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Head Coach Mike Macdonald: "This Game Was The Power Of Our 70" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: All right. Uh, proud of our team. Uh, a lot
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: of noise this week with injuries and other things going on. So, uh,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: just the, you know, the poise that we showed the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: 12 was one. Uh, we said this game was like
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the power of our 70, you know, with the depth
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: we were going to lean on with the, like the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: bottom of our roster and, um, guys, guys did a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: great job of stepping in, not flinching, uh, drew lock
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: AB coming back, uh, you know, Dante Fowler, um, You know,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: I'm eager to see what Riley did. You know, Riley
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: had more of an opportunity. That was cool. Mike Morris. So,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: proud of our team. Got a couple of red zone stops,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: which is a first for us, and then a couple
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: of red zone scores. So, that was great. And then
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to be able to close the game out in a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: tough situation there at the goal line, and then our
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: offense putting a four-minute drive together. Some really good situational
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: football by our team. And so, great to get a win.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: You know, I think you feel it in our locker
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: room that– But we're determined to keep stacking and to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: grow from here. So we're looking forward to this week
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and to try to build on this performance. With Drew,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: what did it take for him to be able to
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: play in this game with the elbow injury? What did
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: you see from him? Yeah, he's a beast. He just
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: threw not around, just kind of just went after it.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And I think... Our medical people deserve a shout-out, too,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: for putting a great plan together and treating Drew. Jalen Milrow, too,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: operating our offense when he took the snaps that he
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: took and being ready to play in case Drew couldn't
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: go or couldn't finish. Really a great team effort. Both
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks that I've played, I don't know how you can
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: get any tougher. Both guys are as tough as nails.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: What was Drew being looked at in.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: The 10th quarter?
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: We're looking at them for an oblique. Um, so we'll
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: assess it and go from there.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, hit play through that as well as the elbow.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Apparently it's something that with our, the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: midsection of our quarterbacks is a issue right now.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Zach was able to kind of help close that game
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: out for you. You got some big plays from Shadar
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: in the past game. Just feeling both those running backs
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: in this game.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: What that does. Yeah, it's great. Really happy for Zach,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: happy for JD. Um, Definitely felt Zach in his power and,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: you know, the ability to break tackles and own the
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: sideline there, even though we got the penalty to move
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: us back. But I'm really just happy for him, you know,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: just to put himself in that position. And I think
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: we're just going to, you know, they can continue to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: get better, you know, with more reps and more experience.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: How often does it.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Blind just at play today to get to be in sync?
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought, you know, I We still ended up
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: in some longer situations where, you know, those are inevitable
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: to a certain degree, but we want to minimize those.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: But I thought the guys did a good job. It
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: would be fun to watch the tape. Always room for improvement.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: But with the movement that we've had across our line
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: in the last two weeks to kind of come together
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and especially finish the game the way they did was
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: really cool. You said your defense as a whole had
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: no long drive to start the game and then score again, right? Yeah,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: we were just talking to Les about it. It's just
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: like the composure of our team, like the togetherness. There's
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: several things that didn't go our way today, and I
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: felt like we got the ball out several times. There
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: were some penalties that were against us to kind of
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: put us in some not great situations, but just no
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: flinch from the fellas. I thought our coaches did a
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: great job of finding solutions and staying calm in the moment,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: even though it gets kind of crazy sometimes. Yeah. You
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: could feel it from our group that they were determined
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: to get that stop at the end of the game,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and we were confident that we could pull it off.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: So the guys did a great job.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: You had Demarcus Lawrence talk this week about the fact
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: that he felt like he was part of the red
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: zone problem and his C-gap, and then he makes a
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: tackle for loss there at the end.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: What did it say about him? Yeah, I didn't realize
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: that D-Law had said that until Dave filled me in
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: later on in the week, but... I mean, he's just
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: like a great example of the guys on our team.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: And for him to be a leader and to show
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: the example of, look, it's not– where we fell on
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: short doesn't fall on D-Law's shoulders. Everybody knows that. But
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: for someone of that kind of pedigree to take that
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: type of responsibility and accountability is pretty special. So he's awesome.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Played great today. And we definitely follow his lead.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Nick's play on McBride on the fourth down, just, I guess,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: obviously it's a huge play. What did you see on
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: that play?
