Mike Macdonald: “We Just Kept Fighting”

Mike Macdonald (0:02)

Just how we drew it up, exactly what we expected, six to three. Man, you know, it's not easy coming across the country in a short week playing in an atmosphere like that. So our guys deserve a lot of credit for the poise, stuck together throughout, you know, faced some adversity throughout the game, and then our defense just deserves a lot of credit, man. They just played really hard, even when they made some unbelievable plays there and some critical moments, you got to give their quarterback a lot of credit. I mean, he made some phenomenal plays under duress, so we just kept fighting, and then he defended blade of grass at the end of the day. So had an opportunity to win at the end, and the guys did a great job.

SPEAKER_2 (0:45)

Mike, what was the look that made you go nine on the line and send the points you did on the fourth down?

Mike Macdonald (0:56)

How do I answer it without kind of giving away like trade secrets? You know, I just think it's something that we've been practicing, and we haven't really called it in situations like that. We've had versions of like blitz that we've called, but not that particular version. So something we've had that we've been preparing for, and our guys were excited about, you know, getting to that particular call. And man, I mean, just, you call something you haven't executed, and it's for basically the season's on the line. And it just shows it like, hey, our guys can handle it, and they've earned that confidence to call those types of high leverage plays.

So I know Spoon was asking for it. So when Spoon's excited about it, then we're excited about it.

SPEAKER_3 (1:39)

You know, blitz Kobe a ton, but he had the pressure on that last throw, and the same thing with the Jets game. Just one of those moments makes him a good fit there.

Mike Macdonald (1:46)

Yeah, I mean, again, even though when you are blitzing a bunch of guys, I mean, it is a team blitz mentality, so we got to align correctly. We got to, you know, we got to set it up right. You know, you have disguises that are paired with it. Guys have to take proper angles. You know, to get this quarterback on the ground, make them go backwards is easier said than done. So you got to, there's some technique to it as well. So just again, in critical moments, I think that that speaks to a lot about the trust that we have in our guys, that they can go get the job done.

SPEAKER_2 (2:14)

When was the first time you prepped it?

Mike Macdonald (2:17)

A version of that has been around forever.

SPEAKER_2 (2:19)

But when did this team?

Mike Macdonald (2:21)

This particular version of it went in a couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_4 (2:24)

There's a little poetry in Rick Woolland getting the final interception after what happened last week.

Mike Macdonald (2:29)

I was hoping he went down after he caught it. Yeah, look, this is why we have the make-it-right system. It's you move on and go to the next play. And he's been doing that. So happy for Rick making that play. It was a great play.

SPEAKER_5 (2:48)

You've mentioned a couple of times this year that Devon Witherspoon, with his stats, haven't met up with the impact. He's having defense today. Three tackles for a loss. Gets his first sack. What did you think of his performance the way the rest of the defense fed on that today?

Mike Macdonald (3:00)

Yeah, I mean, this guy is a leader on our second year, but I mean, he's grown so much as a leader, he's going to be someone we're going to depend on for a long time here, and we love him. And it's because of the energy and the competitiveness and the person and his love of the game and love for his teammates. And it's infectious. How can you not play 1000% when 21's on the field doing the stuff that he does? So we're talking about force multipliers. He's a force multiplier. And I'm happy he got a sack. It wasn't pretty, but he got one. And yeah, I'm really happy for him.

SPEAKER_6 (3:37)

Did you think they might try a field goal there from 57 or 58?

Mike Macdonald (3:41)

Our line was a little bit tighter than that. So we had to be ready for a fourth down call, but you never know if they're going to try one. So we had a call ready on field goal block as well.

SPEAKER_7 (3:55)