Latest / Seahawks Press Pass / Head Coach Mike Macdonald Gives Final Updates Ahead Of Week 1

Transcript

Head Coach Mike Macdonald Gives Final Updates Ahead Of Week 1 · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Got a game pretty soon or what? Good to see everybody.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Some fun rules at the beginning of the season. This
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: is great. This is a fun week.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: I get to not answer anything. So you can try
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: if you want. Mike, how's Nicky Man working? Nick had
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: his probably most work in the last couple days.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Looks great. He practiced limited today.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Ty Okada, is there anything you.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Can say on Ty? Yeah, Ty didn't practice today. What
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: kind of an off-season did Rodney.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Thomas have, and what do you feel like his readiness
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: is to step in if that's the direction you go?
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Rodney had a great off-season. We're really excited to be
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: able to acquire him in the off-season. He has a
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: lot of range, ball skills.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Uh, physicality.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: I thought he played really well in the, uh, in
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: the games when he was out there and he's practiced great. Um,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: really like everybody, everybody that's practiced with us and been
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: here throughout camp, um, would be excited to see him,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: you know, just excited where they're at.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: And we feel like they could, uh, contribute to us
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: playing great football for us.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: What's the Anthony Bell's greatest trait?
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Uh, physicality. Yeah, for sure. Physicality.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Um, D. Bill's also another one of those guys that's
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: done a great job since he's been here. I know
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: his journey's a little different than Rodney's, but, again, it's
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: a 70-man roster, and he's part of the 70s, so
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: we're excited about that.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Mike, have Ty's issues been bugging him this week? Yeah,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Ty didn't practice today.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Mike, what have you seen from the guys at practice
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: going into the first game of the season?
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought we've had really, really great practices. Did
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: some really good things today. I thought our intent was right.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I think understanding how we want to practice on a Friday.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: It's Friday today. How we want to practice on a
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Friday with a lot of the guys that haven't been here,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: just being aligned in terms of the speed. It's a
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: combination of like a– it's not as crazy of a
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: practice that we're looking for, but we're looking for high-powered
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: execution at the same time. So we're still kind of
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: connecting those dots to a certain extent, which is okay.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: But I think the guys understand the week's not over.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: We still have opportunity to really nail some of these
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: details that we want to get to going into the game.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: But very pleased with our intent, our attention to detail,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: but we're still not there yet. We've got some I's
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: to dot and T's to cross, I think, before the game.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Emmanuel Wilson, we saw him have a really good scrimmage
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: a little bit, and then he didn't play after that.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: What kind of his camp is? I think we saw
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: the same things you did, Bob.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: He's taken off, he's opened up, he's kind of come
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: out of his shell a bit since he got here,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: understanding how we operate. And since he started practicing again,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: he's put himself in a great position, so He's doing
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: a great job. Obviously, he's still on PUP and will
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: be for a while.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: How is Zach doing? I think we've asked you guys
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: before this whole process. Zach's doing awesome, doing awesome.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I think he has a certain timetable in his mind,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: which we won't divulge right now, but he has a
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: certain timetable that he's targeting and he's on target for
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: that timetable, which is great. It's an aggressive timetable from
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: if you just kind of put the whole thing into perspective.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: I think that shows what type of guy he is,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: you know, just being able to come back and work
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: through that process and, you know, get over those hurdles
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: that it takes to put himself in this position.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: But, I mean, it looks awesome. It looks awesome going through.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Whenever I see him doing anything, he looks pretty dang good.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I'll do it already on Saturday or Wednesday or whatever
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: that was.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: But have you seen now that he's had kind of
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: his weekend, right, for what's going to be his first game?
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Have you seen him handle his week?
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's business as usual.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Really, that's really our directive to our team is the
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: way we want to train.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: The way we want to play games.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of circumstance that comes around with this game,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: as did our last game, but our focus has to
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: stay on who we are and how we play ball.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: If we start getting affected by all the things around it,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: we're not going to be the best football team we
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: can be. He's right there in terms of having the
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: right type of attitude on the approach. I feel like
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: he's in a really good place. Again, I'm just excited
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: to see him play.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: You've talked not about the injured guys that much, but
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: for the guys that you do have, having Tyrese Knight
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: step forward, being able to go to five-man lines and
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: the edges that you've got, what are you looking forward
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: to seeing from some of those guys that can step
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: in and take some of those.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Reps?
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: I would say that we have a lot of guys
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: that have earned opportunities to play and we spent a
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: lot of the off season getting them ready to play.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: So whoever's ready to play is going to, we have
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: a lot of faith in playing a good football for us.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: So how are we to play them? You know, again, we're, we're,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: we're two different football teams right now. So like for
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: us to dust off the last game plan and to say,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: that's what we're going to run is, is overly irresponsible,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: nor is it the best thing for this team. So, um,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: You know, we have a game plan that we're going
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: to try to execute it to the best of our ability.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: And as coaches, we have to do a great job
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: of understanding how the game is being played and being
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: able to adjust more so probably than any other game
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: in the season because of just being week one. And,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: you know, both teams are kind of, you know, they
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: haven't really had to show their cards yet.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Christian Haynes is in his third year with you now.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: What do you think of his camp and how he's
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: progressed after.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Getting a couple games under his belt last year? We've
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: had really good competition at the guard position. There's several
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: guys on our team that have done a great job.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Christian's one of them. I think he's really taken his
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: game to another level. He should be proud of himself.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: He's done a really nice job.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: Coach, are you prepared to work with Adam Dirty for
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: the third season? Could you discuss the qualities of your
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: British defensive coordinator.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Can I discuss the what? The quality. I had to
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: miss at least one question, at least one word. I'd
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: love to, yeah.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: AD, he's a cornerstone piece of our club. He's been
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: there every step of the way since day one, and.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: He's a heck of a football coach. He really is.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: How he sees the game, I think, complements how I
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: see it in terms of how we've built our team
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: and built our scheme. Probably his best quality is just
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: being a connector and a leader and communicator.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: There's three, not just one. We love him.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: He's done a tremendous job. We trust him. He's running
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: the operation 99% of the time. One of the cool
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: things about AD is I think if he came into
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: our defensive team room, I don't know if he'd be
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: able to figure out who the coordinator is or who
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: the DB coach is or who the head coach is.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: It's just kind of everybody pulling in the same direction.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: He definitely sets the tone for that feeling, and that's
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: what we're trying to create. So I can't say enough
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: good things about him.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Mike, since the Dallas preseason game, where have you guys
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: grown operationally, the things you want to do between the stands?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the guys have been on it. They've done a
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: really nice job, coaches, players included. Sam's really driving the
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: bus on that front. Offensive line's bought in.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: They see it. I'm excited to see them do their thing.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: How's Brian Flory growing in that regard?
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Well, he has a clear vision on what he expects,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: and he communicates in his way, which is effective. Anytime
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: we kind of see something that we want to improve
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: on and we kind of put our intention behind it,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: you want to see growth from really everybody involved, and
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Brian really helped push that offensively, and so I appreciate
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: the way he went about it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: You guys have a lot of continuity with the coaching
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: staff and with the players. Where do you feel that
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: helps the most in terms of the menu you can call,
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: the time it takes to get a game plan in?
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Where do you see the difference?
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: I don't know how much quicker it's got on defense.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: I do think we understand the things that we want
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: to get to sooner. it's just a shared understanding about
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: how we do all the things, like what schematics we
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: want to get to, what answers we feel like we
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: want to, maybe we find something that we need to
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: be able to fix, how we can get that coached.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: There was a cool moment the other day where we
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: were in special teams, and I told our staff this,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: but I just felt like this is probably a good
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: time to share it, but it's like during special teams period,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: the guys, you know, we have an operating procedure on
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: who needs to be out there and when and all
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: that type of stuff at the beginning of practice, but
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: like our entire defensive staff I think might've been working
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: with another part of like another position, like a different position.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Group than they normally work with.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: And so it's just this really cool synergistic 12 was
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: one type of idea of, Hey, we coach everybody all
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the time. There's no, again, there's no such thing as like,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: we only farm each other's land. You know, it's, it's
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: a team effort and just a great attitude. And the players,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: you know, the favorite players are getting developed and they're
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: learning stuff. And it's just, it just, it was a
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: really cool moment that I was just like, man, this is, awesome.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: How important is it to you to have coaches with
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: like cross-disc stuff?
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Like you could have a tight ends coach be a
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: tight ends coach for 30 years as opposed to somebody.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: No, not that important. It's really just a spirit of
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: how you go.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Like you just got to be one of us, man.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: You got to– you can't just operate in a silo.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Don't just close your door and worry about your guys.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: That doesn't go over here pretty well.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: You mentioned that there's sort of an unknown element in
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: the opener where teams haven't shown their cards and there's
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: uniqueness to that. So how do you prepare yourself to
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: be able to overcome the unknown element where the opener
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: is a little bit different maybe than the two or.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Three or four?
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you have to stick to your core
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: competencies at the beginning of the game. And then, you know,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: you're going to build out some possible answers as it goes,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: but it's just really having an understanding of what you
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: can do, who you guys are, how you feel like
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: what they're trying to do, and then get to it.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: You're doing that every game anyways.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: But I think the first game, it's just, it is
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: different just probably because it's just, you know, they could
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: do anything.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: You just got to be ready for it.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: What are you looking forward.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: To most about music?
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I don't really thought of, I mean, it's Friday right now.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Right now I'm thinking about the things I'm doing right
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: after this and then working on a little red zone
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: and then getting home. Should he build into the.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Schedule that the new owners get in front of the team?
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: It's up to them. It's up to them. They're the boss.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Anything else?
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you.