Seahawks 16, Cardinals 6
MIKE MACDONALD: All right, Dave was still telling me that there is still folks out there in our Seattle area still without power. Thoughts and prayers go out to those people. From our perspective having gone through this week, we thought it was a great opportunity for us to come together. I hope everyone is still safe out there, getting through that.
Obviously great to win at home finally after this hiatus and bring some joy back to some people's lives.
Thought the defense played with great energy, physicality, a lot of detail. Offensively I thought we did some good things, but we need to clean some things up operationally.
I thought some penalties drew us back. Just talking to Geno, continue to make better decisions it the red zone, take care of the ball.
We were improving and making strides in that area as well, so be a good game to build off.
Q. The defense as a whole today, is this what you feel like you have been building toward all season?
MIKE MACDONALD: I just think it's a -- credit goes to our coaches and our players and everyone in the building of just like understanding what we're trying to build and just when it's not that way, then you just hammer away and just go to work and work on our processes and try to figure out schematically what we're good at, putting our guys in better situations.
It's just everybody working together all the time, staying together, trusting the process. Then you have games where you feel like you played pretty good and helped the team win the game, but it's about consistency.
Three games in a row now we played pretty decent on defense. There is an expectation and standard here throughout the course of our Seahawks history that we're trying to live up to and build on.
So that's the idea.
Q. How good was Leonard Williams today?
MIKE MACDONALD: I thought he was dominant. I knew he played great and then I looked at the stat line and he played out of his mind.
Q. How much does it help your defense when you have a player like that, 300 plus pounds that can play inside and destroy the guards and then go out in a two-point stance and get a sack?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, not many like him walking the planet, and I'm glad he's on our team. He's a heck of a guy. He's leading the charge in the defensive front room as well with J Reed. J Reed played really well.
John Hankins, all the veterans are helping build the camaraderie in that room. They're playing together and rushing together and coaches are doing a great job leading as well.
Q. The play 'Spoon was able to make on that fourth down to string Kyler out...
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, that's Devon Witherspoon 101. Just effort, energy, competitiveness, football understanding, all of the above.
So he definitely made that play come to life.
Q. Was that the best timeout you've ever called?
MIKE MACDONALD: Originally I was kind of bummed. I couldn't believe it, and then turned out to be a great time out. (Smiling.)
Q. Why did you guys call a timeout there?
MIKE MACDONALD: We play these guys in two weeks. Just kind of not tell you that one.
Q. You mentioned trusting the process. You guys have looked like a different team, especially defensively since the bye week. Anything change from that time?
MIKE MACDONALD: You know, I think just more of an opportunity to go to work on kind of narrowing it down, tighten down the focus about where we're going to live and what we need to do better.
I just think like it just doesn't happen overnight. You got to go through it. Can't go around it. The guys have that mentality. That's the only way you can make it come to life. Can't just hit a magic button. The guys know that.
We are looking at three weeks now. We're trying to do this over the long haul and make a run here in the latter part of the season, it's going to require us to play this way every week. The guys know that and they're locked in. It requires great weeks of preparation so we got to do it on kind of a short week going over to New York because we have Thanksgiving and we'll give the guys some time to be with their families.
Q. What did the team show you from practice this week just staying focused, getting som adversity, and then coming to the game with that attitude?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, we didn't blink. I mean, just the guys -- feels like something happens every week so it's kind of par for the course at this point, which is good. You know, good. Onward we go.
Q. Devon said you were in your bag today on your calls. Is there something you feel like you're rounding into shape here as coach as this time?
MIKE MACDONALD: I just think we're playing well together. We are operating well together. I think the guys haven't been with us -- you know been kind of together for a minute now and we're on the same page about how we're going to play the game.
Yeah, look, I like to think I'm trying to grow as a coach as well from week to week. In order to do that you have to understand said your players and communicate with them how well you coach stuff. So all of our coaches are doing that.
I think we're growing together as a unit. I appreciate he feels that way, but, look, the players make this thing come to life. I mean, they deserve the credit here were they're putting it on the line and executing at a high level and playing together.
So they deserve the credit.
Q. You had said this week you wanted to treat this like a home playoff game.
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah.
