe back in the line up for you last week,
- 2:50Speaker 4: what'd you kind of think his game stepping in there
- 2:52Speaker 4: after the time he was out.
- 2:55Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it didn't feel like he had been out
- 2:57Speaker 2: in terms of how sharp he played.
- 2:59Speaker 1: So he's doing a great up.
- 3:00Speaker 2: He's playing fast, got energy, affected the ball, take some
- 3:04Speaker 2: great shots at the ball.
- 3:05Speaker 1: So it's great to have him back.
- 3:08Speaker 5: About Jackson, his demeanor has really changed, even if it's
- 3:11Speaker 5: a game where he's not making a bunch of catches
- 3:12Speaker 5: or stats whatever. How do you how do you see that?
- 3:15Speaker 5: I mean it just literally his demeter hasn't changed, Like
- 3:17Speaker 5: the way you see his effort on the field and
- 3:19Speaker 5: things like that.
- 3:20Speaker 2: I think that's who he is, which is probably easy
- 3:24Speaker 2: for him to be that way because that's just the
- 3:26Speaker 2: type of guy is type of player. So it's kind
- 3:28Speaker 2: of like a non issue. You know, it's out there
- 3:31Speaker 2: trying to do what he can to help us win.
- 3:33Speaker 1: Like I've said this.
- 3:33Speaker 2: Before, you know that one of our best strategies to
- 3:36Speaker 2: win the game is to get Jacks the ball. Sometimes
- 3:39Speaker 2: it doesn't work out the way we want or the
- 3:41Speaker 2: ball doesn't find him and usually got to keep chipping
- 3:43Speaker 2: away at it, you know, make some adjustments maybe, you know,
- 3:46Speaker 2: put them in different spots, kind of get to you know,
- 3:48Speaker 2: more down the line and the game plan wise.
- 3:50Speaker 1: But this is who he is, so it's kind of
- 3:54Speaker 1: a non issue for us.
- 3:55Speaker 7: Jake Globo mentioned after the game Cooper cups run blocking.
- 3:58Speaker 7: I think he's joking, like Cooper's run blocking school or something.
- 4:02Speaker 7: When you have a receiver who's just accomplished everything he has,
- 4:04Speaker 7: super Bowl MVP player that year, all that to be
- 4:07Speaker 7: that focused on blocking and passing that on to younger receiver,
- 4:10Speaker 7: what does that.
- 4:11Speaker 5: Do for a team?
- 4:12Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean again, he's a forced multiplier for us,
- 4:15Speaker 2: especially in the receiver room. It's like it's like his
- 4:19Speaker 2: his expertise of the game is just it's fascinating me
- 4:21Speaker 2: because he did. It's like great teachers can make these
- 4:25Speaker 2: comp all these different things like very simple. So he
- 4:27Speaker 2: has very like there's a really great way to explain
- 4:31Speaker 2: these things to our guys, and a guy like me
- 4:33Speaker 2: can understand, you know where that's not really my thing,
- 4:37Speaker 2: you know, and so I can I can imagine what
- 4:39Speaker 2: how that would help guys? That actually can do that
- 4:42Speaker 2: type of stuff and so it's exciting, you know, it
- 4:44Speaker 2: makes it make it really come to life for those guys.
- 4:46Speaker 7: Has there been anybody else you've coached that has kind
- 4:49Speaker 7: of been like that, like a veteran guy who has
- 4:51Speaker 7: that understandings?
- 4:52Speaker 1: Interesting?
- 4:53Speaker 2: I think I think Eric Weddle was kind of ahead
- 4:56Speaker 2: of his time just in terms of seeing like the
- 4:58Speaker 2: whole game. You know, he would he would just be
- 5:01Speaker 2: telling guys like in real time how to play plays
- 5:04Speaker 2: because he knew it. It was just and at that
- 5:06Speaker 2: point in my career I wasn't. I didn't like, I
- 5:08Speaker 2: didn't know a lot of that stuff. So in my
- 5:10Speaker 2: mind like, how the heck does this guy know all
- 5:13Speaker 2: this stuff that's about to happen.
- 5:14Speaker 1: But he was very similar to Coop as blowally, these.
- 5:17Speaker 5: Guys talk about his impact in the room.
- 5:19Speaker 4: Though.
