Head Coach Mike Macdonald: "What A Special Night To Be A Seahawk"

Mike Macdonald (0:01)

Wow.

What a game. Pretty cool first win for the Coastal family, so gave them a game ball. And it was really cool to have them there after the game, and we're excited for them. And another great shot. I mean, what an electric atmosphere, just the emotion of the banner. Is it banner dropping or banner? Banner revealed?

Banner unveiling, there you go. But just a really special night to be a Seahawk man, and just really, really incredibly proud of our team. Thankful for the 12s. Just the amount of resilience. I mean, you think about all the things going on. I think the fourth play, we lost Sam. You know, first time play caller. I thought Fleury did a great job of adjusting on the flyer, off to staff. Drew Lock deserves a gigantic shout out for playing clean football.

And we'll improve our operation, truly everybody on board. But we can get so much better very quickly. I think with Sam, we got some great news back. It's to say it's good news right now. So I know still our thoughts and prayers with Sam, we love him and the guys really pulled through for him. And then defensive, I thought the guys really fought. These first games were tricky in terms of who's got answers for what and all that. So I thought we played incredibly hard, stuck together. Our staff did a great job of finding answers as the game went on. And Nehemiah Pritchett played a dynamite game.

And then I'm just really happy for Josh, just playing all the way to the very last play. Man, it's really, really remarkable. So proud to get the win, but also understand it's the first game. And we have a really great opportunity here to take our game to the next level. But we talk about the 26 Seahawks and understanding our identity and who we are, I think that definitely revealed the type of team that we have, a resilient, tough bunch that sticks together. So I'm really proud of the effort and just really proud to be a Seahawk today.

SPEAKER_2 (2:01)

With Sam, I'm sure you're waiting for more answers, but have you been able to rule out a fracture?

Mike Macdonald (2:05)

At this point, we were able to rule out a fracture.

So there's some more tests to be done. And so that's what I'm saying when it's positive. So, but I know it's, we're still working through all that, but right now I think fracture is out, which is great news.

SPEAKER_3 (2:21)

The fact you have 10 days until the next game, does that give you hope you can play or do you have too early?

Mike Macdonald (2:26)

I really don't know. I don't know. I don't know what the extent is. I don't know.

SPEAKER_3 (2:32)

It sounds like yours and the team's concern is a fracture and that's been a big deal.

Mike Macdonald (2:36)

As of now, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean? Who knows, you know, I'm not there, so I'm just going by what they tell me.

SPEAKER_4 (2:41)

You always turn to your veteran leaders when you have games like that, where it seems like things are slipping away a little bit. Julian loved that hit that he had on Hunter Henry at the beginning of the second half. Seemed like that really got everybody going, and then just the overall game that he had, just rewards on him.

Mike Macdonald (2:56)

Yeah, Julian played a dynamite game. You know, having, I think, Rodney Thomas deserves a shout out coming in and playing really sound football, but, you know, there's a lot of reps that Ty and Julian have had to build that chemistry about how we want to operate and getting on the same page. So Julian really took a big time role for our team, one, making the plays, but also making sure that we're in the right stuff and we're all on the same page. So shout out to Julian as well.

SPEAKER_5 (3:20)

Well, they did that hit deal on the side.

SPEAKER_2 (3:22)

I think it was the first play in the second half.

SPEAKER_5 (3:24)

They got the complete.

Mike Macdonald (3:25)

Yeah, I actually think I want to give our team a lot of credit because, you know, things weren't really going our way going in the half, but we didn't panic. We still liked our plan.

You know, we didn't need to change what we were doing or anything like that. We just, we wanted to stick to what we were doing. I think, like, I think the guys were just, you know, they were really excited to go back out there and play, which was, you know, really a tribute to our leadership, our coaches, our communication as a staff. So I was pleased with that process.