Mike Macdonald - Head Coach, seahawks Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-16 | Full transcript (primary source).
Mike Macdonald, Head Coach of the Seahawks, addressed the media during a press conference on September 16, 2026, providing updates on player injuries and the team's preparations for the upcoming game. The conference focused on the status of quarterback Sam and the decision to start Drew in his place.
Related analysis: Our take on what this means
Transcript
Macdonald: All right, great to be back in the team room. Great to see everybody. Excited for this week. Excited to be back to full day's work. So looking forward to a great practice today.
Reporter: Mike, what can you tell us about Sam and any new information on him?
Macdonald: I'm not really sure what's out there right now. Yeah, so Sam's going to be out this game. Drew will start for us. Don't anticipate putting him on high or anything like that, but we'll just kind of reevaluate every day and reevaluate next week. And we'll go from there, but I won't play this week.
Reporter: Are you guys cool with rolling with two quarterbacks or do you have plans that you may need the first position?
Macdonald: We're going to roll with Drew and Jalen.
Reporter: What did you see from Jalen in the preseason?
Macdonald: Obviously, you've played a lot that played all Kansas City game. Yeah, I saw the same things you guys saw. Jalen's worked incredibly hard, and I think there's been returns for his efforts, which is great. You love to see that pay off for a guy with that type of work ethic. I mean, these guys have been preparing like they're going to play for the last two years. So really nothing changes much on that end in terms of mentality. Obviously, he's going to get more reps this week, and we want Drew to play the whole game, obviously. But we learned last week that really it's a great message for the whole team of, hey, we're all kind of one or two plays away from being ready. And preparation is key no matter my role. And then when I get my opportunity, let's go take advantage of it.
Reporter: How much do you think it helps to have Drew already know that he's going to start on Sunday as early as Wednesday today, just in terms of his preparation, obviously, knows the playbook, but get that kind of head start?
Macdonald: Yeah, I'll get all the reps. He's our starter this week, and we'll operate accordingly. But Drew's going to start here for a while. So I'm looking forward to seeing him practice today, just like I am Sam when he's playing. We've had some episodes in our history here, especially the latter parts of last year. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, where we felt like Drew was about to go play for us, and really nothing changes. I would expect nothing to change with Drew's demeanor or the way he approaches his work.
Reporter: But have you seen anything different, a spring to step, an enthusiasm, a joy, anything?
Macdonald: Yeah, he's Drew. That's the way Drew is every day. Drew's a joyful guy. He's a great guy. He's got his own personality, which we love. He's got his style of playing quarterback, is what we want here. Obviously, we want to be within the scheme and how we're training our guys. But you've got to be yourself, too. And Drew is definitely that, and we're looking forward to it.
Reporter: Mike, do you have more clarity on what the injury is that Sam's dealing with?
Macdonald: It's a glute to my knowledge, right? Glute, yeah, glute.
Reporter: So the muscle is opposed to the tendon? Glute's a tendon? I thought a glute was a muscle.
Macdonald: Well, I think there was a report that it was a glute tendon. I'm in unchartered waters here.
Reporter: When you're game planning for an opponent, how much of it is about players versus plays?
Macdonald: This is a tricky one, because there's a balance there. You have to, we talked about it today in our team meeting. Everyone says, hey, it's about us. But what does that mean about how we focus? Well, we have to focus on being our best versions of ourselves, getting our bodies, minds, spirits ready to play our best football every day, especially game day. Coaching-wise, I think we have to keep it in our wheelhouse at all times. I think if we're scattered in what we're asking our players to do, I think that the players will play scattered. However, I also think that part of our ethos here is and things that we believe in is we want to stay aggressive and we want to attack things that we see on tape, especially structurally in matchups and things like that. So it's definitely a balance. It's a delicate balance. I feel like we've hit the mark a lot of times here, and sometimes we've fallen short as coaches. I think any time we regret it is we put the emphasis too much on the other team. However, I think we owe it to our players as well to stay aggressive and try to give them as much of an advantage as possible. So that's something that we spend a lot of time on. We take a lot of pride in, and you feel a pretty heavy responsibility to do it the right way.
Reporter: You talked about schematics there. How much do you look into individual player matchups? Like this guy has done well against this individual player versus this is the scheme they play, and we know that we're going to do well against that scheme.
Macdonald: Yeah, I think it's the same answer, but when you say players versus players, I think that's the lens of what you're looking at it through. How much is that?
Reporter: Mike LaFleur's offense the last few years with the Rams. When you took a look at what Arizona did on Sunday, how much of that translates from what you've seen the last few years?
Macdonald: You know, it's tough. It's a small sample size. That's one of those. It's like, not much has changed from our conversation last week to our conversation this week of you kind of have to be ready for everything. You can anticipate some of the things of which you feel like they might attack you, whether they're core competencies, which they played a really sound football game that won a big time football game. So we respect that. But it's still we, you know, we're only, you know, a 50 to 60 play sample past a zero play sample. If that makes sense.
Reporter: Is there any benefit in the fact that they played a team that runs some similar scheme defensively to see how they attacked it?
Macdonald: I don't know. I don't know.
Reporter: Mike, obviously Drew's got a lot of experience playing backing up in the league. Jaylen doesn't. So do you have to adjust your plan for him as a backup this week and how you would handle that as opposed to Drew with the reps to try to give him or how do you kind of manage that now that he's kind of in the backup seat for this week?