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a big-time play. I mean, you know,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: we put him on McBride and felt confidently he could
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: cover him, and he did. So that was pretty cool.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: He was on and off third down as well, but
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: the ball didn't go that way. Just to have him
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: be able to, I don't want to say shut him down.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we didn't rush Nick as much this week. different
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: reasons for why we did that. But it just shows you, like, hey,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: wherever you put your focus, I think he was determined,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: like a lot of our guys coming off of last week,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to put our best foot forward and grow. And he
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: should be proud of himself. He really had a good
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: week of focusing on details and playing his style of ball,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: but also being, like, detail-oriented and being on his game
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: as well. So I'm glad that he had the production
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: to back that up.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: It seems like there was some pressure early on from
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: the Cardinals, and then I don't think they ended up
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: with this act today, I'm not sure, but settling in,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: why the improvement?
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of both. I don't know exactly the patterns
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: of those things, but a lot of times teams give
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you a look that you might not have seen, but
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: our rules should be able to handle those things, and
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: sometimes there will be free runners and we have to
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: get rid of the ball. It speaks to our team
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: just making the adjustments and moving forward, but We want
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: to be on our game to start games for sure,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: so we'll look at that and try to come up
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: with a solution. AJ Barner scored two touchdowns today. He
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: said he was dealing with a hat thing, too. He
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: kept playing through that. It's been kind of a frustrating
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: season at times for him. What was it like to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: see him get rewarded? Yeah, proud of AJ. I think
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: we love him, and we trust him, and we understand
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: what type of player he is. So we can kind
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: of feel the frustration with him of what he expects
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: from himself. But just, you know, no flinch, just keep
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: attacking it, you know. And he's a leader on our offense,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: and he provides so much great energy. So when he's
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: on his game, it really helps our offense. And so
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: for him to have that production is really cool, you know,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: to prevent, to get into some of those short yard
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: situations where we can run the sneak is kind of galvanizing,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: you know, energizing the group. And then to put the
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: ball away in the red zone when they take jacks away,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: to have another option down there is really helpful.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: To Darian, you threw it to.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Him a few times.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: He had the big third down catch on that.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: First scoring series. What did you think of his day
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: and the way he was? I felt him out there.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I thought he was decisive with his runs. Sometimes he's
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the primary in some of those pass concepts. Sometimes he's
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: at the end of the progression. When the ball finds him,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: if you can make a guy miss, it's a great example.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be some extraordinary play to create explosives,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: but let's just be efficient with our decision making and
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: get it in the our players' hands and let them
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: do the rest. So again, he's another example. I think
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: he's just going to continue to get better now that
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: he's kind of stacking weeks and he's getting healthier. That'll
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: help us.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: You talked about trying to play Seahawks football. And outside
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: of the penalties, maybe, how did this game grade for
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: you in that regard?
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought we took a step today. A lot
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: of positive things. To be able to close games out
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: like that was great. I thought we had some great
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: situational stuff at the end of the half. where you're
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: just continually putting pressure on our opponent. And there's some
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: things we fell short at that, of course, we're going
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: to do the same thing. We're going to go back,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: you know, attack those things and figure out ways to
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: move forward. But really, just like I told the guys,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: I don't care about the score. I just want us
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to go let it loose and go be us and
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: feel like us. And a lot of times we felt
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: that way. And so that's a positive step for us.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Mike, do you have an early sense on what this
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: week is going to look like for Sam.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: And his chances of getting back this week? I don't.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I don't. I think we'll probably reevaluate earlier in the week,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: but I'm assuming we're probably going to have to make
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: a decision on who we're going to get ready and
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: how we're going to do that. Drew's situation, we'll have
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: to evaluate that as well. Unfortunately, it seems like it's
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: kind of up in the air right now. With Drew, yeah.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Did you get any explanation on the play you challenged
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: with the catch on the sideline, the– Penalty on Jalen
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Sundell on the sideline or the stopping of forward progress
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: on the fumble?
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think those just didn't go our way. I mean,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: they saw Jalen as a late hit. They saw, I
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: think they went to New York on the challenge. I
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: think they said it was part of like a toe
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: drag so that can continue into offside or not enough
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: to overturn Jalen. And then the forward progress, I think,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: is not reviewable to my knowledge. So kind of drew
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the short end of the stick on those.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Is there any update on Clinton? Do you have his procedure?
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I believe it's soon. Yeah, but he hasn't had it yet.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: We saw Jackson reach the 1,000-yard mark already in nine
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: games of the season.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: We talk about him every week.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: But I guess what can you say about a guy
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: like that reaching that mark this soon?
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: That's pretty remarkable. I didn't know that, but... It's pretty good. Yeah,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: he's pretty special.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Sorry, just to clarify, when Drew said it's up in
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: the air.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Does he believe? Yeah, he made it out. But, you know,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: like I've said here before and told you you've got
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: to be ready, and then he wasn't. So I'll leave
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: my options open.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Anything else?
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: All right, thank you.