- 5:19Speaker 5: How impressed have you been by Cooper just with his
- 5:22Speaker 5: availability after a few injury played years and his production
- 5:25Speaker 5: is still but he can still do at this stage
- 5:26Speaker 5: of his career.
- 5:28Speaker 2: Well, I mean, are you surprised that the guy is
- 5:30Speaker 2: putt himself in position to play great football?
- 5:33Speaker 1: Not one bit.
- 5:33Speaker 2: I mean we've had a plan for him, you know,
- 5:36Speaker 2: like I think probably early in his career, like the
- 5:39Speaker 2: amount of workload.
- 5:39Speaker 1: That he would put in on a daily basis. It's
- 5:42Speaker 1: all good.
- 5:44Speaker 2: The amount of workload he put in on a daily basis,
- 5:46Speaker 2: you know, I think that might be able. He might
- 5:47Speaker 2: have taken a toll on him, but he's been really
- 5:49Speaker 2: smart on you know, Sam and the guys have done
- 5:52Speaker 2: a great job of managing his reps. And when he's
- 5:54Speaker 2: been out there, he's going, you know, one hundred miles
- 5:57Speaker 2: an hour, So I'm not surprised.
- 6:01Speaker 5: We talked about John and his impact that he did
- 6:03Speaker 5: actually win the award today for.
- 6:04Speaker 1: For examt Yeah, Dave told me that's awesome. Yeah, congrats,
- 6:07Speaker 1: it's great, well deserve Yeah.
- 6:09Speaker 5: Just I guess thoughts in general and just kind of
- 6:11Speaker 5: the jobs.
- 6:13Speaker 2: Well, I mean, name the thing that we've done. Name
- 6:15Speaker 2: name a thing that we've done since we've walked in
- 6:17Speaker 2: the door two years ago and especially this year, and uh,
- 6:22Speaker 2: we've gotten great returns I mean in terms of a
- 6:25Speaker 2: like action items. But I think I think I've talked
- 6:28Speaker 2: about this at length before, but to me, it's like
- 6:31Speaker 2: the leadership it's probably needs to get talked about more
- 6:34Speaker 2: with him on how on how he operates daily, you know,
- 6:37Speaker 2: and how he treats everybody in the environment that we've
- 6:40Speaker 2: been able to create around here is just I think
- 6:43Speaker 2: that's helped our development of our people. You know, that's
- 6:45Speaker 2: helped guys take the next steps in their career. And
- 6:47Speaker 2: you can kind of go down the list of coaches,
- 6:50Speaker 2: personnel players that have taken another step in their career
- 6:54Speaker 2: and if you know, you kind of trace.
- 6:55Speaker 1: It all the way back.
- 6:56Speaker 2: It's like, well, John's got a lot of responsibility in
- 6:59Speaker 2: the so and I'm sure if you was standing right here,
- 7:03Speaker 2: he'd be the first to think all of our personnel staff,
- 7:06Speaker 2: you know, just everybody being bought in the same thing,
- 7:08Speaker 2: and that that's the type of guy is. So I'm
- 7:11Speaker 2: really happy one he deserves it.
- 7:12Speaker 3: What do you remember about your first interactions with John?
- 7:16Speaker 6: I don't think you guys had really crossed paths before the.
- 7:18Speaker 2: Interviews, right, yeah, I you know, I had. We had
- 7:20Speaker 2: an interview at the hotel. Sit at the hotel, I
- 7:22Speaker 2: got a text if you wanted a coffee. I used
- 7:24Speaker 2: to live right there, so I knew where he was.
- 7:27Speaker 2: Hopped across the street and it was like we known
- 7:30Speaker 2: each other forever.
- 7:31Speaker 1: It's pretty cool. So but that's that's how that's that's
- 7:36Speaker 1: how he is.
- 7:36Speaker 2: You know, like he has this ability to put you
- 7:39Speaker 2: at ease and kind of take the edge off and
- 7:44Speaker 2: you know, let you relax and feel like you can
- 7:46Speaker 2: be yourself. And you know that's it's not an easy
- 7:50Speaker 2: quality to do, because I'm sure I don't do that.
- 7:53Speaker 4: Your first impression with him, when you sat down with him,
- 7:56Speaker 4: what's what stood out for you right away?
- 7:59Speaker 1: I think I think that was it.
