Mike Macdonald - Head Coach, seahawks Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-20 | Full transcript (primary source).
Mike Macdonald, Head Coach of the Seahawks, addressed the media following a recent game on September 20, 2026. During the press conference, he expressed pride in the team's performance and highlighted the support from their fans, known as the 12s, while discussing areas for improvement moving forward.
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Transcript
Macdonald: All right. Really, really proud of our team. Shout out to the 12s. What a great showing by the 12s. Ain't really incredible. I mean, really never cease to be amazed by how hard we show up in droves. So it really helped us today. Provided a lot of great energy, especially in the second half. They're on silent cadets in the gun, which is really cool. So shout out to them. But our challenge to our team was to stack plays and really take our game to another level. And I think we did that today. And the great news is I think there's still a lot of room for improvement situationally. And the guys will be the first to admit that. But I loved how we closed the game out. Just really, really proud of the effort, all four quarters, how we played in the second half, how we stuck together. Really, all three phases, coaching, make adjustments. They had a good game plan. They got to some things in the first half that we weren't prepared for. But we made great adjustments, and the guys did a great job. So I'm really proud of our team.
Reporter: I'm feeling like three or four first downs after the touchdown. What allowed the defense to really lock in after that score?
Macdonald: Yeah, we had some uncharacteristic communication. Not issues, but we just weren't ahead of plays as much as we should have been. So I think it was just a matter of taking a deep breath and realigning and then just keep playing. We didn't have to make a couple adjustments in terms of setting the front, things like that. And they ran a run that they hadn't shown yet. So we had to adjust to that. But other than that, keep finding solutions, and guys kept playing.
Reporter: I think it was just the place you're on me.
Macdonald: Yeah, great play by Chaz. I saw the ball out, and then you're thinking about we're up on defense. And all of a sudden, he's carrying it down the sidelines. So Chaz is a great player, and took advantages off. That was awesome.
Reporter: You just told us, Mike, that Brian Fleury credited for moving him around, getting away from town coverage. How big of that, and how has Brian Fleury climbed onto that just so early?
Macdonald: Yeah, I thought our offensive staff did a tremendous job. Brian included how he's calling it. But to me, that shows you that we're clicking as an operation. And Jake Peace deserves a shout out for that as well. Our pass game coordinator, Jax, for his being able to mean it. It's easy to say, hey, we'll move you around. But that's changing positions. That's understanding alignments. That's a lot of work to go into a lot of brain power to be able to get that done. So shout out to those guys.
Reporter: A lot of people talk about their backup quarterback being a starting quality player. It seemed like Drew was making some pretty high level throws today. What did you see from him?
Macdonald: Yeah, really proud of Drew. Really happy for him. I mean, we're on record how we feel about him. So he just backed that up today. But 12 is one thing. Everybody having each other's back. And man, he just couldn't be happier for the guy. We just love him. And all the things we said about throughout the week, I mean, we weren't. That was real. And really proud of the way he played it. He did a tremendous job. Managed the clock. I think we only had one operation penalty. Really one, maybe one offensive penalty total. I'm not sure. But just the operation improved drastically. And Drew deserves a lot of credit for that. I thought he was aggressive when he needed to be and took care of the ball when he needed to be. I just did a great job.
Reporter: When you ran the ball down that last drive. Emmanuel Wilson running the way he was. What do you think of Finchin that way?
Macdonald: Yeah, happy for him, man. He was tired there. We took a time out so he could catch his breath. We were down to one back. But offensive line got a game ball today. J.B. broke it down, which is awesome. I mean, that's how we want to close games out. I mean, that's Seahawks football right there. That's how we want to play. And really proud of our team. Pushing piles, playing through the echo of the whistle, playing physically, identifying the front means just there's a lot of great stuff there, playing together. And I'm really proud of how we closed the game out.
Reporter: Outside that second and last run, that was kind of crappy. How was Deuterium price, too?
Macdonald: X-rays came back negative. So we'll take it from there.
Reporter: You said down to one running back to something other than George.
Macdonald: Yeah, they were looking at George, I think, they called down from one of his runs. So we were down to Emmanuel there on the last drive. George came back. He's fine.
Reporter: Another game with an interception for Julian. Just he was limited with injury last year to the eight games. When you guys have him healthy, just how much does he benefit this secondary?
Macdonald: Oh, I mean, Julian is an elite safety in our league. He really can do everything. He can play man-to-man. He can play zone, disguise. He attacks the ball. He's a great tackler. He patrols it. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on in our secondary. He makes it seem easy in terms of making the calls. Really happy for him. He's had some things early in the season, but he's done a great job taking care of his body and how he's trained. Great play with anticipation on that. I mean, he's at post safety on that play. To make a play on the sideline as post safety is on a go ball is some high powered stuff.
Reporter: There was that play in the first half where it was still 7-7. I think it was second and one. And Drake Thomas had a four yard tackle for loss that ended up turning into no points after you guys had that turnover. Talk about that play.
Macdonald: That was a great play. Actually, I screwed us up on that. We were in the wrong front. And that's the type of player Drake is. He makes things right in real time. And I mean, that is some rare, rare stuff that he was able to do on that play. He made the front right. So I didn't look like an idiot. And then played with anticipation, pulled the pin, made the play. So that was a tremendous play.
Reporter: He corrected it, like got you guys into the play.
Macdonald: Oh yeah, yeah, he fixed it. I did not feel good after I said what I said.
Reporter: Mike, what do you think of Nick came in worried kind of how he reviews him today?
Macdonald: Yeah, it was great. We had a plan for him to come back. He was able to play more plays, but the way we wanted to play him, I think it came out to like, what was it, six or eight plays. So it was great for him to get the confidence back, get him moving. Got a couple rushes in, which was cool. So we should be really accelerating in the next week.
Reporter: Mike, obviously you could talk to Brian Flory throughout the game. But at halftime, we're at 7-7. What was the most important thing that you wanted to impart to him?
Macdonald: Well, I didn't have to tell him anything. Yeah, we were, I thought you could tell they were making adjustments. We went to our openers back in our second half. You could see him talking through it. And our message to our team was like, hey, the whole message going into the week was how can we as a collective group stack plays between phases? And we really weren't able to kind of get to that momentum in the first half. And so I thought we all kind of came together in that moment and really proud of our team for kind of picking each phase up and grabbing the momentum of the game and really closing it out.
Reporter: You guys only had a couple blitzes in the first half, but had a lot more in the second. Was that part of the game plan or do you guys see something you adjusted to?
Macdonald: I wouldn't say part of the game plan, but I'd say how we decided we wanted to start the game was the way we started it. And then we had, our coaches did a tremendous job of finding solutions based off of what we thought they were doing on third down. So our staff deserves a lot of credit.
Reporter: I'm sure what's left to say about Jax, but just the three touchdowns.
Macdonald: Yeah, I write them off like six stats before giving a game ball. I'm not really sure what they are, but it was all good. He's just a tremendous player. I mean, and talking about like high leverage situations, four point plays. I mean, really both of those touchdown catches really helped put the game away. What a tremendous plays by Drew as well. I think it was hot on one of them. And then, you know, getting to him in the back of the end zone was awesome too. So that's what we expect from Jax. You know, that's how good he is. That's the type of player he, you know, it's kind of expectations he deserves.
Reporter: Mike, do you have an early read on the play for Sam this week?
Macdonald: No, I mean, we're optimistic. We'll see. I mean, I think there's a chance that he comes back and practices at some point. But I think, I mean, everything's kind of, the timetable has shifted quite drastically, frankly, in what is it, like 10 days or whatever. So we got three more days, you know, we have 30% of that time. To kind of see where it's going between now and Wednesday.
Reporter: Shifted in the sense of he's ahead of where you guys...
Macdonald: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Reporter: You're obviously gonna get Sam back, but just to know that you have Drew and you know who he is and he's put it on paper and all that stuff. What kind of security does that give you to know that there's two different guys that you don't have to sacrifice anything you can win, you know, you can do what you did today with...
Macdonald: I don't think anything shifts. I mean, if Sam can play, he's gonna play. And if Sam can't play, then Drew will play. So it's pretty simple.
Reporter: Hey, it's pretty simple. There's a possibility still Darnell plays in Washington.
Macdonald: Probably, I mean...
Reporter: I guess the possibility is...
Macdonald: Yeah, I'll say it's possible. We'll see.
Reporter: It seemed like we're set, was somewhat eager to get to the shutdowns and of course you're making those decisions, but how do you talk to your underneath coverage? You say, hey, look, I know the most important thing is behind you, but they're really gonna, you're gonna be getting in front of you. How do you kind of coach that?
Macdonald: We wanted to deny the ball better this game and I felt like as the game went on, we did a better job of that. But he's a really good player. I mean, I think there's a stat, like since he started to start for these guys last year, he's leading the league in passing, which is a hell of a stat. So we knew, and they're really great after the catch as well. So we knew, like we called it an E game, how we tackled, I was really impressed with how we tackled. Guys did a great job. You know, limiting leaky yards. And so we knew that was gonna be part of the game plan when we weren't able to deny the ball. So our guys did a great job.
Reporter: Bo Stevens and Haynes, that was an ultimate plan. Obviously we went two and two, one drives. What's that?
Macdonald: Yeah, it wasn't gonna be a true rotation, but we did wanna get Bo some experiences just because I think he's deserved it and it was an opportunity for me to get him out there. So I'm eager to see him, how they played.
Reporter: Anthony Bradford, he got another injury on top of the D. He got a little nicked in practice and just couldn't make it to the game.
Reporter: Into the first half, not being able to punch him, would you see that sequence there?
Macdonald: Yeah, like one of the things that I think that we can do a better job of as a team is being more efficient in the red zone, really in both ways, really in offense and defense. So that's something we'll look at and we'll focus on and try to find more solutions.
Reporter: Anything else?
Macdonald: Okay, all right, thank you.
