Latest / Seahawks Press Pass / Mike Macdonald: "I'm Really Excited For Our Group This Year"
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Well, you could look at it two ways.
- 0:03Speaker 2: You could look at it as a challenge that you
- 0:04Speaker 2: have to deal with every year, or you could look
- 0:06Speaker 2: at it like it's a.
- 0:07Speaker 1: Blessing that you have, you know, turnover on your offensive
- 0:09Speaker 1: side of the ball, it means you have success.
- 0:12Speaker 2: We try to look at it through the you know,
- 0:13Speaker 2: the second lens of guys having opportunities and growing. And
- 0:18Speaker 2: I think the overarching theme is we want continuity in
- 0:20Speaker 2: that system. We want to be running the Seattle Seahawks
- 0:23Speaker 2: offense from now until until they have me, you know.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Uh.
- 0:27Speaker 2: And I think we have a lot of talented guys
- 0:28Speaker 2: in the building too that can keep expanding their roles
- 0:30Speaker 2: over time. So it's just something you have to deal
- 0:33Speaker 2: with from year to year and but you also have
- 0:35Speaker 2: to have a long term plan as well.
- 0:36Speaker 1: And I think it's a great opportunity for us.
- 0:39Speaker 2: You know, if you want to coach offense football at
- 0:41Speaker 2: a high level, there's gonna be a lot of turnover
- 0:43Speaker 2: on that side of the ball.
- 0:44Speaker 1: And just I'm really excited for our group this year.
- 0:48Speaker 2: You know, we've had some great, great coaches including Brian
- 0:51Speaker 2: and you know, guys like Thomas Hammock, Daniel Stern. Uh,
- 0:55Speaker 2: those guys are are really great coaches. You know they're
- 0:57Speaker 2: gonna they're gonna add to our crew.
- 0:59Speaker 1: Let's just challenge me a defensive game coach in game.
- 1:07Speaker 2: Well, in game I have a lot of help by
- 1:11Speaker 2: Leslie Frazier does a great job, you know, being able
- 1:13Speaker 2: to bounce ideas off of Brianaires is our game management guy.
- 1:17Speaker 2: You know, he's He's a guy that I lean on
- 1:19Speaker 2: pretty heavily. So they do a lot of heavy lifting
- 1:21Speaker 2: on game days. It's actually kind of night I think
- 1:24Speaker 2: if I was off to play card to have a
- 1:25Speaker 2: guy kind of telling me how to handle situations rather
- 1:28Speaker 2: than having to. Most of the craziest situations happen when
- 1:31Speaker 2: you're on offense, So to have kind of like a
- 1:33Speaker 2: third party being able to kind of guide that actually
- 1:36Speaker 2: think it might be more of an asset than people
- 1:37Speaker 2: might anticipate.
- 1:38Speaker 1: But to me, the most.
- 1:39Speaker 2: Challenging thing for me is just handling the time throughout
- 1:42Speaker 2: the week, make sure you're thorough enough, come up with
- 1:45Speaker 2: a great defensive game plan with our staff, and honestly,
- 1:48Speaker 2: for me, getting ready to call the game will also
- 1:50Speaker 2: probably the front end responsibilities to being a head coach.
- 1:53Speaker 2: Early in the week and then being able to get
- 1:54Speaker 2: caught up so everybody's on the same pitch at the
- 1:56Speaker 2: end of the week has.
- 1:57Speaker 1: Been the probably the biggest challenge.
- 2:00Speaker 2: That how back well.
- 2:09Speaker 1: I think the takeaways we had was.
- 2:14Speaker 2: It's like we went into this new frontier where we
- 2:16Speaker 2: didn't have a lot of experience. And this is something
- 2:18Speaker 2: we talked about throughout the week, throughout the season of
- 2:21Speaker 2: as we get to these kind of these stages as
- 2:23Speaker 2: a team, Uh, I haven't I haven't been through those.
- 2:27Speaker 2: A lot of our team hasn't been through it.
- 2:29Speaker 1: So what do you do. Well, Let's let's.