- 8:00Speaker 2: I mean we took a you know, we were walking back,
- 8:02Speaker 2: so we got to spend some time him and I
- 8:03Speaker 2: and he was explaining like really like the thought behind
- 8:09Speaker 2: how the process went, who was part of it, what
- 8:11Speaker 2: the thinking was, kind of giving me the the whole
- 8:14Speaker 2: deal on just where they're where they were coming from.
- 8:17Speaker 2: And just to hear him about to talk about like
- 8:19Speaker 2: our people, it was just really cool, you know, like
- 8:21Speaker 2: talking about Nolan, like Noelan I think just got promoted,
- 8:25Speaker 2: so he's fired up about that. I remember him talking
- 8:26Speaker 2: about Nolan become the assistant GM, you know, the other
- 8:29Speaker 2: people like you know, Jody's excitement of the whole whole thing.
- 8:33Speaker 2: So part of the course, you can really really set
- 8:37Speaker 2: the tongue.
- 8:38Speaker 7: You.
- 8:38Speaker 3: Uh, obviously you're getting a lot of attention for the
- 8:41Speaker 3: vision video that got sat yesterday, and you're.
- 8:45Speaker 5: Somebody who just wants to stay in the now all
- 8:46Speaker 5: the time. Visioning is future.
- 8:48Speaker 1: So yeah, what was that process like for you to
- 8:50Speaker 1: kind of.
- 8:51Speaker 5: Look ahead and did that vision go beyond the NFC Championship.
- 8:56Speaker 1: Yeah, I think.
- 9:00Speaker 2: The goal of what what I was trying to portray
- 9:02Speaker 2: to the guys was the feeling of what we're trying
- 9:04Speaker 2: to create of that it is about us, and it's
- 9:08Speaker 2: about our connectedness, and it's about what we're what we're
- 9:12Speaker 2: striving to become as a football team. You know, the
- 9:15Speaker 2: NFC Championship was really just context of you know, where
- 9:19Speaker 2: we could go and of course you know, of course
- 9:21Speaker 2: we there's more goals to be had, but that was
- 9:24Speaker 2: really that was really the thought behind it. Yeah, I
- 9:29Speaker 2: think it's I think it's that simple, but it's good
- 9:32Speaker 2: to good to have visualization like that's a powerful tool
- 9:35Speaker 2: and I'm glad it worked.
- 9:37Speaker 4: Is Sean lived in I love in personnel for so
- 9:40Speaker 4: long as a coach, and then the three tight end
- 9:42Speaker 4: thing has been such a big thing about what they're
- 9:43Speaker 4: doing this year. How how have you seen that particular
- 9:46Speaker 4: piece that thirteen kind of evolved for them as the
- 9:48Speaker 4: season's gone, along with how they've done it and where
- 9:49Speaker 4: they're where they're.
- 9:50Speaker 5: Using it and deploying it.
- 9:51Speaker 2: Well, I think I think this is a great example
- 9:53Speaker 2: of how they've like of how they evolved from year
- 9:57Speaker 2: to year. You know, you can kind of take several
- 9:59Speaker 2: things over the last you know, I don't know, three
- 10:02Speaker 2: to five years from kind of when is this when
- 10:05Speaker 2: they've been making these playoff runs and they're a team
- 10:09Speaker 2: that evolves and adapts and grows throughout the season. I
- 10:11Speaker 2: think that's why they've been able to make these runs.
- 10:13Speaker 2: And so this is an example of that. I don't
- 10:16Speaker 2: want to put words in their mouth, but they got
- 10:18Speaker 2: great tight ends and you know, they found something that
- 10:23Speaker 2: was a weapon for him, you know, and they've been
- 10:25Speaker 2: able to kind of activate it. And it's not like
- 10:26Speaker 2: they're running the same stuff. You know, that has evolved
- 10:30Speaker 2: as well over the courses over the course of the year.
- 10:32Speaker 2: So which is the same thing they did when they're
- 10:34Speaker 2: an eleven and they still do that in eleven. So yeah,
- 10:38Speaker 2: I think but it's a great it's an easy example
- 10:40Speaker 2: to see how they operate and makes you, you know,
- 10:42Speaker 2: you definitely respect how they do it.
- 10:44Speaker 5: You see offensive play callers, how often do you see
- 10:47Speaker 5: that their play calling is predicated on down distance and
- 10:50Speaker 5: field position versus sequencing of like what they've done.
- 10:54Speaker 1: Yeah, it's both, it's both. It's just hey, what's the context?
- 10:57Speaker 1: You know? So both both of those things are context.
- 11:02Speaker 2: And play callers have personalities and things that they like
- 11:07Speaker 2: to do, and uh, I think it's our job to
- 11:10Speaker 2: try to identify those the best we can so we
- 11:12Speaker 2: can help our guys be in good situations. But yeah,
- 11:18Speaker 2: I mean, like, what information can you have on the
- 11:20Speaker 2: front end before we make a decision. Well, I'm gonna
- 11:21Speaker 2: try to use all that to our advantage. I'm sure
- 11:24Speaker 2: they're doing the same thing Sta I.
- 11:26Speaker 5: Forgot you a couple of times on no look past.
- 11:28Speaker 1: Is that do you coach against that?
- 11:30Speaker 2: Or is that in their moment?
- 11:32Speaker 5: Players play type.
- 11:32Speaker 2: Of Well it's hard to it's hard, it's hard to
- 11:35Speaker 2: like simulate, you know. But he's hasn't just got us,
- 11:39Speaker 2: He's gotten everybody to this point. Uh So it's going
- 11:42Speaker 2: to take discipline in our in our drops to try
- 11:45Speaker 2: to mitigate that as best we can. But he's dang
- 11:48Speaker 2: good at it, you know, and in the moment, it's
- 11:49Speaker 2: hard to it's hard to not go where he's looking, you.
- 11:53Speaker 4: Know, to the assignment to the fundamental Well, it.
- 11:57Speaker 1: Just it depends on what we're in, you know.
- 11:59Speaker 2: So it's kind of kind of goes back to one
- 12:02Speaker 2: of those things like you can't let how they operate
- 12:05Speaker 2: affect how we want to operate.
- 12:06Speaker 1: Just kind of a core principle.
- 12:07Speaker 2: So again, easier said than done. Something that we're working on.
- 12:12Speaker 5: But he's good at italing, throwing no look pastes and.
- 12:17Speaker 2: Practice this week, Uh, we haven't really like it's kind
- 12:21Speaker 2: of a hard ass like just just go just go
- 12:23Speaker 2: play high level football and give us play fast, you know,
- 12:26Speaker 2: play decisive. You know, this is kind of like a tangent,
- 12:31Speaker 2: but like we just we just don't believe in like
- 12:32Speaker 2: just running the card and then like throw to like
- 12:35Speaker 2: throw to where the route is circled, or like defensively
- 12:38Speaker 2: like bite on this route or like give me the
- 12:41Speaker 2: like now, let's go play great Seahawk football, Go play fast,
- 12:44Speaker 2: let our guys go react in real time, make calls,
- 12:47Speaker 2: and we'll try to give the best looks we can
- 12:50Speaker 2: in some of those scouted looks, but at the end
- 12:52Speaker 2: of the day, like you.
- 12:54Speaker 1: Know, you can't.
- 12:55Speaker 2: There's just there's a spot for getting like the perfect
- 12:56Speaker 2: picture and stuff.
- 12:57Speaker 1: But I don't know, we don't. We just can't.
- 13:02Speaker 2: We'd rather just go play great football and sharp each
- 13:04Speaker 2: other that way.
- 13:05Speaker 5: Do you expect China know us who and Robbie Boots
- 13:07Speaker 5: to be available?
- 13:09Speaker 2: I think Robbie's going to be out there today in
- 13:11Speaker 2: some capacity, and so it's China Like coaches.
- 13:14Speaker 7: At every level are going to say they want to
- 13:16Speaker 7: be good in all three phases and special teams is important.
- 13:19Speaker 7: Yet you see a lot of disparity around the league
- 13:21Speaker 7: as somebody who's team now is having success on teams
- 13:24Speaker 7: and who played for a or worked for a special
- 13:26Speaker 7: teams guy in Harbor, like where, what do you think
- 13:29Speaker 7: the difference is in the teams that actually thrived there?
- 13:34Speaker 2: Well, I can just tell you from our perspective is
- 13:40Speaker 2: just that's what we believe in.
- 13:42Speaker 1: So we're going to.
- 13:43Speaker 2: Try to back that up the best we can. I
- 13:44Speaker 2: think it goes back to one of those just kind
- 13:46Speaker 2: of how we want to operate. It look like we're
- 13:48Speaker 2: going to tell you that what we think is important
- 13:50Speaker 2: and how we want to operate like principle wise and
- 13:53Speaker 2: then again like how you build trust and how you
- 13:56Speaker 2: actually develop things and actually how you grow. You got
- 13:57Speaker 2: to back it up with your actions. So it's how
- 13:59Speaker 2: you invest in. It's you know, who you have out
- 14:01Speaker 2: there or who you have coaching them. You know, Jay
- 14:03Speaker 2: and Fits have done a tremendous job, and we got
- 14:07Speaker 2: great players that like buy in, you know, and they
- 14:09Speaker 2: and they love playing, They love playing for those guys,
- 14:13Speaker 2: and they've done a great job.
- 14:14Speaker 6: George Lane, how do you look in practice back?
- 14:17Speaker 1: George's doing a good job, doing a great job.
- 14:19Speaker 6: I think Elijah practice all week wasn't active. You mentioned
- 14:22Speaker 6: some roster stuff.
- 14:23Speaker 2: Do you have the same same situation this week? There's
- 14:25Speaker 2: a possibility of him being up. Frankly, we're still working
- 14:30Speaker 2: through like the roster combinations of what's gonna be best
- 14:33Speaker 2: going into the game.
- 14:35Speaker 3: You've talked about trust quite a bit, friend, you know,
- 14:38Speaker 3: first back and you just how do you build that
- 14:41Speaker 3: and how is that continuing with the players coach that whole.
- 14:45Speaker 2: Kind of Yeah, it's just like it's kind of back
- 14:49Speaker 2: to the integrity thing, like are you gonna do what
- 14:52Speaker 2: you said you're gonna do if you keep doing that,
- 14:54Speaker 2: it's gonna build trust. Do you coach stuff that works?
- 14:58Speaker 2: You know, if I tell you to do something it
- 14:59Speaker 2: helps you go play good football. I'm gonna build trust,
- 15:02Speaker 2: you know if I If it goes opposite, you know,
- 15:05Speaker 2: then it's a fragile thing. Like you can build trust
- 15:07Speaker 2: all the way up and lose it like that. And
- 15:08Speaker 2: so it's something that we take really seriously. Yeah, and look,
- 15:15Speaker 2: the look the players know, they know who the good
- 15:17Speaker 2: players are, they know who the good coaches are. They
- 15:19Speaker 2: know if you're full of crap or not. They know
- 15:22Speaker 2: all the things. So there's no tricking them. That's that's
- 15:25Speaker 2: you just got to You gotta lay all your cards
- 15:27Speaker 2: out on the table and work together and go get
- 15:29Speaker 2: it done.
- 15:31Speaker 3: On regaining trust change or evolved.
- 15:34Speaker 1: You know when players kind of uh, look you're looking
- 15:39Speaker 1: at a guy that didn't play.
- 15:41Speaker 2: So you know, from my perspective, it was like, well,
- 15:47Speaker 2: you better coach them stuff that works, you know, otherwise
- 15:50Speaker 2: they're gonna look at you like you know, what do
- 15:51Speaker 2: you know?
- 15:52Speaker 1: So that's kind of where it started.
- 15:54Speaker 2: And then you just look, I mean they want to
- 15:56Speaker 2: they have goals, they want to play a certain way,
- 15:58Speaker 2: they want to play great football, so and they want
- 16:01Speaker 2: people that already invested them and believe in them. So
- 16:03Speaker 2: if you if you show that, you don't have to
- 16:05Speaker 2: tell them, hey, I am believe. It's like, just show
- 16:06Speaker 2: it through your actions and they'll they'll see it, they'll
- 16:10Speaker 2: feel it, you know, and that's how you build it.
- 16:12Speaker 2: But I don't think I don't think it's changed over
- 16:14Speaker 2: the course of years. I mean, it's sharpened, you know,
- 16:17Speaker 2: it's evolved. I don't think it's changed.
- 16:18Speaker 3: Have you noticed the forecast is getting closer to thirty seven?
- 16:22Speaker 1: Oh wow, it's interesting.
- 16:25Speaker 4: Anything else?
- 16:26Speaker 1: All right, all right, thank you