The success didn’t happen by accident or coincidence but rather a belief and buy in the from the players of the culture and fundamentals implemented by Macdonald.
“For us, it was good to face [adversity] Week 1,” Leonard Williams said. “Because we fell back on our training, fell back on our culture. I think it almost made our culture and everything that we believe in come to life even more. We really had a chip on our shoulder to show the 12s and show the fans what it means for us to play at home. This past Sunday [against the Saints] was a great example of the type of standard we want when people come to our stadium.”
With all the components involved, the adversity of a loss to a divisional opponent, at home, in Week 1, in a game that didn’t seem to represent the kind of football the Seahawks want to play, Seattle knew it had its process to fall back on.
Williams said having a process-driven head coach, “Helps a lot because it’s not about the win, it’s not about the loss, it’s about the process. It would be bad for us to come in after a win and be feeling ourselves and not go back to what got us the win, which was the process. It would also be bad on the opposite end if we lost the game and came in hanging our heads and trying to change something to get a win the next week. We always talk about process over results, and I think that’s continuing to show up. It’s keeping us just right here instead of getting too high or too low.”
What happens when players buy into that process? They see positive results no matter the outcome.
“Even though we lost that game against the Niners, we knew that we played a physical game,” Williams said. “That’s the type of play style and culture that we are trying to create here, just a very physical team on special teams, offense, and defense. On defense, we want to make them pay for every yard. If they get five yards, one yard, or an explosive play, we want to make sure that they feel it.”
The emphasis of “playing our style of football,” is evident when talking with players about what makes the Seahawks, the Seahawks.
And the buy in to this style of play happens early and quickly. It’s not just veteran players who have been with Macdonald through Year 1 and now in Year 2, it happens to players who have known Macdonald for just over six months.
Seahawks safety Coby Bryant said Cooper Kupp is a perfect example of someone who embodies everything that Macdonald is teaching.
“Even him coming from an old team and coming here, just being who he is,” Bryant said. “Just being that all around leader… He comes to work, doesn’t say too much, but when he does, it’s time to lead and go to work.”
For Bryant, the way the team pulled together illustrates why the process, the culture and buy in is important.
“Just being able to buy in early in the season, this shows a lot. Just allows us to come together and keep playing our style and win every week.”
The loss, while a learning experience was also, “More motivation to us to go back to work and keep winning it,” Bryant said. “Just start executing better. So, we can go out and get a win.”