Macdonald: I'm sure we'll tweak some sort of some part of the process in terms of numbers. I don't know. Um, Jaylen's not going to get no reps. Let's put it that way.
Reporter: When you first took over double negative again, when you first took over as head coach, what priority was it to have an experienced backup quarterback who has started in the league? And that's the way your team has been here for the last nine years or so, but that wasn't always the case.
Macdonald: I don't specifically have in that exact conversation with John on what our approach was. I think we were just trying to get the best best players we could possibly get.
Reporter: How are you feeling about Nicky Minwori and Tori Wharton and their potential availability this week?
Macdonald: Yeah, those guys are doing great. They're going to, they're going to practice today and we'll go from there.
Reporter: Obviously what he was able to do against the Patriots and then few years before he got here, he had that big Monday nighter against the Eagles that time from 23. What is it about him that he's in this backup role with his numbers called? He always seems to have these great, you know, performances in the league like that.
Macdonald: Well, I think, I think it's my same answer from earlier. It's just a proven really good player in this league. And even when he started, he's played really good football. And then when he's been on our team since I've seen him play in person, I've, he's a heck of a player here. So it's heck of a guy, heck of a teammate. He's got a great balance about him of being a, being like a true professional, but also he's a loose and focused guy, you know, he's a, he's a warrior in the garden. He's a, all the things that we want from our, from our players. He's that at the quarterback position.
Reporter: Like defensively, they actually have the same coordinator as what they had in the previous staff. So you guys have a little bit more to work on there. What did you see in that first game for them? Did it look like you saw a lot of similarities to what they've done in the past or?
Macdonald: Well, I don't think it's as simple because they have some turnover on their defensive staff, but they, they played really great football. Was that Sunday affected the ball, affected the quarterback, played great situational football. Their team that is known that they don't just run the same defense every day. So, or every game, even from game to game within the division. So you have to be ready for kind of the, the full gamut of fronts and coverages and pressures that they can dial up, which they do a really good job of that.
Reporter: Mike, all three of your linebackers had a good training camp, had a good first game. When they continue to excel, what does that do for your defense?
Macdonald: I mean, I think it's just an example of, I mean, let's not count. Let's just, let's just do a great job. Let's play great football. Let's make the most of the opportunities that you have and be ready to go. And if need be, we'll figure out a way to get you out there if that's the best for the team. So, I mean, you know, Chaz and Patio are really good players too. So I think we had a really, really cool inside linebacker room.
Reporter: Does Tai Okada have a chance to play this week?
Macdonald: Yeah, Tai Okada has a chance to play this week.
Reporter: Last year when you guys played down there, there was an interception and it ended up being fumbled back to the team. There's a couple of times last year where you guys had a turnover and then turned it back over. Was that something that you guys emphasize getting as much back on the returns as possible? How did you guys kind of talk that through in those situations?
Macdonald: Well, that's why we do eat drills every day. And we have our office of coaches coaching our defensive guys on how to carry the ball. We have our defensive guys coaching our offensive guys how to knock the ball out. But we definitely learn from those plays. But if we catch interceptions, we're trying to score. I mean, we're not afraid to tell anybody that.
Reporter: Did you get any more of a clarification on the play where they called you guys offsides on that fourth down?
Macdonald: We got some clarification on it, yeah. Yeah, we were offsides.
Reporter: Do you agree with the clarification?
Macdonald: Well, what's the coaching point there? Don't be offsides.
Reporter: One of the linemen told me after the game that the line officials came up to them and said, we've been told to really stress that this year on the offensive part of push-push plays and not give any links. Although the NFL officials when they met with us this summer said they weren't doing that. Do you understand that it is tougher on the offense?
Macdonald: I think it's fair that they call penalties by the letter of the law. I think that's perfectly fair.
Reporter: Mike, energy seems to be, obviously, importantly a defense among other things. How have your players been able to manifest that in the road, on the road, and have it lead to your success on the road?
Macdonald: I think it's an example of we try not to let circumstance affect how we operate. So I expect our team to be as energetic as they were in the walkthrough to our Wednesday practice, to a home game, to an away game. You start trying to come up with reasons to get energized or reasons to be yourself or reasons to meet the standard eventually and run out of reasons. Really, our reason is just we're trying to be us. We're trying to create a better version of what we do every day and see where that takes us.
Reporter: Any updates on Ernest Jones for this week? I don't think we saw him at practice on Monday.
Macdonald: Yeah, he was sick on Monday. He's good to go.
Reporter: What would you think of Nehemiah Pritchett overall in the game?
Macdonald: I think most of he's played in his three years to kind of hop in there and hold up the way he did in all areas. Yeah, he did a tremendous job. Played a great, great football game. Ball finds energy. There you go. Played a great game. Tips and overthrows. Got to get those. It's another... I feel like I said the same thing. You go in, you work your tail off, you put a great off season together, you attack all the things, you earn the opportunity to play, and then when you go out there, go rip it. It feels like if we have the evidence to prove it, like when guys take that approach, they play really great football. He should be proud of himself, but it is one week as well as goes for our whole team. The message to the team right now is we need to stack plays. We need to stack performances. We need to stack practices. Not that we're not, but there's an urgency of taking our game and our team and our individual performances to another level. That's what we're trying to do today.
Reporter: Back with Sam Donald, can he do anything or is he totally shut down rehab training?
Macdonald: He's killing it on his rehab. He's doing a great job. He's doing a lot right now. He's not going to be able to play this week.
Reporter: Anything else?