- 2:30Speaker 2: Appry, let's apply our process to it, apply our principles,
- 2:33Speaker 2: and then kind of manage it from there, understanding there's
- 2:36Speaker 2: gonna be some differences and how you need to get
- 2:38Speaker 2: ready for the game.
- 2:39Speaker 1: And our guys are awesome with it. You know, they
- 2:40Speaker 1: just kind of took it and stride.
- 2:41Speaker 2: I felt like we were us all week, and that's
- 2:44Speaker 2: really the focus is maintaining like kind of who we
- 2:46Speaker 2: are and our principles and then you know, understanding the
- 2:49Speaker 2: things that are going to be different, you kind of
- 2:50Speaker 2: just be able to move and shake, stay flexible.
- 2:52Speaker 1: And those things happened a game you and in floating
- 2:58Speaker 1: the process?
- 3:00Speaker 2: Would you here for the first year coach like Jesse
- 3:04Speaker 2: navigating for three or four months on the.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Job and everything that you have to do.
- 3:08Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not easy. I felt like I was drinking
- 3:13Speaker 2: from fires for from a lot. But uh, I think
- 3:16Speaker 2: if you put too much pressure on you to like
- 3:18Speaker 2: make all those decisions, I can gain of get overwhelming.
- 3:21Speaker 2: So really it's just it's like part of our language
- 3:24Speaker 2: is like take it day by day, like stack those
- 3:26Speaker 2: those decisions every day.
- 3:27Speaker 1: Understand that it's gonna get done.
- 3:29Speaker 2: It might not be in the time that you want
- 3:31Speaker 2: it to be in, you know, but stick to your process.
- 3:34Speaker 1: You know.
- 3:34Speaker 2: They're like, just they hired Jesse for a reason because
- 3:37Speaker 2: of the things he believes in and who he is.
- 3:38Speaker 2: So like trust that, you know, trust your instincts, trust
- 3:41Speaker 2: the things that you want your team to be about.
- 3:43Speaker 1: And then and then go rip it.
- 3:44Speaker 2: What's your what's your favorite chessa mintor do you think
- 3:46Speaker 2: of Jesse mintor what's your favorite Jesse mintor story? Oh man,
- 3:52Speaker 2: I have a couple I probably shouldn't share publicly, uh,
- 3:56Speaker 2: for various reasons, but uh, probably the national championship only
- 4:00Speaker 2: go down there and and uh, just to see you
- 4:03Speaker 2: know a lot of those guys are are players that
- 4:05Speaker 2: I were, that I was familiar with some of those coaches,
- 4:07Speaker 2: So to see them in that atmosphere having taken like
- 4:10Speaker 2: those next steps in like in their in their like
- 4:12Speaker 2: their young career, and like the job that he was,
- 4:15Speaker 2: he's able to do like bring those guys together, the
- 4:16Speaker 2: way they played like the POI you felt such a
- 4:19Speaker 2: poise on that side of the ball in person, you know,
- 4:22Speaker 2: it just felt like, man, there were rock solid and
- 4:25Speaker 2: just really proud of them, you know. To see him
- 4:27Speaker 2: with his family after the game, I thought that was
- 4:28Speaker 2: just that was a really special moment.
- 4:31Speaker 1: The biggest big the biggest spoil. I don't know.
- 4:38Speaker 2: You know what's funny is like it's it's really cool
- 4:40Speaker 2: and I don't really think about it until someone brings
- 4:42Speaker 2: it up to me, like because you feel like I'm
- 4:43Speaker 2: the same person, you know, which is I think that
- 4:46Speaker 2: puts everything in perspective.
- 4:47Speaker 1: It's just why are we actually doing what we do?
- 4:49Speaker 2: It's really just like to defend our way of life,
- 4:52Speaker 2: you know that like we can we can be Seahawks
- 4:54Speaker 2: and being great, emphasis on people and enjoy the people
- 4:57Speaker 2: that were like enjoy how we go about our.
- 4:59Speaker 1: Business and that people were with every day.
