Seattle, WA
Mike Macdonald is drawing praise as Seattle's new coach but the test starts this week vs. Denver
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Mike Morris saw the field for all of one game because of an injury in his rookie season. Not a lot of time to make an impression on his teammates.
When word leaked out about Mike Macdonald becoming the new coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Morris’ phone erupted making him maybe the most popular player in the locker room.
“It was like, ‘Mike, did he coach you in college?’ And I was like, ‘yeah.’ I got a bunch of those text messages,” Morris recalled. “My mom and dad called me and was like ‘how do you feel about it?’ I was like, ‘I’m really excited.’”
Morris isn’t the only one excited about Macdonald and the possibilities of what could happen in his first season as the Seahawks head coach.
The franchise that employed Pete Carroll for 14 seasons and who had the oldest head coach in the league last year, went the opposite direction hiring Macdonald as the youngest coach in the league at age 37 and with no head coaching experience at any level.
Macdonald is a football nerd, in the most complimentary way. He worked his magic as a defensive coordinator at Michigan — where he coached Morris — before returning to the place where his NFL career started in Baltimore and turned the Ravens defense into one of the most successful and difficult to decipher in the league the past two seasons.
“Yeah, he’s smart. He doesn’t know how smart he is,” Seattle linebacker Tyrel Dodson said. “That guy is just so smart. I thought I was smart. He blows me out of the water.”
But running a team is far different than running a defense. And despite his relative inexperience, those around him in Seattle have been impressed thus far with how Macdonald has taken to the role.
“I just think Mike’s a great listener. He really is, he can take that information in and make decisions,” Seattle general manager John Schneider said. “It’s been really impressive to watch. Like I said, he’s a very direct communicator. He’s going to give me the information, I got it, I’m going to take it over here and I’m going to have the conversation and we’re going to move on.”
Macdonald will make his head coaching debut on Sunday when the Seahawks open at home against the Denver Broncos. He’s now the face of the franchise, although he doesn’t seek the spotlight that comes with being the youngest coach in the league.
He’d rather be in a film room or on the practice field “chasing edges,” — one of the tag phrases he’s latched onto describing what he’s trying to create with the Seahawks.
“We’re always trying to push the envelope. We want people chasing us,” Macdonald said. “So to kind of get to the mentality of we’re not copying anybody it’s going to be our style of play, it’s going to be our team, our way of doing things, never satisfied with where we’re at, no complacency. Kind of a relentless pursuit of creating the vision that we want to create. I think that kind of paints a nice picture.”
While Macdonald is more out front now as a head coach, his defensive mind is what put him on the radar of every team that was seeking a new leader this past offseason.
The Ravens led the league in fewest points allowed and sacks, and were tied for the league lead in takeaways last season. They held six teams to 10 points or fewer in the regular season, including a 37-3 thumping of the Seahawks.
Disguise and creating confusion were the keys to the success in Baltimore, and what Macdonald is trying to implement now with a Seahawks defense that ranked near the bottom of the league in nearly every category last season. The system isn’t overly complicated, but there is a high level of communication and understanding of what everyone else is doing to make the coverage disguises work.
Seattle played an overwhelmingly vanilla defense during the preseason. The first test of how successful it could be comes Sunday.
“I enjoy this defense because I think it’s fun,” Seattle safety Julian Love said. “It’s not monotonous, you’re not just getting to the post. You’re doing different things. The flip side of that you have to be on your stuff.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
The weekend is here, and the forecast says get out and enjoy it!
Plenty of folks will be taking advantage of the natural beauty of our state during a free weekend at Washington State Parks. On Saturday, not only can you get into the Washington State Parks with no Discovery Pass needed, but it is also the Free Fishing Weekend. That means you can fish for SPECIFIC species of fish, including rainbow trout and bass, rockfish, flounder, and more. However, a license is still required for fishing and harvesting of shellfish, salmon, steelhead, and more. Get more details on what you can and can’t catch right here.
It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year in Tacoma. The Northwest Pinball and Arcade show has returned, and all weekend long, the Greater Tacoma Convention Center turns into the biggest arcade in the Pacific Northwest. Over 400 games will be on the floor and playable with your ticket, in addition to guest speakers, workshops, vendors, and even movie screenings. You’ll find me hanging around the Galaga machine. It also acts like an interactive pinball history museum, with machines from the early days of pinball up to the latest and greatest modern machines. Get details and tickets right here.
That’s not the only nerd theme fun this weekend, in Kent on Saturday, it is the Kent Nerd Party. The event’s website says nerds of all fandoms will find something fun to do, whether it’s larping, the LEGO museum, or miniature painting, and that just scratches the surface. This event is free and runs from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. in downtown Kent.
Seattle weekend activities to celebrate Pride Month
Pride Month is here, and there are plenty of events to celebrate at. Pride in the Park is Saturday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. It’s free and open to all ages and offers live music, food, drag shows, and lots more. In White Center, over 100 LGBTQ+ friendly vendors will be in downtown White Center for the White Center Pride Street Festival. There will be performances from local musicians, a beer garden, a family play area, and live wrestling. The fun starts at noon and goes until 11 p.m.
The Festál program continues at the Seattle Center, and this weekend’s celebration is the Indigenous Peoples Festival on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be traditional music and dance, weaving demos, poetry, and lots of vendors for art and food. Get the full event schedule right here.
If you are looking for more free fun, Sunday at the Phinney Center is the PhinneyWood Summer Arts Festival, complete with vendors, workshops to help you with your next project, a beer garden, and of course live music and fun for the kids.
If you love to thrift, then you’ll want to head to the Washington State Fair Events Center in Puyallup, Saturday and Sunday for Thriftapalooza. Here you will find a huge selection of second-hand goods, everything from clothes and home goods to toys and collectibles. If you are looking for a gift for yourself or someone in your life, you are sure to find something fun and unique.
If you are a fan of hitting the links, why not try something a little bit different by golfing…at night. Glow Golf is returning to the Meadows Park Golf Course on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the summer. Your ticket will get you a round of golf, complete with a light-up ball to track your shots, a drink ticket, and even glow swag. Get details right here.
How are you soaking up the sun this weekend? Let me know at paulh@kiroradio.com.
If the Seahawks thought that by signing Sam Darnold as a free agent this offseason they had settled on a tidy way what could have been a messy situation after the Geno Smith trade, they were wrong.
If Darnold thought that a Pro Bowl season with the Vikings in 2024 and that lucrative deal with Seattle would change how he might be perceived, he was also wrong.
Those are the two takeaways from a newsy opening week of organized team activities (OTAs) for the Seahawks and the quarterback who led the Vikings to 14 wins last season.
It was enough that on Tuesday, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was asked by a host on his radio show whether there was anything aside from an injury that would cause Darnold to lose his starting job. Here’s the exchange:
Macdonald shut the question down pretty calmly and with humor, saying: “I respect you’ve got to ask it, but it’s just a crazy question. It’s not gonna happen. Sam’s our starting quarterback. We love him. He’s doing a tremendous job. I think it’s funny that the media is out there for the first day and all of a sudden they know exactly how good we’re going to be, how good all the players are, and all the tempos.”
“I think at the end of the day, I want to go out there and play clean football, but also, I want to go through progressions and be aggressive,” he said.
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners have placed a lot of value on the versatility of their roster this season — both publicly and internally. And the Mariners will use that versatility in Game 2 of a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles at 6:40 p.m. PT on Wednesday. Gold Glove-winning utility player Dylan Moore will get the nod in right field for Seattle over switch-hitter Leody Taveras against left-handed Baltimore starter Cade Povich.
The switch-hitting ability provided by Taveras allows him to remain in the lineup across the whole game, but Moore’s ability against lefties has been well-documented this season. Entering Wednesday, Moore has hit .283 with five home runs and eight RBIs in 56 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers. Taveras has hit .296 with a double and three RBIs in 29 plate appearances against lefties.
“I think (Moore) handles lefties very, very well. And we’ve known that,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a pregame interview Wednesday. “Leody swings the bat well from the right side, too. But, obviously, trying to get as many (at-bats) for guys and keep them fresh. And today’s a chance for (Moore) to get in there. As we know, (Moore) plays everywhere and a chance for him tonight in right field facing a left-handed pitcher.”
Taveras has been Seattle’s starter at right field since the team claimed him off waivers from the Texas Rangers on May 6. In 24 games with the Mariners, he’s scored six runs and has hit three doubles and two homers with eight RBIs in 24 games. He’s slashed .188/.214/.300 with a .514 OPS while with Seattle.
Moore has scored 21 runs and has hit four doubles and eight home runs with 16 RBIs in 45 games. He’s slashed .264/.322/.481 with an .803 OPS.
MARINERS PITCHER GEORGE KIRBY SEEMINGLY FINE AFTER SCARY PLAY: The Mariners starting pitcher was participating with the rest of the team in pregame drills Wednesday just a day after a line drive made contact with his face. CLICK HERE
ANALYSIS: WHICH MARINERS PLAYERS COULD REPRESENT THE TEAM AT THE ALL-STAR GAME: All-Star voting is officially open and the Mariners will likely have several players representing the team at Truist Park on July 15. CLICK HERE
MARINERS OFFENSE STAGNATES IN 5-1 LOSS TO ORIOLES: The Mariners weren’t able to take advantage of the few opportunities they had against the Orioles and had frightening moment involving starting pitcher George Kirby. CLICK HERE
Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on “X” @Teren_Kowatsch and @RefuseToLosePod. You can subscribe to the “Refuse to Lose” podcast by clicking HERE.
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