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Mike Macdonald Named Seahawks Head Coach

Mike Macdonald Named Seahawks Head Coach

Released Friday, 2nd February 2024
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Mike Macdonald Named Seahawks Head Coach

Mike Macdonald Named Seahawks Head Coach

Mike Macdonald Named Seahawks Head Coach

Mike Macdonald Named Seahawks Head Coach

Friday, 2nd February 2024
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Episode Transcript

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0:00

You're listening to the Seahawks insiders.

0:02

Gino, look go laying up over the top.

0:04

Got a man out there.

0:05

It is fucker, he's got a touchdown.

0:08

Sey Hawks getting you ready for Seahawks

0:11

football every Sunday. First intend

0:13

at the Seattle forty. Play fake, the

0:15

staffer gonna stop, gonna.

0:17

Look, gets it, goes down back a midfield

0:20

Getting to him in the backfield is

0:22

Darryl Taylor.

0:23

Presented by Delta, the official airline

0:25

of the Seahawks.

0:26

Now here's your host, Jen Mueller.

0:29

I have been antsy, I have been anxious,

0:32

I have been nervous, excited,

0:34

all of it. I think I

0:36

can just like put most

0:39

of that behind me. John Boyle, Yeah, and

0:41

I think I can just be excited now exactly

0:43

and start looking towards the future because we

0:46

have a head coach we do it felt

0:48

like the last few weeks were like months

0:50

long, did it not? Or is that just me as the planner

0:53

that wants to know, wants to know, wants to know.

0:54

Yeah, No, I think definitely some of that is

0:57

we just we all want to know what it was gonna be. But

0:59

also this was new to anybody who's

1:01

you know, not being around the team prior to really

1:03

going back to like Mike Holmern's hiring, because

1:06

Pete Carroll's hiring was so abrupt it was

1:08

like days after the season ended. So

1:11

this is the first you know, prolonged

1:13

who's the coach gonna be legitimate

1:16

mystery to it, interviewing a whole bunch of people,

1:18

long process, So I think, yeah, for everybody

1:21

fans, people in this building, there was just

1:23

the desire to find out who it.

1:24

Is well, and you try to read into the process.

1:26

Yeah, right, you try to read into what does it mean

1:29

and what about this? And you know, are they just

1:31

checking the boxes or what level

1:33

of interest is there actually? And

1:35

I know that it was nerve wracking for a lot of folks

1:37

because you see had coaches coming off the board

1:39

and you're wondering, you know, if maybe

1:42

you waited too long. Now John had

1:44

a plan the entire time. And the thing

1:46

that I kept coming back to is, BOYD,

1:48

the amount of due diligence that is being done.

1:50

When this decision gets made, you know

1:52

that they have left no stone

1:55

unturned in this process. But

1:57

we aren't the only ones who's talking about the

1:59

Proms new head coach Mike McDonald

2:01

talked about it too, and thanked

2:04

owner Jody Allen for her faith in.

2:06

It moving here to Seattle.

2:08

Jody Allen just want to thank her

2:10

for trusting the process and

2:12

empowering John to go through

2:14

it and having the patients, you know, to trust

2:17

the fact that they were interested in me. You know, thank you for hanging

2:20

in there hopefully. I was wishing that we had to

2:22

wake a couple more weeks, but it did

2:24

happen fast. But you felt like it was a first

2:26

class operation, and

2:29

her investment in this city and how much she

2:31

cares about this team became very

2:33

obvious to me, and that was very appealing.

2:36

You know.

2:36

It's interesting he mentioned the patients. A

2:38

lot of fans, I think early on we're like, well, why are they talking

2:41

to Mike McDonald, Why is he not one of the interviews, And

2:43

just the way the process played out. Johns

2:45

and I are talked about this today because the

2:47

Seahawks it took a little time that first week

2:49

to make a decision on Pete Carroll and get all that taken

2:51

care of. They kind of missed the deadline

2:54

to submit a request for that initial Zoom

2:56

interview with coaches of the teams

2:58

that were in that first round BI scenario. Then they

3:00

couldn't interview him. They had to wait, and you

3:02

know they johns Shire didn't flat out

3:04

say it hit for sure, but it sure felt like they

3:06

were willing to wait for Mike McDonald to at least talk to

3:08

him, not necessarily one hundred percent to give him

3:10

the job, but to make a decision. They wanted to talk

3:12

to him because he was so high on their list all

3:15

along. And then the Schneider said, fortunately

3:17

for the Seahawks, not so much so for the Ravens,

3:20

they lost Mike McDonald's available,

3:22

and boom, the Seahawks pounced on it and it didn't

3:24

take long once they got a chance to talk to him.