- 5:01Speaker 2: If we would have lost again, I would have felt
- 5:03Speaker 2: probably hopefully would have felt the same and felt the
- 5:05Speaker 2: same about our team, like has the same amount of
- 5:07Speaker 2: pride in what we were able to accomplish last year.
- 5:10Speaker 2: Jesse said several times, you and see the game in
- 5:13Speaker 2: a similar way.
- 5:14Speaker 1: Yeah, if you could.
- 5:16Speaker 2: Just what ways you did? God, you're similar game.
- 5:21Speaker 1: Well, I don't.
- 5:22Speaker 2: I don't want to say you're too similar, because like
- 5:24Speaker 2: we haven't worked together in a while, and so he's able,
- 5:28Speaker 2: he's been able to kind of create his vision on
- 5:30Speaker 2: how he wants to operate. But I think I think
- 5:33Speaker 2: he's probably he's probably alluding to like our form more
- 5:35Speaker 2: formative years, like when we were younger coaches in Baltimore,
- 5:39Speaker 2: Like we did a lot of behind the scenes work
- 5:40Speaker 2: on some things we want to do and either like
- 5:42Speaker 2: building the systems or trying to come up with ideas
- 5:45Speaker 2: for for the people that we work for, you know,
- 5:48Speaker 2: and then you know ultimately how we wanted to build
- 5:50Speaker 2: like Michigan's defense, and then obviously he was able to
- 5:52Speaker 2: take it to another level, which is really cool. So
- 5:57Speaker 2: specifics I'm not really sure. I think it is probably
- 5:58Speaker 2: just more of like our formative year, like some of
- 6:00Speaker 2: the things we did in some of those Baltimore years.
- 6:03Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think you made an external edition up
- 6:06Speaker 1: front correct on defense like a player, Yeah, because I
- 6:11Speaker 1: feel like where you lost your side of quarter. Yeah
- 6:14Speaker 1: you know this. Yeah, I don't think you guys sign
- 6:18Speaker 1: like no edge guy, well the one I don't really know.
- 6:22Speaker 1: Probably if there was a right opportunity, probably would have
- 6:25Speaker 1: done it.
- 6:25Speaker 2: I think it's just like it had the right like matchup,
- 6:28Speaker 2: like hasn't happened yet, you know.
- 6:30Speaker 1: So it's kind of one of those things like don't
- 6:32Speaker 1: press it and maybe.
- 6:33Speaker 2: There'll be another like either through the draft or maybe
- 6:35Speaker 2: after the draft, free agency, or you know, something through
- 6:38Speaker 2: training camp work or our guys to you know, our
- 6:40Speaker 2: guys rocking and rolling, they played great and.
- 6:42Speaker 1: We'll uh, we'll roll the guys we have last last
- 6:46Speaker 1: year things.
- 6:48Speaker 2: Yeah, right now, honestly, there's nothing specific in my mind.
- 6:56Speaker 1: It's been it's been really really neat to be.
- 6:58Speaker 2: In some of those meetings to see us, you know,
- 7:01Speaker 2: like Brian and how he's done things and then how
- 7:03Speaker 2: our guys have done things and see how that is
- 7:05Speaker 2: married together, and then it'll be a fun process to
- 7:07Speaker 2: see like where it goes. I think we're we're like
- 7:10Speaker 2: creating a great starting point about what we want our
- 7:12Speaker 2: offense to be and how we want it to look like.
- 7:14Speaker 1: But that's gonna be something We're gonna work through it
- 7:16Speaker 1: throughout the spring.
- 7:17Speaker 2: And and it's the same thing last year, like you know,
- 7:19Speaker 2: we're basically installing like it from the absolute like starting
- 7:23Speaker 2: point of you know, Clint's offense. And so we have
- 7:27Speaker 2: a we have a kind of a higher you know,
- 7:29Speaker 2: foundational threshold now that we can we can start from.
- 7:31Speaker 1: So that'll be fun. We're doing okay, yeah I do.
- 7:43Speaker 2: Uh.
- 7:44Speaker 1: If I don't, I'm a chop and I get really fat.
- 7:50Speaker 2: And angry. So let's not do that. Yeah, we just
- 7:53Speaker 2: so we work out. We I'm not like a crazy
- 7:55Speaker 2: morning person. I don't like run around. Tell it Berry
- 7:59Speaker 2: how early I wake up. Basically, we just we have
- 8:01Speaker 2: we called the Barbi Overrigate. It's pretty cheesy. It's a
- 8:04Speaker 2: great group. But we work out at six and that
- 8:07Speaker 2: goes for like forty five minutes and then I'm at
- 8:10Speaker 2: my desk and off we go. So well, it depends
- 8:15Speaker 2: on who wants to show up that day, you know,
- 8:16Speaker 2: and who we're gonna give you who We're gonna give
- 8:17Speaker 2: the crap to you later on, we're gonna shame for not
- 8:20Speaker 2: showing up on on certain days. So they know they
- 8:23Speaker 2: were talking about yeah, like, yeah, Monday is is a
- 8:31Speaker 2: is a tough day. So like Dana and I do
- 8:32Speaker 2: our own thing, which I get crap for that, and
- 8:34Speaker 2: then like Tuesday's of our body, Wednesday's cardio, Thursday's legs,
- 8:39Speaker 2: and you gotta do arms on Friday.
- 8:41Speaker 1: So that's a rule, right. I don't know if you
- 8:54Speaker 1: could like say enough.
- 8:55Speaker 2: I mean, I'm on record with how we feel about
- 8:59Speaker 2: Jacks from the press obviously the other day, and I
- 9:01Speaker 2: think you guys know how I feel about Spoon.
- 9:03Speaker 1: So I think what gets lost is like what their
- 9:08Speaker 1: role is as like a leader on our team, but
- 9:09Speaker 1: how young they are.
- 9:11Speaker 2: So I think it's like a unique combination of like
- 9:13Speaker 2: their impact on the team, but also you know they've
- 9:18Speaker 2: went bere for what three years, so the opportunity there
- 9:22Speaker 2: to really lay a great foundation for the next ten
- 9:24Speaker 2: years is there, you know, which is really exciting.
- 9:28Speaker 1: How right you're going to get throw? Yes, that's from Vegas.
- 9:33Speaker 1: Like how has he developed, Like what what have you
- 9:35Speaker 1: seen in that he says he can actually make it.
- 9:37Speaker 2: Oh, he did a great job on our on our
- 9:39Speaker 2: ready squad last year and he was not an easy
- 9:42Speaker 2: guy in the guard and you could you could feel
- 9:43Speaker 2: that throughout the season. That's a tribute to him, you know,
- 9:45Speaker 2: to bring it every day and really attack his craft
- 9:48Speaker 2: while you know, you know, like that's not actually gotta
- 9:51Speaker 2: get paid off that week.
- 9:53Speaker 1: You know, just like playing the long term game. So
- 9:55Speaker 1: he's done a great job. You anticipate, shit, he being
- 9:57Speaker 1: more involved this I certainly so. Yeah, Yeah, you think
- 10:01Speaker 1: that's a function of more time. Yeah, I think so.
- 10:04Speaker 1: I think so. And I think we understand we're gonna
- 10:06Speaker 1: have such a better idea of like what.
- 10:08Speaker 2: He can do and him understanding like more than like
- 10:11Speaker 2: spend all those like time on the detail of routs
- 10:15Speaker 2: and the timing and getting on.
- 10:16Speaker 1: The same page and the chemistry.
- 10:18Speaker 2: So uh, you know, I think we were trying to
- 10:21Speaker 2: get him the ball as much as possible last year.
- 10:23Speaker 2: I just think, you know, I could think off the
- 10:25Speaker 2: top of I had like three or four plays where
- 10:27Speaker 2: you know, we're inches away from explosive plays and some
- 10:30Speaker 2: of those more in intermediate cuts where you're just like
- 10:32Speaker 2: a hair off on timing or our location. So that's
- 10:36Speaker 2: that's kind of like a detail or me attacking this
- 10:38Speaker 2: offseason trying to make sure, you know, we rolling go
- 10:41Speaker 2: into the season, going back into your past questions are
- 10:43Speaker 2: the front line because Riley factor in on the edge
- 10:45Speaker 2: group too or yeah, yeah, well it depends on what
- 10:48Speaker 2: what's the sweet spot wait wise, and like just right now,
- 10:52Speaker 2: I think we're working through that on like where where
- 10:54Speaker 2: we want him to be. But uh like sometimes you know,
- 10:57Speaker 2: we we do like a bigger guy on the edge,
- 10:58Speaker 2: and I think Riley could.
