Seahawks Notes: Why Macdonald hasn’t watched Super Bowl tape yet

It’s been quite a busy 48 hours for Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald.

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The Seahawks won the Super Bowl on Sunday and took part in all the festivities that followed that night. Macdonald met with media Monday morning before heading to Los Angeles for an interview on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” And on Tuesday morning, he was back on the Seattle Sports airwaves for a conversation with Brock and Salk.

Macdonald told Brock and Salk he’s yet to watch back the tape of Sunday’s victory. It isn’t because he’s been too busy, but because he wants to be able to enjoy the win for as long as possible.

“I think, honestly, if I watch it, I’ll be critical,” Macdonald said. “And I wanna just enjoy it without having to think about like, oh, we jacked that (play up). I already know there’s (plays like that), like both touchdowns (New England scored). We gotta get that fixed.”

Here are a few more highlights from the final Mike Macdonald Show of the 2025 season.

Witherspoon causing havoc

The Seahawks’ defense dominated much of the matchup against the Patriots. A big reason why was the constant pressure they applied to quarterback Drake Maye.

Seattle pressured Maye several different ways, but one aspect that stood out was how often cornerback Devon Witherspoon blitzed.

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Witherspoon had three pressures, one sack and delivered the hit that forced an errant throw from Maye that Uchenna Nwosu intercepted and ran back for a touchdown.

“The one that Uchenna had the pick (on), we called that twice and we called another pressure twice, but it’s all different. Those are all different plays,” Macdonald said of the times Witherspoon was used to pressure the quarterback. “… It just shows we probably should have pressured Spoon more throughout the season. I mean, he’s such a great blitzer.

“It’s a great problem to have because it’s like, well, do you want to send him? Do you want to send Nick (Emmanwori)? Do you wanna send both? Do you wanna send (Ernest Jones IV) up the middle?”

Macdonald added that the play Witherspoon recorded his sack on wasn’t executed properly by the defense, but the All-Pro’s abilities made it work.

“We kind of jacked that up a little bit, but he just kind of felt his way through,” Macdonald said. “That’s stuff that we just can’t teach that he’s just so great at.”

What stood out from win

The Seahawks nearly tied a Super Bowl record with their six sacks on Sunday, falling one short of the top mark. A big reason why they were able to get so much pressure on Maye was the situations the defense was putting him in.

“We didn’t start the game out playing the run as good as we’ve had in some other games, but there was no panic and then we were able to get to some solutions and fixes pretty quickly,” Macdonald said. “And then to be able to kind of get them in some of those second-and-7, second-and-long situations and maximize those, now you’re maximizing the opportunities where you can go rush in coverage. And that really helped us.”

While Seattle’s defense shined, the offense ran into trouble at times. But the unit didn’t turn the ball over for the fourth straight game and found success moving the ball on the ground as running back Kenneth Walker III piled up 135 rushing yards.

“I thought New England did a great job attacking the football and we countered that with great ball-security habits and how we finish plays,” Macdonald said. “I never felt like the ball was really in jeopardy, and that’s a credit to everybody.”

“How (the run game) went along throughout the game is a tribute to really what we’ve done all season between how we ran it with our backs, but also how just the coaches (were) getting to the runs that we need to be able to without kind of messing around,” Macdonald added. “Being decisive in that area was great.”

The Seahawks also got big contributions on special teams. Jason Myers made a Super Bowl-record five field goals. Michael Dickson averaged 47.9 yards on seven punts, three of which were downed inside New England’s 10-yard line. And Patriots punt returner Marcus Jones, who holds the NFL’s career punt return average record at 14.3 yards per return, had just four yards on two punt returns.

“Our special teams was absolutely dynamite. Our coverage units, they have to be the best in the league,” Macdonald said. “… The way we covered, the way (Michael Dickson) punted the ball, was tremendous. So all that field-position stuff – talk about stacking plays – really helped the team.”

Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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