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Mike Macdonald: "I Think We're In A Great Place Going Into The Season" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Alright. It would have been great to close it out
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: with a win, but I just told our team that
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: just the body of work that they've been able to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: put together up to this point is just tip my
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: cap to our guys, our team, our coaches, our staff.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: If you trust the work that I've seen our team
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: do and put in and the practice we've stacked together
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and the offseason that they've done, and then you trust
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the people involved, which we do. I think we're in
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: a great place going into the season. Some of those
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: things aren't showing in the preseason games, which I understand,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and we'll attack those things. But overall, I'm very pleased
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: with our effort, the spirit of our team, our leadership
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: on our team, and it'll be a It'll be interesting
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: a couple days here as we figure out how we're
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: going to start the season, but I'm excited to get
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: going and start working on our week one process.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: What's Trevon Diggs showing you, not just tonight, but the
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: four practices he's done?
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: He's really come up to speed, which is saying something.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I think our players have done a great job of
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: coaching him up. You hear him in walkthroughs where guys
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: coach him up play to play. He knows ball. All
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: it is is just connecting dots and connecting some of that,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: all the things that he's heard to the new techniques
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and the new words and stuff. Did some great things today. Obviously,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: having the interception was pretty awesome. I've been really impressed
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: since he got here.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: How viable is it he's a week one guy?
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Viable.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: He was only out there for a little bit of time.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Had you seen what you wanted to see out of
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: him on that drive?
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I think he had three drives. That was about almost
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: a quarter, which we had budgeted going in and our
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: coaches felt good about it, so we decided to move
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: on to the next crew. What were you hoping to
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: see out of this game from people who were trying
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: to earn a roster spot? A lot of the things
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: that I have not worded this answer well. I saw
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of great things out of a lot of guys.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: A lot of great effort plays, a lot of great
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: situational stands defensively, offensively. It was a sloppy game And
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: straight up, you know, you have that many penalties. Just
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the way it goes, really choppy. But in some of those, like, series,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: being able to overcome those things and working through it
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and staying poised, things like that. I thought John Milrow
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: played a really good game. Took care of the football
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and was decisive, made some really strong throws down the field,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: put us in a position to win there at the end.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: You know, we basically played the whole game with two
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: tackles that I think have been a Seahawk maybe collectively, like,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: 72 hours maybe. One guy just met at the hotel
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: on the way over here. Kind of crazy. Considering all
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that was pretty cool.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Coach, I know it's preseason, but when you got into
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: Chiefs territory on that final drive, you kind of backed
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: off a little bit. Do you think about going a
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: little bit stronger to get closer on that field goal
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: attempt or even go for the touchdown?
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Going for the touchdown wasn't part of the calculus. We
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: downshifted into a four minute mode and We've got to
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: figure out a way to keep the ball moving forward there,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: but we trust JMI, and we've got to give them
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: a better kickoff, frankly. We'll improve there, but we definitely
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: want them to get the last shot on that one.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: You mentioned that goal line stand. What did you like
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: about the effort there in the fourth quarter?
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the guys played tremendously hard. These guys are playing
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: special teams, too. Stack, I don't know how many reps
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: they have, but the guys are just playing really hard.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: The guys that were out of the game, the guys
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: either played or had been pulled at that point, were
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: cheering them on, so there's a lot of great energy.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: It was not perfect by any stretch. I mean, it's
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: chaos on the headset, but at the end of the day,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: they're out there playing football and get nothing but respect
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: for those guys. That was a heck of a job.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: You said decisive is the word that Miller himself keeps
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: using for him.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: What was decisive tonight?
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, stick to your reads, and then if it's there,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: rip it. If it's not, progress, and then ultimately... You
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: are allowed to run, too, which I thought I did
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: in some inopportune moments. I definitely felt like we took
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: a step in his game, and he should be excited
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: about his growth.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Nehemiah Pritchett looked like he took a step.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Tackling in the third down play in the red zone.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: That was great.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: What strides has he made maybe even within the camp?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I think this is his third year in our program,
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  Speaker 1: and I think he's really grown up. Just in how
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: he carries himself day to day, I think he has
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: a lot more confidence in his game. And that's awesome
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to see. You know, you just see his personality every
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: day in the building, which is cool. And the guys
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: love him, and he works his tail off. I mean,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: he's not the loudest guy in the room, but he's
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: stacked together a pretty dang good camp and put himself
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: in a good position.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I know the system on offense is kind of in place,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: but how did you like the balance of shifting Jalen
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: out the pocket and then seeing him stand in there
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: for degrees?
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: In our league, you can't drop back 50 times and
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: put your offensive line in that position and your quarterback
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: in that position, so you've got to figure out different
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: ways to throw the football, and some of that's moving
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the pocket, some of that's in the action game, the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: keeper game, which we've done a great job of. We
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: also have to run the ball better to help them
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: out so we're not behind the sticks, and we have
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: to play penalty-free football so we can keep the ball
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in advantageous situations so the more the playbook is open
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: more frequently, so Having said that, I think he navigated
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: some of those tough situations well by not putting the
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: ball in danger and things like that. I like the
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: fact that we can throw it without having to drop back.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: What have you seen in all the practices in camp
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: that the fans didn't see in the preseason games because
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the starters didn't play? What did you see from the
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: starters all camp that says they're ready.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: For the Open? I think our operation is on its way.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of confidence with our ones. In the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: padded practices, they've been very much, like really every practice,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: it's been like back and forth between our offense and
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: our defense, which from my perspective, it's great. It means
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: both sides are making plays. They've been really competitive. And
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: so you don't see like a full game's worth of
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: how we're going to operate and how it's handling, but
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: we're doing a ton of tremendous situation work. Guys are
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: in lockstep with each other. Um, still room, plenty of
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: room for growth. Um, whether or not our guys started this,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: this preseason or not, there's going to be times in our,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: in the first few games to quarter of the season where,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: you know, we're going to have to do a great
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: job evaluating where we're at, what we're good at and
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: making decisions on, on where we go. That happens every
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: year that happened last year. It happened our first year here. Um,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: that's just the way that the, what the way life is,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: you know, like, and where the league's going, how people
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: are defending you, you know, what you're efficient at, things
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: like that. So, um, But that's a process we're going
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: to have to navigate as a staff together, and I'm
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: confident we can do that with the people we have.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: You get the Chiefs back home in a couple months.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: How much do you take from this game?
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to run the same plays. Tell Coach Reed, yeah.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I don't want to speak for Coach, but we're trying
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: to put our guys in the best position to play
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: good football today. so they can show the best versus themselves,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: so they can help further their career. I think they
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: would feel the same way. And like I just mentioned
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: with Greg, our team is going to evolve between now
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: and then. There's a good buffer of distance, but the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: core of our team is there. We understand who our
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: opponents are at their core, but they're going to evolve,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: and we understand that. But, yeah, we don't put a
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: lot of stock in it. You can tell him we
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: will not be watching this tape to prepare for that game.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: How close is he to fully back?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: He'll be back at some point. He will be back
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: at some point. At some point this year.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Anything else?
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you.