- 10:59Speaker 1: Do uh well, you know Panthers kind of stolen from
- 11:06Speaker 1: us there at the end.
- 11:08Speaker 2: So as a bummer, but yeahd Anthony, he's been an
- 11:11Speaker 2: asset for I mean you've seen, like.
- 11:13Speaker 1: You you could probably rattle off some big plays that
- 11:15Speaker 1: he's made for us. The punt block. Uh, he's a guy.
- 11:17Speaker 2: That gives us safety flexibility but also some big nickel
- 11:22Speaker 2: flex as a backup to to Nick.
- 11:25Speaker 1: So that's gonna be.
- 11:26Speaker 2: Something we want to make sure that like if something,
- 11:28Speaker 2: if Nick can't you know, find his helmet for a
- 11:30Speaker 2: series or two, we can we can still go in
- 11:31Speaker 2: and operate our defense.
- 11:36Speaker 1: Again. But yeah, yeah, he's he's a guy that we've been.
- 11:40Speaker 2: We've been interested in for a while and finally we
- 11:43Speaker 2: gave him some grief for you know, maybe being a
- 11:46Speaker 2: year late for when he should have been here. But yeah,
- 11:49Speaker 2: but a guy inside outside flex you know. So uh,
- 11:53Speaker 2: and there's great opportunity right now in our in our
- 11:55Speaker 2: secondary to go carve your stuff out, a great role
- 11:58Speaker 2: coach what you hm.
- 12:03Speaker 1: Season preparing?
- 12:10Speaker 2: Uh No, no, I think I think it sof like
- 12:13Speaker 2: through Jackson's extension where Jody, where Jody is with her priorities,
- 12:17Speaker 2: and so we're operating like just as normal business and
- 12:20Speaker 2: it's great. So we can keep going. So we can
- 12:22Speaker 2: you know, keep uh you know, cementing our roster for
- 12:24Speaker 2: years to come. Folks, the way you use my face
- 12:27Speaker 2: does that you're a programming You kind of use guys
- 12:32Speaker 2: different spos. What do you think? Well, we kind of
- 12:41Speaker 2: kind of like you kind of get you kind of
- 12:44Speaker 2: figure out what guys can do and then you just
- 12:46Speaker 2: go let them do those things. You know. So boy
- 12:51Speaker 2: isn't a guy we necessarily moved around a lot. You know,
- 12:54Speaker 2: he basically played the edge for us. Well, everybody drops Arendy.
- 13:00Speaker 2: It's just uh, I think someone asked this joy. But
- 13:04Speaker 2: like when I think of boy, I think of a
- 13:05Speaker 2: guy like that has some gas off the edge. Something
- 13:09Speaker 2: that was like kind of his ad to our defense
- 13:11Speaker 2: last year defensive front.
- 13:13Speaker 1: His ability to win quickly is uh is pretty special
- 13:16Speaker 1: to him. So that's something that's probably like his best
- 13:19Speaker 1: trade rushing the passer, his ability to win quickly. How
- 13:22Speaker 1: about his guy, A great guy? Yeah, yeah, boys, a
- 13:26Speaker 1: good dude. We've had it.
- 13:29Speaker 2: I was thinking, like all the times we're messing around
- 13:31Speaker 2: in the defensive team room, but guys love him. Always
- 13:33Speaker 2: in a great always in a great mood. It's gonna
- 13:36Speaker 2: work really hard. Yeah, he's gonna do a great job.
- 13:40Speaker 1: Yeah. Nice.
- 13:51Speaker 2: Well, first of all, Jeremy does our travel and it's
- 13:56Speaker 2: it's very seamless, like there's never a there's never a
- 13:59Speaker 2: hiccup the time, Like everything is always set up. I think,
- 14:01Speaker 2: you know, the investment we make and where we stay
- 14:04Speaker 2: is is really important. Like we're staying great hotels, so
- 14:06Speaker 2: we're really spoiled there. The commitment to be on three
- 14:09Speaker 2: day trips, you know, that's that's a that's a pretty penny.
- 14:12Speaker 2: You know when you add it up on some of
- 14:13Speaker 2: those East Coast trips. But that's an asset for us.
- 14:16Speaker 2: I think the team, the team enjoys our playing, which
- 14:19Speaker 2: was a which is a commitment you know, from from
- 14:22Speaker 2: the from the powers that be, and so I think
- 14:24Speaker 2: it's just a continuous investment in how we do things
- 14:27Speaker 2: and kind of putting the players first is uh as
- 14:31Speaker 2: a shout out to the people making those decisions and
- 14:33Speaker 2: cutting the check ultimately.
- 14:34Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm really excited about that.
- 14:37Speaker 2: I think I'm happy that players acknowledge it, honestly, that
- 14:40Speaker 2: they realize that how much investment we are now. Yeah yeah,
- 14:54Speaker 2: some talking about like being at Georgia and stuff. Yeah, Honestly,
- 14:58Speaker 2: what I what I found is I've made some really
- 15:01Speaker 2: dumb decisions in the past.
- 15:02Speaker 1: But like I was a GA once and I went
- 15:04Speaker 1: down to.
- 15:05Speaker 2: Like South Georgia and did like a two trap two roll,
- 15:07Speaker 2: like craziest pressure clinic of all time, and the guys
- 15:10Speaker 2: are like, that's cool, but do you have any drills?
- 15:13Speaker 2: You know?
- 15:13Speaker 1: Like I'm like, so, I totally I've made the mistake
- 15:15Speaker 1: of just being like trying to be too cool. That's
- 15:22Speaker 1: all on the table.
- 15:23Speaker 2: Oh wow, But now now it's just working on like
- 15:30Speaker 2: that was just like drills and like trying to actually
- 15:33Speaker 2: give the coaches something that they can have.
- 15:36Speaker 1: Really the focus is like what can we do?
- 15:38Speaker 2: I'm sorry, what can I make sure that you have
- 15:40Speaker 2: something when you go back to your teams? It's gonna
- 15:43Speaker 2: make you better right now? Rather like here's a sweet
- 15:46Speaker 2: way that we do. I've learned that lesson. Ultimately the
- 15:49Speaker 2: hard way. We didn't let them go. He's getting a
- 15:58Speaker 2: great player. We love reading it's a great player. Just
- 16:02Speaker 2: can't afford him Bakers, can't you? Guys, that's the first
- 16:09Speaker 2: time with doctor Shaun sins in this season like that.
- 16:18Speaker 1: I mean, all right, thank you one real quick. What's
- 16:22Speaker 1: your favorite coaching drill?
- 16:23Speaker 2: What's your favorite?
- 16:24Speaker 1: Really like, that's my favorite love? What's your favorite coaching
- 16:27Speaker 1: drill on the team? What's the drill that you I
- 16:29Speaker 1: don't know any.
- 16:29Speaker 2: Ractice call the drill phos It's uh, it's basically like
- 16:37Speaker 2: how we finished place.
- 16:38Speaker 1: So it's always got like angles and tackling things like that.
- 16:41Speaker 1: What's it look like in terms of the center to
- 16:45Speaker 1: like the naked eye looks like a tackling girl. Okay,
- 16:47Speaker 1: so you like to tell a paper like a takeaway roll.
- 16:49Speaker 2: That's a naked but it's like it's applying our like
- 16:52Speaker 2: eat curriculum to the guys.
- 16:54Speaker 1: Yea and what's eats that for you? It's a way
- 16:56Speaker 1: of life, it's the way life. Ask my key knows.
- 17:01Speaker 1: Thanks mar explank you