Q. Is this what you were hoping to see across the board?
MIKE MACDONALD: We won the game, which is awesome. The fans were fricking awesome. 12s were rocking. The place was bouncing. It was an awesome atmosphere. Just the way we wanted it.
But you look at it and we're going to back into the tape. It's never as great and never as bad as you think. It's got to be the same mentality: Go back, attack it, try to take that next percentage increase to get better, and then go stack next week on the road.
Then when we get another chance to come back home in a few weeks being let's do it again. That's really the mentality.
But. Yeah, we want to defend our home turf and make this place a tough place to play for sure.
Q. The fourth down interception by Bryant, how difficult of a play is that by Witherspoon to spin out when he thinks it's going to be an inside run and get out to Murray as quick as possible?
MIKE MACDONALD: On that play, honestly, he was a flat player, so just doing his job.
Q. The speed he takes to get out there to the outside...
MIKE MACDONALD: The urgency, the wherewithal, the competitiveness of just fighting for every inch is just -- I mean, he does it as good as anybody.
Q. Coby, for months he's a guy that makes plays on the ball. Good to see that come to fruition for him there?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, if the ball is in the air near him I'm assuming he's coming down with it. That's a credit to him.
Q. Speaking of Kyler, how hard is it to prepare for a player of his caliber with those legs?
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah.
Q. You look like you contained him pretty well today. Are you satisfied with that?
MIKE MACDONALD: I wouldn't say satisfied, but pleased with the effort. Kyler is a pain in the neck to get ready for. He's a dynamite player. The things he's been able to do this year are a credit to him. We got a lot of respect for him.
So, I mean, we're going to be seeing a lot of him, so we kind of -- it's going to be fun going back and forth about how you evolve game plans and how to do things along those lines.
Look, our guys, in order to do that you have to rush unselfishly. To be the type of unit up front and rush the way they did, I think that speaks a lot to who we have in that room, how they're doing it, and how we're playing our coverages.
It is definitely a team effort.
Q. You talked a lot about the energy that Devon brings to the defense. What have you seen on that front from Tyrice Knight, especially the beginning of this game? Just seemed like he was bringing electricity in the middle and everybody was feeding off that.
MIKE MACDONALD: Yeah, I think the middle of our defense right now is playing pretty dang good. Happy for him. He's doing a lot during the week to prepare. He is just another example -- I sound like a broken record -- but it's like just stack good moments, good days, good reps, good preparation, take care of your body, study the heck out of the game plan, over communicate, take one play at a time.
I mean, that's just how have to do it. To his credit, that's what he does. There is no extra about him. It's just business as usual and he's very poised, even in awesome NFL environments. You got to give him credit for that for being a rookie.
Q. That last offensive drive, you mentioned need to clean some things up on offense, but they took eight minutes off the clock; 13 plays.
MIKE MACDONALD: It was awesome. I really thought we had a chance to close it out the whole way. Geno's zero check was just elite. Just high powered football right there, so he deserves a lot of the credit. Guys ran hard. Offensive line blocked well. Would've been awesome to close it out.
To get in field goal range and let J-My put it to a two-score game was really end of the game.
Q. You want your offense to score 30 every week of course. Is this the mentality, the type of team you want to be to win, 16-6, no touchdowns allowed?
MIKE MACDONALD: Well, if you told me that we -- if you told us we were going to hold a team six points every week, then yeah. Yeah, I think just complementary football, defense stepping up when the offense needs us to do it. Vice versa, offense coming through at the end; eight minute drive to put it on ice.
Complementary is the best way, is the vision. Look, we got great players that are explosive. Be great to create bit more explosive plays. Got to give Arizona credit for some of the things they were doing today.
Those are some things we're going to need to counter in the next two weeks, but I think we are making strides. I think we are. I think we're improving. Some of the things that got called back today, we'll look at some of things that got us behind the sticks and got us behind in some of those drives.
Q. What do you know about Anthony Bradford's situation?
MIKE MACDONALD: He's got an ankle, and we'll see. I mean, it's not broken or anything. I don't want to give a timetable, but probably looking like at least a game.
Q. The check you mentioned. Geno on the eight minute field goal drive, which play was that?
MIKE MACDONALD: Third down conversion I think on the run to Charbs.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports