Seahawks 26, Broncos 20
MIKE MACDONALD: Well, that happened fast. Good to see everybody. Yeah, it was great win. Started just like we wanted it to start. Drew it up that way. Just wanted some adversity there. Yeah, also going to clean all that stuff up in the first half.
Tell you what, on the sideline with our crew, the guys were poised. Nobody batted an eye. Knew what we needed to do to win the game, stuck to the plan, made some adjustments, and just kept playing. It's a long game. These games go 60 minutes down to the wire.
Proud of our guys and the effort and the attitude, togetherness. I thought they played really, really hard, so I'm proud of the guys. There are a lot of things that obviously we're going to want to attack over the next week getting ready for New England, and we'll do that.
Hopefully we will make a huge jump from game one to game two.
Q. You mentioned the adjustments. What did you think about what Ryan did what the run game opening of the second half? Seemed like there was more of an emphasis on the gap scheme out there.
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, just how they're playing their fronts, made a couple adjustments on some of the schemes they were running. I thought the O-line played well in the second half. Ken in particular really runs so hard. So yeah, they did a great job.
Q. How encouraging was it just the way the guys on defense were running around? You don't necessary see that in camp or practice, but to see that...
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, it's great. Their spirit, they were really poised. That's what we asked for in game one. You know, any time anything happens it's like, hey, let's go. We're in the dark place. That's right where we're meant to be. AD had a great message to the guys and I thought he hit it spot on. That's what he talked about.
Whatever the circumstance is, that's perfect for the Seahawks and the guys. They're bought in. They did a great job.
Q. Mike, sometimes tackling can be a little bit of an issue in game one just because there is so little in the pre-season and camp. What did you think about the way you guys did tackle?
MIKE MACDONALD: Well I thought there was some really good open field tackles. I think we can adjust some things to eliminate some of that space without getting into too much detail.
Overall I thought we tackled well. I thought we missed and they got some squirrely yards there. When you run to the ball you can take shots, and if you take good angles and like guys shouldn't be getting out on your defense.
Again, the effort is the biggest thing, and then I'm sure there will be some things we want to look at and try to make some adjustments moving forward. I thought the guys tackled pretty well.
Q. What does that tell you about Tyler Lockett? He missed some time obviously. To go out there leading in receiving and make the last catch...
GENO SMITH: I mean, obviously known how great of a player he is, but the guy makes plays. Unbelievable. Gave him the closer ball in the locker room right there. It was pretty cool. Proud of him, man. Hasn't been easy for him all training camp.
I think he's been frustrated a little bit where he is at health-wise. Guy is ready to play and made a lot of big plays for us today.
Q. It was a struggle for the O-line in the first half to see them even things out and find some footing to open the running game up like it did, how good was that to see?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, it's great. We knew they could do that. Didn't expect the game to start the way it did, but it did. You got to keep moving forward. We got great guys on the O-line.
First game, moving around, adjusting to a different style have defense. Definitely not how we wanted to start even though how I start the whole presser here.
We'll be better moving forward.
Q. For you, first game out here, how was it?
MIKE MACDONALD: Shoot, it was awesome. Electric. The fans were incredible. I mean, they were loud. They were going no huddle on third down, so our communication I thought for the most part was great. What an awesome atmosphere. It was something special I'll tell that you.
That was really, really cool. The guys were really excited. Just told everybody, the amount that's gone into getting us ready, you're looking at six months now of foot on the gas preparation trying to get everything together; takes the whole building, the whole organization, all the fans. So just really proud of our team for getting one win.
Q. Sounds like Geno gave you a game ball afterwards. What did that mean to you?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, it was awesome. You know, I accept it on behalf of everybody. It's special. Obviously our first win. It hasn't hit me -- it's like hit me and it's cool, but probably hasn't hit me yet. So maybe in a silent moment it'll come.
It was special, man. I love our guys. They're bought in. They've done everything we asked them to do. Thought Geno played a heck of a game just sticking in it and executing the game plan and playing on time.
One win, awesome, but we need to go do it again next week.
Q. ...offensive staff a make to the run game after halftime?
MIKE MACDONALD: Frankly, I was in the defense at that time. We knew we wanted to put more emphasis on the run game, but some of the game plan stuff we had to make some adjustments on without getting into like the telling everybody what we're thinking.
But those guys, credit to those guys. Understood what we had to do, made the adjustments, and emphasis more in the run game. Give it to K9, let him do his thing. Yeah, that's how we're going to have to operate. If we're going to be successful, teams are going to take things away, and you need to be able to move and shake in game to be able to move the ball on the ground.
Q. Is it safe to say getting Walker outside in space was the key to that?
MIKE MACDONALD: I don't think so. I mean, they play with pretty good edges, pretty wide edges. Some was like the slide and cup type stuff, a little bit gap scheme, hit more like lineback C gap. Some of the runs seemed like we were going to.
Q. They leaned on Bo Nix quite a bit. I think 40 plus throws in his first NFL game. Did you have an idea that's what they were going to do?
MIKE MACDONALD: You know, the game played out like that, so they probably ended up throwing it more than they wanted to with the way the second half went. He's a good player. He's going to be a really good quarterback in this league. He's going to have a great career. It's tough to get him on the ground, so those are some things we'll look at defensively.
