What the Seahawks said – Week 6 2024: Seahawks vs. 49ers

MIKE MACDONALD: Look, it's on fire. It hurts to have lost three times in a row, to lose at home to your division rival, in prime time, in such a great environment. The boys fought hard until the last minute. But we're not playing well enough to beat the team we had to beat. The message to the team is: We have the people in the building. Our players, our coaches, to become a really good football team. At the moment we are simply falling short. That's obvious based on the off-tape and what's going on. We have to start faster. We have to win the takeaway difference. This is a team statistic. We just don't do the things that good football teams do to win football games. And that's how we're going to attack it. We're going to take a breather and then actually go back and take a closer look. There are two options: give up or fight hard to make everything right again. That's what we're going to do. We have six games in the season and there is a lot of football to play. Just like last week, they said: We have to hurry. Finding new ways to lose games and it's no use. But we have the right people for the job, people who can do it. We will face this issue together and fight forward. (Fly) to Atlanta next week.

Q What is the discipline around fits, designs and tasks?

MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, guys don't make things up. They're trying to get it right. Either we stop them right at the line of scrimmage or the ball squirts and is explosive. When that happens on the front line, it's guys coming out of their gaps, the second level not fitting properly and not getting it on the floor at the third level. That's what's going on.

Q Seems like a renewed commitment to running during the week. Do you feel like that happened today?

MIKE MACDONALD: Well, we definitely tried. I think we ended up with about 20 (rush attempts). It's really a team stat because if you're down several points well into the second half, you're not going to be able to run the ball. It's just like that. So we will continue to work on it. Finding our identity. I mean, that's one of the things we'll be attacking in the next week.

Q What do you think about Geno's night? Had a few interceptions there.

MIKE MACDONALD: Look, at the end of the day, getting a stop to go down and score puts us in the right position after being in a huge hole. Geno plays really good football for us. I know he threw the two picks, but we have confidence in Geno. He'll bounce back, I thought he played a good game of football.

Q Any news on Tre Brown and Artie Burns?

MIKE MACDONALD: Artie's toe has gotten worse again, I'm not sure as to the severity. Tre had an ankle injury. I'm pretty sure everyone else is fine.

Q How long did you think about scoring the touchdown at the end of the first half?

MIKE MACDONALD: It depended on where on the field it was. Not much thought was given to this yard line.

Q What do you think the players need to get back on track here?

MIKE MACDONALD: You can't fix everything overnight. You have to choose one thing at a time. You have to be really surgical in our approach, positive. There are good things on tape. The effort was there. The boys try to play physically. I'm trying to play correctly. We have to look at what we demand and how we train it and how teams attack us and then go from there. That will really just be the thought. Kind of like a little bye week, so I'm going to do a lot of self-care over the next few days and then go back to work on Monday.

Q What was the explanation you got when they called a personal foul on Leonard (Williams) but gave San Francisco a request?

MIKE MACDONALD: Apparently the rule says that a 15-yarder overrides a 5-yarder, even if the first 5-yarder would have broken play. This is the explanation I got.

Q Mike, what did you see at the Deebo touchdown, the breakdown you had there?

MIKE MACDONALD: There was a breakdown in coverage on our side and we had the opportunity to put it right with Julian at the intersection. When that happens, we just have to get him on the ground. We missed the tackle and it went off.

Q You mentioned sales earlier. Lost the ball several times in four games. Obviously it wasn't a single guy, but what do you think needs to change to prevent that?

MIKE MACDONALD: Obviously we don't emphasize it enough. That's the starting point. The guys know that. I mean, add that to the list of things we need to attack. But we can't give the ball to the other team. We have to play more precisely.

Q Good to see Laviska (Shenault Jr.) getting back on her feet?

MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, special teams, it's really like our football team right now. We do a lot of good things that open up opportunities for us and really hurt us at certain times. It's like I'm living in two extremes. We need to balance things out and be a more consistent football team.

Q Another game where you asked a lot of your offensive line to maintain pass protection. How do you feel like her?

MIKE MACDONALD: Again, this is the third game in a row where you're behind, so you have to give up in the second half. Defensively and as a team, we need to stay within one score in the second half in these games so we don't have to fall so far behind. But the boys are fighting. The boys fight against each other. I'm proud of the performance and I don't know what the score was at one point, but it looked bleak. Laviska got the kick back, the boys fought to within a point and we failed to stop the defense after four minutes. It's a story of the last three weeks, so to speak.

Q In the last few games, the other team has been able to drive right down the field at the start of the first and second halves. Do you notice anything that is causing the defense to appear to be weak early in the game?

MIKE MACDONALD: No, I don't think we're exhausted. Teams have openers and you have to stop those openers. That's exactly it. It's a combination of understanding how teams attack you, how that plays out, and continually putting them in a better position to make plays and our guys have to make the plays. Our boys are ready to play.

Q You've been on the negative side of the sales battle for a few weeks in a row. How do you see this aspect of “I don’t you play right now”?

MIKE MACDONALD: It's probably the single biggest thing that's hurt our football team. We have to handle the ball better. Practice it better. You get the point, and apparently we don't emphasize it enough. Shoot, this is my responsibility.

Q Three games in 11 days, how much physical rest do you need at the moment?

MIKE MACDONALD: I don't know. I'm not physically sure what the answer to that is. It's good to have a few days to breathe and really have a chance to go back with the tape and come up with a great plan of attack for the future. That has to be our mentality. So that's what we're going to do.

Q Are you worried about where your team is now after suffering three straight losses?

MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, of course you're going to be upset and worried about losing three in a row. Naturally. But we're 3-3. We have been in operation for six weeks. So we started quickly. Obviously we haven't played good football in the last three games and it continues. The mentality always has to be, “Hey, let's go ahead, attack this thing and let's fight like hell to fix it.” That's the message to the guys. There is no novel idea, but that just has to be the mentality.

Q How do you manage to lose the ball without pressing defensively?

MIKE MACDONALD: I think it starts with stopping on first down plays. I don't know what the stats were today, but I felt like we were behind on some of those things. If you don't force them into passing situations, it's hard to influence the quarterback. When we created those situations today, I felt like we couldn't get the guy on the floor and he was able to stretch and make plays in that regard. But you have to win games, you know? And then it comes to life. When teams constantly have the option to run or pass, it's difficult to get them behind the eight ball.