3:26

I'm not sure that the game was more than

3:28

five seconds over before

3:30

they tried to submit there playing.

3:32

They were on it. John

3:35

was on the sideline, just kidding. No, waiting

3:37

for the game that part, Oh no,

3:39

no.

3:39

But you talk about having that interest in

3:41

having to wait to have that conversation.

3:44

I was really curious about

3:46

why it was worth the way. You know what

3:49

he has done from a defensive

3:51

standpoint when you look at the numbers, but

3:53

you have to have more than that as a head coach.

3:56

And here is what they found in

3:58

those conversations.

4:00

I've learned from preparing for all this is

4:02

that Mike is a is a learning networker,

4:04

not a climbing networker, and

4:06

there's a huge difference there. This has happened quickly

4:09

for him, but when you sit down with him and you get to

4:11

meet him, you understand why the

4:13

whys of Wow, he knows that guy.

4:15

He knows that guy.

4:15

He knows this guy like I've been in the league

4:17

for thirty some years and we know a ton of the

4:19

same people.

4:20

So that really stood out.

4:21

And I thought it was really interesting the way John Shire

4:23

talked about Mike McDonald because we all know him as

4:26

you know, the defense of the guru who did

4:28

all he did of Baltimore's defense. But obviously

4:30

there's a lot more to this job than

4:33

just being really good schematically on one side of the ball.

4:35

And I thought it was interesting. John Shier later on talked

4:37

about they didn't really even sit down and talk

4:40

x's and o's. It was getting to

4:42

know the guy. And as johsh Shire said

4:44

that the networking and the people he knows in the league,

4:46

of this is a guy that despite

4:48

his youth has been in

4:50

the NFL a long time. I mean he was an

4:53

assist or a you know, intern level

4:55

job with the Baltimore Ravens in twenty fourteen,

4:57

So he's got a decade of NFL experience,

5:00

knows people, he knows how to lead,

5:02

He gets players to buy in. So even

5:04

though this is going to be his first time being

5:06

a head coach, he has a lot of the traits that

5:08

you look for outside of just the obvious football

5:11

acumen.

5:11

Did it surprise you when he said that he was going to

5:13

be the one that calls plays?

5:15

Not really, I mean, and I like the way he answered

5:17

it, of like he's the

5:19

head coach and ultimately all this falls

5:21

on him, and for now especially,

5:23

he's going to see himself as the best person to do that job.

5:26

But one thing he said is look, as

5:28

we you know, depending who the coordinator is, as we get

5:30

comfortable together and that person gets familiar

5:32

with the scheme, then yeah, it can make a lot of sense to hand

5:34

that off. But right off the bat, no

5:37

one's going to know what Mike McDonald wants to do on defense

5:39

more than Mike McDonald.

5:40

I was I thought you were going to say nobody knows

5:42

what Mike McDonald wants to do on defense, because

5:44

I don't think opponents from week to week knows what he

5:46

wants to do, yes, which is fascinating.

5:49

So I asked him in a one on one interview

5:52

where he learned to best

5:54

utilize personnel, like who taught him

5:57

that during the course of his career, and he

5:59

pointed to the hardback and said, both

6:01

of them. You know, it is about getting the

6:03

most out of people. And then he specifically

6:06

said it was Jack harbaught their

6:08

dad that taught him how to

6:10

marry an offense and a defense together.

6:13

Because that's part of this conversation, right,

6:16

It's not just Mike McDonald being a

6:18

defensive guru. In a defensive mind,

6:20

you have to have an offensive side of

6:22

things that matches. And I think that is

6:25

as much of a curiosity and as

6:27

a talking point as anything else.

6:29

And I'm not sure he gave us a whole lot,

6:31

but maybe a little bit of insight on what he's thinking.

6:34

Yeah, the percentage of when you run the ball and how

6:36

much and all that, like, that's that's all adjustable

6:39

to me. It's going to mirror our football

6:41

team and we're gonna be a physical football team.

6:44

We're gonna have answers.

6:46

We're going to try to be explosive and

6:48

really do it and build it around the players that

6:50

we have.

6:51

We're going through the process right now.

6:52

Who's going to be, you know, helping design that

6:55

and ultimately calm plays So to

6:57

have a specific answer for you what it's going to look like. I can't

7:00

do that now, but that'll come into focus here sooner

7:02

than later.

7:03

Yeah, as McDonald says, you know, we don't until

7:05

we know who's calling the plays and helping design

7:07

this offense, the specifics will be hard

7:09

to come by. But I really like the part about

7:12

you know, like we're gonna have answers. This is

7:14

not gonna be you know, kind

7:16

of like how he talks about defense too, is like you

7:18

got to be flexible in this league, like the way the NFL

7:20

is these days, you can't just be this

7:23

is what we do, this is how we do it all the time.

7:25

It's you know, the best offenses and defenses these

7:27

days can adjust and that's

7:29

one thing.

7:30

You know.

7:30

Obviously, the toughness is a big part of it. We

7:32

hear you know, John Schneiers talked about that forever

7:34

as long as he's been here, and they want to be tough,

7:36

and that doesn't have to mean run the ball

7:39

forty times, but they want to be able to win in

7:41

the trenches, be tough, but then also be

7:43

explosive and be flexible and do all these things.

7:45

So it's gonna be interesting obviously once we

7:47

see who the coordinator is to kind of see

7:49

how that pairs up. But yeah, I like

7:51

what we're hearing just in terms of this sounds like a guy

7:54

who doesn't feel like things have

7:56

to be rigid his way. It's more like, I want to

7:58

figure out what's gonna work best for these plays and

8:00

build around that well.

8:01

And I think you are going to see

8:04

some similar principles that we have seen in

8:06

Seattle in the past. I think you're probably going

8:08

to see similar things to what you

8:11

saw in the Ravens this year, because when

8:13

Mike McDonald was evaluating the personnel

8:16

on the roster kind of what he knew about

8:18

Seattle, he could draw direct parallels

8:20

to both teams.

8:21

The first thing that really popped to me was the parallels

8:24

of the organization that I've been working for

8:26

for ten years and where I've really grown into the

8:28

person and the man and the coach that I am today and

8:31

that was extremely appealing to me.

8:33

And to hear John.

8:34

Talk about people on how important that is was

8:36

the driving force of why we want

8:39

to be here.

8:39

And it is a leap of faith.

8:42

But this is a special city and this

8:44

is a great football city, man, and we got the

8:46

best fans in the world, and I

8:49

understand where this organization

8:51

wants to go, and I feel.

8:53

Like we're aligned on how we want to get there.

8:57

Yeah, it's you know, I like it the way

8:59

he's talking about out he you know, he's

9:01

a fortunate guy that he works for one of the best organizations

9:03

in the NFL for a decade and now he's

9:05

come in to another one that is

9:08

you know, has been really since Paul Allen Bob

9:10

this team in nineteen ninety seven has been one of

9:12

the model franchise in the NFL. And that,

9:14

you know, talking about the people, and you know, John Shyer

9:17

used the word culture a lot, like all that stuff

9:19

matters. You know, it's not just the players

9:21

on the field, it's not just the coaches calling the plays.

9:23

It's kind of how the whole everyone

9:25

works together from the top down, you know,

9:27

from ownership and leadership and all, and

9:30

you know, it affects everyone. So I

9:32

think Mike McDonald's understands that he

9:34

sees that he's leaving a really special place

9:36

but also coming to one.

9:38

And because he has

9:40

that understanding, he and

9:42

John should have I don't

9:45

want to say an easy time building that relationship,

9:47

but John stories about how many

9:49

times he's traded text messages with Baltimore

9:52

at different times, going man, why'd you take that guy? That

9:54

guy was on our board. There's a similar line

9:56

of thinking there, the Seahawks way,

9:58

in the Ravens way. It's similar in

10:00

how they approach talent

10:03

and evaluate talent just based on

10:05

that relationship over the year. So I think I

10:08

think that that makes it a little bit easier when

10:10

you start to have conversations because guess what

10:12

those conversations start like next week?

10:14

Oh yeah, I mean they're already talking there. You know,

10:16

they're staff at the Senior Bowl right now evaluating

10:18

talent, and they're going to dive right

10:20

I would think, you know, as soon as Mike

10:23

McDonald's back and settled in here, there's going

10:25

to be you know, diving immediately

10:27

into draft prep. On top of all the you

10:29

know, coaching staff, he has to build. So this is going

10:31

to be a pretty pretty wild and busy

10:33

time for Mike.

10:34

You know the word that I loved

10:36

that came from John Schneider

10:38

today most what's that disruptor?

10:41

Yeah, in all of anything

10:44

that you have scouted, right, whether you're talking

10:46

about a player or a coach, a CEO and n

10:48

of it, like, and I don't care who what is

10:50

that you're looking at, Disruptor

10:52

is really intriguing. It is unless

10:54

I have to like go in a ring with you and

10:56

fight like that. I don't want you to be disruptive

10:59

in that part, but or in

11:01

my kitchen. Please don't be disruptive in my kitchen.

11:03

That's going to cause a lot of problems. But it's

11:05

really intriguing to think about. And I will

11:08

tell you this in just listening to

11:10

m Mike McDonald right now, I don't

11:12

know that you hear that. It

11:14

is absolutely evident when you watch

11:17

him on the field or when he starts detailing

11:19

things. But I'm really curious about that.

11:21

I mean, well, it showed up on the

11:23

field all the time this season, including unfortunately

11:25

for the Seahawks when they went to Baltimore and you

11:28

know, suffered one of their worst losses in over

11:30

a decade and one thing, John Schneider

11:32

referenced that game a couple times, and

11:35

it was interesting. He pointed out players were saying

11:37

after that game, like, whoa was that? Like it

11:40

was not like, oh, we just got beat

11:42

I mean, they got beat in a lot of ways unfortunately

11:44

in that game, but it was also like they

11:46

just were caught off guard by the things Baltimore was

11:48

doing defensively, and that was something

11:50

that really was unfortunate for the Seahawks at

11:52

the time. But that's stuck with John Schneider, like,

11:55

who's this guy doing that? In players, you know, don't

11:57

always players aren't always curious about who

11:59

the other defense coordinator is on the other side of the ball,

12:01

But in this case, they were because the

12:03

job Mike McDonald was doing over there.

12:05

Yeah, you and I remember those conversations in the locker

12:07

room that day. It was not fun. That was

12:09

not a fun flight home. You could tell it

12:11

was stunned silence,

12:14

and then it was the curiosity of

12:16

what the heck happened? Like how did we not see

12:18

that coming? I do wonder if Mike

12:20

has apologized to John for that game? Do

12:23

you think about apologized?

12:24

I mean do you think he needs to Sean Scheiner

12:27

said it as Press comms. He was happy that the guy lost

12:29

the chaiship game, so there,

12:31

I think he needs to apologize to John.

12:33

They are even Uh, we

12:35

can only talk about Mike McDonald

12:37

so much because well we just met him.

12:40

Yeah today.

12:42

I think we should bring in somebody who has worked with him

12:44

much longer, who can give us a better

12:46

perspective on what Mike McDonald is

12:48

as a coach, what he brings to the table. We're

12:51

going to welcome into the podcast Cassie

12:53

Cherigo from the Baltimore Ravens.

12:55

Cassie, this is I think a first

12:58

for this podcast. So grateful

13:00

that you are willing to hop on and share some insights

13:02

with us.

13:03

Absolutely happy to be here.

13:06

So I think for folks in Seattle, it

13:08

felt like this process was long and drawn

13:11

out right, and then it happened so

13:13

quickly. What was the level

13:15

of surprise could you gauge among

13:17

folks in the building and folks in Baltimore

13:20

when this was announced?

13:22

Yeah, totally. I think kind of mid season

13:24

we started to hear some rumblings that you know, Mike

13:27

would be in a position to get

13:29

head coaching opportunities when our season ended.

13:31

I know for Ravens fans, the raven season

13:34

ended a little sooner than expected. I think there

13:36

was a lot of hope that this team would still.

13:38

Be playing at this time.

13:39

So it's a little bittersuite here, you know,

13:41

especially to lose Mike right

13:44

now.

13:44

I think we thought that process would be happening a few weeks

13:46

from now.

13:48

But I think that Mike has been someone

13:50

who's really grown up in this organization. It was

13:52

kind of the writing's been on the wall for a while. He's

13:54

been someone that John Harball identified

13:56

as an upcoming talent or really a

13:58

few years ago we saw him go and

14:01

work with Jim at Michigan, as you guys

14:03

know, and then come back. But he's just

14:05

someone that we've always kind of had our eye on that you

14:07

just got this feeling that Mike was.

14:09

Going to do something really big in this league. He's

14:11

a great person.

14:12

He's so talented that it seemed

14:14

inevitable, even though it makes us sad

14:16

to lose him because he is a great person to work

14:19

with. But yeah, I think we've all

14:21

kind of known this day was coming, and unfortunately

14:23

for the Ravens fans, it was a little sooner than later.

14:26

But he's been such a

14:29

key part of this historic defense that

14:31

the Ravens have had, especially this past

14:33

season, and our players have sung

14:35

his praises throughout the year that we

14:37

did know this day would.

14:38

Come for sure.

14:40

Yeah, Cassie, you mentioned this was almost inevitable,

14:43

and yet he's only thirty six years old now, the

14:45

youngest head coach in the league. So from

14:47

the time you've been around him, what

14:49

about him as a coach makes him ready for this

14:51

opportunity at such a young age.

14:54

Yeah, I think that in Baltimore, this

14:57

coaching staff really prides themselves on being

14:59

players coaches, and I think even just on

15:01

social media over the last twenty four hours since this

15:03

news has been announced, you've seen all

15:05

his defensive stars really react so positively.

15:07

It's this opportunity for him.

15:09

I think a lot of them are definitely sad to lose him,

15:11

but it speaks to who Mike is, how excited

15:13

people are for him to get this opportunity.

15:15

He's just someone who you know, he.

15:17

Came in at the lowest level of this coaching

15:19

staff and really worked his way up because

15:22

of his talent, because of his character. So he's

15:24

someone that you can't help but root for.

15:26

And a lot of us know Steph really well too.

15:28

She was a bolter, even's cheerleader, so we knew

15:30

her before she was Steph MacDonald.

15:33

So she's really special here as well.

15:35

And so it's been really neat to kind of get to see

15:37

them get married, you know, begin their

15:39

own journey here together, and

15:42

will definitely be cheering them on. But I think that

15:44

the players really resonate with Mike because

15:47

he's no frills, Like what

15:49

you see is what you get with Mike, and he's so talented

15:51

and being able to use their unique skill sets.

15:54

You know, he threw a lot at safety Kyle

15:56

Hamletson this year, and Kyle's a really

15:58

there, rebral guy, very smart, and really resonated

16:01

with Mike in that way and just talked

16:03

about, you know, putting his players in positions

16:05

for them to be successful, using

16:07

their unique self skill sets in different ways across

16:10

his defense. And I think that's something that really resonated

16:12

with his players. And he's not a guy that's

16:14

ever going to throw players under the bus, and

16:16

I think players really respect that. That's something

16:18

that John Harbaald's really big on too, Like they're

16:20

always going to be the ones handling

16:22

the tough questions speaking for their

16:24

players, and that's something that really resonates

16:27

with our guys for sure.

16:29

When he left to go to Michigan, he was saying

16:31

he wanted a chance to be a defensive coordinator.

16:33

He got a chance to work within the

16:35

Harbaugh family and still in that system. What

16:38

was different about him when he came

16:40

back after that experience.

16:44

It's funny, I actually was looking back this week.

16:46

I did the interview with him when he came back

16:48

as our defensive coordinator, which is literally

16:50

almost two years to the day, which is crazy.

16:53

It feels like a blink of an eye. And you

16:55

know, I asked him about the differences

16:57

in coaching with John and Jim and kind of being able

16:59

to set up into that role. And obviously he's very

17:02

well versed in all of the Harpball family now. But

17:04

I think one thing that he really took from Jim

17:06

is just that because he when he was here in Baltimore

17:09

initially, he wasn't in that coordinator level.