Q. Defensive pressure, your front line kept constant pressure the whole game. How important was that?
MIKE MACDONALD: It's tough. When you're rotating guys throughout the game, you're playing eight or nine guys up front, the chemistry that comes with calling the games and executing the pass rush plan is underratedly difficult. Those guys deserve some credit.
Felt like, again, Bo is a tough guy to get on the ground, but you can't get frustrated. Keep rushing, keep taking the ball away, in terms of timing taking the air out of some of the routes so those guys can get home.
I'm sure we'll watch the tape and say, oh, shoot, there was an opportunity where we could have executed the game, should've executed the coverage better, and now here come the sack numbers. Not sure what we ended up with, but felt like we left a couple on the table.
Q. What happed with George Fant?
MIKE MACDONALD: A little bit of a knee. Not sure what's going on. We'll figure that out.
Q. You mentioned the adversity aspect, not starting the game the way you wanted to. What kind of a statement is it for your defense that two times they had the ball inside the 20 yard line to start a possession and they only got a field goal?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, red zone defense. If they get down there, it's not good no matter how you slice it. It's a certain mentality you have to have in the red zone. Execution, things happen faster. Like I said, for our whole football team including the defense, nobody batted an eye and stayed poised and did our thing down there.
We got to keep the red zone defense rolling.
Q. You guys ended up backed up on short fields a few different times. To hold in those situations, how pivotal...
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, obviously those are things we have to clean up moving forward and make some adjustments in that area of the field.
Q. How surprised were you when Marshawn Lynch came up behind you mid-game?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, I've never had a former player talk to me mid-game. It's pretty cool. I was like, we have another three quarters to play.
Just to see those guys around, it's awesome. He's one of my favorite players of all-time. He's incredible. Yeah, funny. Came up right behind me. I found myself talking to him as they were taking the field. I was like, oh, shoot, I need to call on first down.
Q. What did he say?
MIKE MACDONALD: He was talking about our defense.
Q. Was that your first in-game neck rub?
MIKE MACDONALD: Is that what he did? I guess I blacked out.
Q. Cam Walker, sounds like he's okay?
MIKE MACDONALD: We think so. Yeah, got a little muscle thing. We'll see. Figure it out moving forward. Optimistic.
Q. How good is this wide receiver corp? You mentioned you got a chance to see Lockett firsthand. How good are they?
MIKE MACDONALD: I don't want to put rankings on how good we are. I mean, a lot of great receiving corps throughout the league, but I'll put our guys up against anybody.
I mean, you got to have faith in your guys. These guys been working together since day one we showed up. You can go all the way down to Jake Bobo and Dareke Young. Those guys go in there, we got faith in them to go handle business.
Q. You said Tyler got the closer ball. Different themed game balls?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah just leave it open. In order to win in the NFL you got to close games out. You're welcome to do that on offense as much as you want. Definitely a point of emphasis on how we're going to win football games. It's just blatantly obvious that he deserved that ball. Happy for him. He earned it.
Q. Was there a particular moment that it dawned on you, I'm coaching my first NFL game?
MIKE MACDONALD: You know me. I'm not going to lie, just looking around the stadium seeing everybody, you're like, man, this is pretty rad, pretty awesome.
Just trying to stay focused in the moment, but it was an incredible atmosphere. Lived up to all the hype. Got to keep it rocking and keep them on silent cadence.
Q. The two picks, they were different but yet seemed they were team picks in terms of the players concentrating on whatever scheme you had, breaking on the ball.
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah. I mean, shoutout to Leslie Frazier. Has been doing ball drills with Riq Woolen shoot, since, shoot, April. What an incredible play. He had that guy man to man and ran all the way across the field on a movement pass. I don't know if you guys can find another play like that ever.
That's really hard to do. He's one of the few people on this planet that can make that play. Shoutout to him.
Julian's play, I mean, it was an incredible play by Julian, but it's team defense. It's rushing coverage working together, communication, pre-snap alerts, being in the right spot, and attacking the ball when he throws it to you.
Great play, but it was a great team play.
Q. On the Riq one you mentioned, he's done something similar to that several times in his career...
MIKE MACDONALD: He dropped the one in the first pre-season game. It was different coverage but it was dang near the same play.
So I know he wanted another crack at that one. Pretty cool he got that shot.
Q. You said you were with the defense more at halftime. Did you have a general message to the whole team?
MIKE MACDONALD: I said it on the TV thing. Hey, like let's go run the ball. We've got a lot of football to play. Let's stay poised. We're right where we want to be. We didn't get here the way we wanted to, but there is a lot of football to be played. I forgot what I said verbatim.
Guys were awesome, locked in and ready to go. Defense knew that was a big series, big three-and-out. They went backwards at the firs series of the third quarter, which was huge. Gave our offense some good field position.
Q. How do you see Geno handle the adversity of the tough start?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, he embodies the whole team. We're going to go as Geno goes. Kept telling him to hang in there. I didn't need to tell him anything. He was right on it staying positive. On we went.
Yeah, he's leading the charge.
Q. What did you think of the wheels?
MIKE MACDONALD: Not going to lie, I didn't know he had it in him, but I'm glad he does. It's pretty cool. Great play.
Q. Dee Williams, did you want to see him make fair catches in situations like that?
MIKE MACDONALD: Talking to -- a lot of those decisions we felt like the were the right decisions in those decisions based on where he thought he was at least. We're going to visit what the philosophy is in those situations, but we're happy with the decision making.
Just got to catch the ball. We got faith in Dee. Going to do a great job for us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports