Mike Macdonald: "That Was A Big-Time Win For Us"

Mike Macdonald (0:00)

Man, obviously, it's a great football game. It's a big time win for us as a team. We all knew that was a big game for obvious reasons, but just really proud of the guys sticking in there. I thought all the points of emphasis we made throughout the last couple of weeks, trying to take the next step as a football team, just really showed up. So the challenge now is let's just keep stacking this thing and doing it one week at a time, one day at a time. And that's been the message from when we showed up till now. And it will always be like that way. So but I'm just proud of the guys. Man, it was just a really exciting football game. And close it out there at the end in the two minute was big time.

SPEAKER_2 (0:41)

How about you on the final night?

Mike Macdonald (0:44)

Oh, I mean, he's dynamite.

We talked about after the pick, just stay sticking with it, man. We talk about clearing the next room, just go clear the next room and rock and roll. After we did the pick, we got the stop on defense, forced the field goal and we were right back down, scored the touchdown and really put us in position to, you know, go up two scores defensively. You know, those third downs would have been great to, to get a win on that, to force, force them to kick a field goal. But yeah, two minute drive, I mean, all, all guys, the poise, the play calling, the protection, all that stuff is, you know, those, that's really important. And then, you know, for Geno to close it out was pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_3 (1:24)

What kind of results did you see in him when he took the field for the final throw, even after the interception, right?

Mike Macdonald (1:30)

From Geno?

SPEAKER_4 (1:31)

Yeah.

Mike Macdonald (1:32)

I mean, you could tell he's, you know, of course you're going to be upset after, don't want to pick, but it's just the same, same guy we always see. I mean, like this guy's massive, you know, big time competitor. And so just try to build him up and let him know we got his back and he knows that.

SPEAKER_5 (1:48)

Four catches on that last drive, 10 for 100, another 100-yard game, just what do you see in these last couple of games?

Mike Macdonald (1:54)

It's great because they're kind of happening within like the flow of the progressions. And then, you know, I think Geno feels that late in the down that Jax is going to find a way to get open too. So they're building a cool chemistry, you know, that we can keep the ball moving forward and converting on some of those, you know, big time, like medium, medium range conversions.

SPEAKER_6 (2:13)

I'm sure you'll have a better idea when you watch the film, but under 80 rushing yards for Christian McCaffrey, how much did the inside linebackers contribute to that? It seemed like they were all over the line.

Mike Macdonald (2:22)

We made a big deal about the inside backers, but I mean, guys, it's, it's, I've been saying it the whole time, it's all 11 guys on defense. So in order for those guys to do their jobs, we got to set edges up front. We got to play with knockback and stay alive, especially against the wide zone stuff. So it's a team shout out on playing good run defense. And inside backers need to make tackles. And I think we made a ton of tackles in inside backers today, and that's great for us. But it's a full defensive effort that we took a step in the last, really since the Rams game.

SPEAKER_3 (2:54)

What would you like this to do for you in terms of getting players to be believed in what you guys are trying to install here and starting to stack stuff that you've seen?

Mike Macdonald (3:03)

Well, I think, I mean, look, I mean, I think our guys have been, they believe the whole long way. I mean, it's been frustrating when you're not getting the results that you want. But I just feel like we've been really steadfast in our message. What we're trying to do and the resolve in the locker room, we haven't, we've been like this. We talk about 12 is 1, I mean, that's what we're gonna be. That's what the guys have done and you want better results. You want to win every game. And when you don't, when you fall short, it gets frustrating. But our resolve has been in the whole way.