Head Coach Mike Macdonald On The Week 18 Win vs. 49ers, Earning NFC's Top Seed

Mike Macdonald (0:01)

Man, obviously, just incredibly proud of our team. All the things we've been working at since we walked in the door, especially this year, is coming to life. Just incredibly proud of them. They played incredibly hard, they played together. Played complimentary football, each phase picked each other up. It was a great game, it was a great game. So really proud of our guys. Injury wise, everybody get out of the game. I think Josh was able to return, Josh Jones. And hopefully, we're optimistic about Kobe and Charles coming back. Having the extra week is going to be really great for those guys. So I just told our team, we've gotten to this point because of our approach every day. Everybody wants to tag all this meaning and all the stuff attached to the games, but our guys just worry about our process and attack what's right in front of us every play. And that's in my belief, that's why we're sitting right here. So we're going to keep that same mentality over the next two weeks.

No, no, I'm just sweating.

I mean, our coaches put together a great plan, but our players made it come to life. They really did. I mean, we were in some bad calls sometimes, and they had some good plays, you know, that they had, and our guys did it. They played incredibly well. They just were determined to win the game. They just were a resilient, resilient bunch. Can you feel the difference with Nick Emmanwori available for the Pro Bowl game this time? Well, I will say, I mean, we played the first game a lot with Spoon and Nichol, and he did a great job. You know, we really did. I mean, we didn't lose that game because we didn't stop the run. I'm really proud of Nick. I mean, he had a great game. He had a bunch of tackles, and he earns this man. I mean, he's just he's a great player.

And yeah, it's obviously it's great to have him. He definitely helps our defense for sure. I know your last drive didn't end the way you wanted it to be, but take aim and top the clock and move the ball from your own man. Yeah, I screwed that up. I should have taken time out. I was thinking about this stuff, but incredible. Yeah, how many plays, 15 plays, X amount of minutes. I'll tell you, Sam extending plays today really helped us win the game. And then the third and long run conversions are incredible. I think Bobo had a great block on that. I think Coop might have. Great run by K-9, so that was a big time play.

SPEAKER_2 (2:35)

It was a play by James Drake, obviously, was huge.

Mike Macdonald (2:39)

It seemed like that's implemented. Yeah, well, it's like, hey, look, we're going to defend a blade of grass. And they pop some plays on that drive. And our guys, AD is telling me in the headset, just stay calm, keep playing. So team effort. And we had an assist on that play. And then I think it's a ball finds energy type thing. I mean, Drake just has been playing great football for us. And he deserves a massive shout out. And, you know, McAfee is obviously a great back. So he made a great play. Yeah, I felt it was great. I mean, honestly, I mean, it's great. Now, you know, some of the counters that they had, you know, we got, I think we got to do a better job countering their counters and we will, you know, we've done a great job throughout the season in the second half, making adjustments to things. But it was great to start the game that we did, you know, with the run game. So now let's shoot for a four quarter run game.

Do I feel like it would have been capable? Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I think it's just those gradual, that gradual attack. It's just, we know who we are, we know, you know, what our kind of core competencies are, and we just keep attacking it, you know? Office of coaches have to hear from me every once in a while, and they've been great, you know, just solving problems and keep attacking it.

SPEAKER_3 (4:08)

You talk a lot about yours because of yourself.

Mike Macdonald (4:11)

Yeah.

SPEAKER_3 (4:11)

The first guy with the decision to decide to play, did you know that it was a type of game that you didn't plan on doing enough any points?

Mike Macdonald (4:19)

No, no, it was an aggressive model, and normally it's par for the course to be ready to go for it in that situation, so obviously the result wasn't great, but their average start field position was really high, too, so the value of field goals was kind of lower this game, and so we felt like having a bad start position was helpful for us.