It’s 5 video games into Mike Macdonald’s career as Seattle Seahawks coach, and in some methods, it feels prefer it’s nearly to start out. But for actual this time.
What Seattle Seahawks’ D has been lacking in back-to-back losses
You’re most likely considering that sounds insane and I do know why. His teaching tenure started when he signed his contract, met the media, and employed his workers. He needed to design and talk his imaginative and prescient, scheme and language. He labored with normal supervisor John Schneider to amass the kinds of gamers he wanted. He spoke to the group, ran coaching camp, received his first preseason and common season wins and losses. All these moments have been vital, all fraught with peril, all dealt with with aplomb by the youngest head coach within the league.
We celebrated his preliminary accomplishments. He comes off as such a wise man and his group appeared to reply instantly to his type. We witnessed extra communication and self-discipline than we had turn out to be accustomed to seeing. And three video games into his career – no, three wins into his career – all the things was as clean as could possibly be. So clean that even a loss in Detroit barely counted as friction. It was straightforward to write down off, what with the standard of opponent, the quantity of injured defenders, and the offensive success.
But dropping at house to the Giants broke the spell.
The Giants don’t have an excellent quarterback. They aren’t loaded with expertise they usually have been lacking two of their high weapons. This wasn’t written into the script.
Which is precisely why I believe Macdonald’s career really begins now. We usually hear how NFL coordinators wish to script the primary 15 performs of every recreation earlier than reacting from there. Well, he’s previous the primary 15 and now it’s time to regulate.
You could hear some Seahawks followers grumble. You would possibly know one or two who has “lost confidence.” The fact is that doesn’t actually matter. Fans can (over)react every week with out affecting a lot of something. But that is Macdonald’s first massive check along with his gamers. They must respect the best way he handles the problem of a dropping streak.
We knew there could be suits and begins to this season. That is the way it goes for many NFL groups and definitely for rookie coaches. Macdonald wasn’t employed as a result of of his expertise or simply to make a right away affect. This was a long-term funding. By his personal admission, he's nonetheless studying and experiencing issues for the primary time. What we’ve come to grasp is that he's cautious to study from these experiences, and that ought to serve him nicely as his career progresses.
But how he handles his first dropping streak is a large factor. Losing is a component of life in sports activities, however it checks fully totally different muscular tissues than most the rest. We’ve seen it break rivals who by no means discovered learn how to course of it. We’ve seen purportedly strong locker rooms come aside on the seams. We’ve seen coaches lose command of the ship.
To counsel that's all on the desk after two losses is ridiculous. Macdonald will get to study from errors alongside the best way and I’d be prepared to guess he has an exceptionally lengthy leash. But this shall be his first likelihood to reply some crucial questions.
• Can he stay constant? If there may be one factor you hear gamers (and workers) complain about, it's inconsistency of their boss. People need their chief to be the identical individual in all conditions in order that their world is predictable. Predictability breeds consolation. And consistency breeds confidence.
• Can he stroll the effective line between making changes and sticking along with his ideas? Macdonald spoke this week concerning the distinction between ideas (that are ironclad) and strategies (that are extra malleable). I've little question he understands the distinction and can behave accordingly. But the problem is to undertaking that to the gamers who should know he has options however isn’t panicking. You need to adapt; you don’t need to abandon ship.
• How do the gamers deal with his accountability? Three weeks into the season, ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported on some of Macdonald’s early efforts to instill a stage of accountability. We heard about how he “chewed out” gamers who failed the conditioning check, after which “brought up the issue in front of the rest of the team.” He calls for accountability and he desires to be the enforcer.
That type might be immensely efficient, particularly as a 180-degree change from what preceded it. This locker room possible wanted some robust discuss. But how will or not it's acquired after a pair of losses? Macdonald appears to be simply as robust on himself as he's on his gamers, and that ought to give him the credibility to press ahead in his personal type. But that is new territory. Losing checks that credibility and that accountability.
The Mike Macdonald period started final winter and the groundwork for all the things he desires to perform has clearly been laid because the day he was employed. Now we get to learn the way solidly he constructed the muse. Because the primary tremors of strain are simply beginning to roll by.
How he handles it can matter. Whether the Seahawks win will possible matter extra. As we all know, nothing relieves strain like a win. And he has an opportunity for the most important one of his younger career on Thursday evening.
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