17:11

He's not working directly with John day in and

17:13

day out like he was the last two seasons here.

17:16

When he came back from Michigan, He just talked about seeing

17:18

the love that Jim had for his players

17:20

at Michigan and not being afraid to share that

17:22

with them, just being really exuberant

17:25

about how much he cared about them and how much he

17:27

saw that resonate, you know, with Jim's

17:29

players at Michigan, and I think that's something that he

17:31

really brought back here, not being

17:33

afraid to have those personal relationships.

17:36

I think as a head coach, you know sometimes and

17:38

John is really good at relating to players, but I think

17:40

a lot of coaches around the league can kind of, you

17:42

know, be a little too above that

17:45

player level. And I think that that's something that he's

17:47

really brought is like really still resonating with

17:49

all the guys across all the position groups.

17:51

And I think that's something that he definitely took from his time.

17:54

But Jim Hijo now also be tasked

17:56

with facing in the NFL, so we're

17:58

we're playing against two of his former bosses

18:01

there.

18:01

I'm sure will be interesting for him.

18:05

One thing that stood out to me in Mike's press

18:07

conference today talking about his defense and

18:09

kind of the need to be flexible to adjust,

18:11

and he just talked about, you know, offenses

18:14

are too good in the NFL just do one or two things

18:16

and say this is what we do. Just having watched

18:18

them up close week over a week, how impressive

18:20

was the ability of that Ravens defense

18:22

under Mike McDonald to be flexible

18:25

to adjust depend on what the opponent's thrown

18:27

at him.

18:28

Yeah?

18:29

Absolutely, I think you know, I talked about Kyle Hamilinson

18:31

a little bit before. I think he was a weapon

18:33

that Mike really enjoyed being able to move

18:36

all across the field. We saw him do

18:38

a variety of different things throughout this season.

18:41

But I think that again, he's just really good

18:43

at putting players in positions to be successful,

18:45

kind of recognizing who has those unique

18:47

skill sets and being able to use.

18:49

Them in a variety of ways.

18:51

You know, he's fortunate the Ravens defense has

18:53

a lot of weapons, you know, and

18:55

who knows who will follow him elsewhere.

18:57

But you know, I think that's something that Mike's

18:59

really is really breaking down

19:01

his defense in a way that's a teachable

19:04

and be kind of being able to be flexible in multiple

19:06

depending on the personnel.

19:08

What was the reaction inside the locker room

19:10

to those different packages,

19:13

right, Because on one hand, boy that

19:15

is impressive when you can change your game plan from

19:17

week to week. On the other hand, that puts

19:19

a lot of pressure on guys because it is

19:21

detail oriented, and I think it probably

19:24

goes back to him being a player's coach.

19:26

But the either the excitement level or

19:29

the thirst for a challenge. What was the feeling

19:31

among the defense in the locker room.

19:33

Yeah, totally, and that's something that Kyle talked

19:35

about. It's certainly a challenge how much

19:37

he was throwing at them. But I think Mike does

19:39

a good job of recognizing, like when too much

19:42

is too much, And I think he's just a really good

19:44

teacher of concepts that he was

19:46

able to break things down in a way for guys

19:48

that made it more digestible begin

19:50

and week out. And I think that's also something that he built over

19:53

two seasons. You know, wasn't something that he came in

19:55

day one. He was familiar with our former

19:57

defensive coordinator Week Martindale's system, so

19:59

a lot the pieces he was building off of

20:01

Winks you know, system that he had established

20:03

here over a number of years. You know, Mike came

20:06

up in that defense as well. It wasn't something that

20:08

he was kind of starting to scratch square

20:10

one. It was definitely a process over the last

20:12

two years.

20:13

Well, I am excited to see how this process

20:15

plays out in Seattle, Cassie.

20:17

I'm sorry for the loss for the Ravens

20:19

fans, but I think the twelves are super excited

20:21

here in Seattle. We are so glad that you

20:24

joined us.

20:24

Thanks for the time, Thanks so much,

20:26

and we wish Mike and stuff nothing but the best. I'm

20:28

sure they'll be there for years and years to come

20:31

and only wish you guys all the success.

20:32

John.

20:33

Knowing all of that, how does that help round

20:35

out what we kind of have started

20:37

to learn about coach today?

20:40

Yeah, you know, I think it just shows

20:43

I kind of brought this point before, but this

20:45

is a guy's going to come in with a lot of ideas

20:48

to work with the players and be flexible with them.

20:50

Heat's coming in to a team that this

20:53

is not a typical I took over

20:55

a two and fifteen, three and fourteen team,

20:57

Like, there's real talent, and there's six guys in

20:59

Orlando right now Pro Bowl. There's

21:01

guys he can work with, and I'm just I think we're

21:03

all really fascinating to see what he's gonna

21:06

do, particularly with this defense. And you

21:08

know, he mentioned Devin Wetherspoon by name as

21:10

a player, like, this is a guy that we loved in the

21:12

scouting process. They draft in the

21:14

twenties, they knew they weren't going to get him, but this is a

21:16

guy that, like we saw his versatility

21:19

a little bit already last year. This guy who played outside, he played

21:21

nickel. He's a great blitzer. I'm

21:23

really eager to see what they're

21:26

going to do with Devin Weatherspoon in year two.

21:27

Yeah. I know that Mike McDonald

21:30

does not want to talk about blitz rates. I

21:32

do, and I want to know how much

21:34

they're gonna blit Spoon because

21:36

if you watch the way Baltimore uses

21:39

those guys, oh my gosh, Yeah, it's

21:41

exciting.

21:41

Yeah. I mean their overall blitz rate was not very

21:43

high this No, they're just really affected. They're

21:45

just when they do it and they disguise it so well

21:47

and you don't know who's coming.

21:49

So yeah, yeah, the way that they can disguise

21:52

for down, the way that they bring pressure

21:54

from all over the field, it was

21:56

really I mean, as long as you're not the opposed,

21:59

don't want to be in the wrong end of it. It was really fun

22:01

to watch that. One biggest

22:03

surprise of the day for me. Somehow

22:08

Mike McDonald stump John Schneider

22:10

with movie references. Yeah, that I have

22:12

never met anybody who

22:14

has done that.

22:16

I you know, I'm a little disappointed in our

22:18

general manager to be well, there is learnt

22:20

in the press conference. He's got an assignment.

22:22

We learned he has not seen Zoolander. And

22:24

for someone who loves comedies as much as

22:27

John Schneider and is a huge

22:29

ole Pharaoh fan, yeah, I'm

22:31

a little disappointed. I think he made a

22:33

fantastic higher, incredible g I'm

22:35

good at all the important stuff, but that's

22:38

a pretty big hole in his you

22:40

know.

22:41

Maybe on a flight to like the

22:43

Combine or something like that, he's gonna have

22:45

to now And the problem is we're going to

22:47

have to go back and watch it to John

22:49

because he's going to be firing movie lines

22:52

out there and we're gonna have to know what they're from. Yeah,

22:54

he does find a way to keep us on.

22:55

And that's you know, we learned today also that the

22:57

new coach, Mike McDonald likes his comedies.

23:00

He leans a little more nineties

23:02

Jim Carrey than.

23:03

I'm totally into that. Also just

23:05

drinks a normal Pike Place roast for

23:08

his coffee.

23:08

Yeah, black coffee. This is guy.

23:10

These are the things that are really important when

23:12

getting to know your head.

23:13

I mean, when you hire a defensive cordner as your head coach,

23:15

you're not expecting him to come in and be like some

23:18

big fancy drink order with you

23:20

know.

23:20

A frappuccino with whip cream on top.

23:22

Or going back to Zonder orange mocha frappuccino.

23:26

I'm sorry that I ruined the line for you, job.

23:28

I'm sorry I ruined

23:30

the line. You know what I hope we have

23:32

done today. I hope that we have given

23:35

twelves just a little bit of inside

23:37

on their new head coach. I'm

23:39

really excited to see how this plays out.

23:42

We're gonna get a chance to, I

23:44

guess, kind of see how we build a staff.

23:46

First move should be coming pretty soon. I

23:49

have a feeling we will be joining you again

23:51

soon. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seahawks

23:53

Insiders podcast.

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