Head Coach Mike Macdonald Recaps The Week 12 Win, Gives Updates On Injured Players

Mike Macdonald (0:00)

All right, everybody.

It's fun looking at this TV screen here. Before we get going, I just, I'll actually make it right from the last couple media things we did the last day or two, but just want to shout out our 12s. Man, it was an incredible atmosphere. I had some friends that live in Nashville. They were telling me about the, you know, the downtown scene was just filled with Seahawks fans everywhere. People flying in, all their planes are filled with Hawks fans and I'll tell you what, there's some great moments throughout that game where you could feel the energy generated from our, from the 12s on the sideline. And I know our guys really appreciate it. And just want to say thank you for making the effort and all the enthusiasm. It was really a sight to see. Something, something that's pretty rare. You don't really, I don't think I've ever seen that in my career. Just that, that amount of fans on, on a road trip. So thank you.

SPEAKER_2 (1:03)

Brian.

Brian (1:05)

Yeah, coach. Obviously you've talked about how important toughness and reliability is for players and the values you guys want to instill. When you got a player who might be a little bit hurt and they're adamant that they want to play. And you've got training staff that say maybe be a little cautious. How do you kind of balance the line of allowing them to just demonstrate the toughness and reliability but also maybe protecting them from themselves?

Mike Macdonald (1:26)

Yeah, it's a great point. It's tricky. You know, I don't think what I'm learning is, you know, it's not like there's a, you know, you get an image or you get a test and then they all of a sudden there's some sign that comes popping up and says yes or no. You know, it's a matter of opinion. And you're operating in gray, in the gray a lot, but no pun intended.

I think the way I see it is, you know, if we've deemed it safe for them to play and they're not at like added risk of, you know, putting themselves in danger of getting worse, that's kind of the line that we're looking at. You know, I think that's our responsibility as the club to not put our guys in danger. But when they're ready and willing, it definitely makes you appreciate, you know, the effort and the toughness for sure. And there's times, you know, there's been situations where we've had to make the decision for guys that have wanted to play, you know, because it was in their best interest, even though they they wanted to give it a go. So it's a it's a it's a tricky situation. It really is. It's really a case by case deal and takes a lot of trust.

Brian (2:33)

And then are you expecting Julian Love and Eric Saubert to practice this week?

Mike Macdonald (2:40)

Yeah, we're still working through Julian's situation and same thing with with Eric. So we'll see on Wednesday what the what the plan is right now. We we don't really have a clear enough plan to report.

Brian (2:52)

OK, thanks.

Mike Macdonald (2:53)

John.

John (2:55)

Yeah, Mike, when we talked to Clint Kubiak last week, he said he was seeing a lot of growth in the run game, another solid game and five point seven yards of carry for you guys. Where are you seeing the improvement there and how does that help you guys offensively as a whole?

Mike Macdonald (3:10)

Yeah, this is to your point, this is something that we've talked about for really the length of the season and we felt like the effort was there. But the detail we kept wanted to chase and we felt like a lot of these runs were a block away and that either that's either at the second level, the receivers blocking, it's hitting our targets, going to the right people, initial movement, get being in and out of the right place. There's kind of a reason on every play, but it also felt like we were doing the right things and we're on the right track. We just got to keep firing away at it and stay in the course. And our guys have done that. I feel like everybody's really improved, including the running backs. And I think you're seeing the results of that process. And our coaches are doing a great job scheming it. And we expect to stay on this track. This is going to be really important for us to be able to run the ball end of November into December.

Jen?

Jen (4:11)

On the flip side of that coach, when you look at run defense, it has been a long time since we have seen a 100-yard rusher. When you get to this point in the season, how demoralizing is that? When you know you can count on the defense to come through in those moments?