NFL expert sees ‘more teaching’ from Mike Macdonald in Seahawks practice vs. Pete Carroll

The more we get to know new Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, the more a clear contrast is emerging compared to former head coach Pete Carroll . There's no denying Carroll's remarkable run of long-term success in Seattle. However, it's become obvious that the front office wanted something pretty different philosophically as they turned the chapter towards a new era of Seahawks football.

Little by little anecdotes from players, reporters and analysts are revealing the character of the team's fresh-faced new leader. What's emerging is a picture of a coach who has a relentless attention to detail and is willing to take as much time as he needs to get everything right in the moment, rather than relying on playing fast and loose and wringing the most passion as possible out of his players the way Carroll did.

For example, cornerback Tre Brown told the media last week how Macdonald runs a much tighter ship during practice than Carroll and is willing to restart a play four times to make sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to.

As Sports Illustrated's national NFL writer Albert Breer noted in his training camp takeaways , this is a departure from what Pete Carroll did, which was continue practice and rely on making changes inside the building later on.

"Speaking of Seattle, one thing that was interesting was seeing Mike Macdonald’s program compared to what Pete Carroll had ingrained there over 14 years. Practice was longer, and it looked like there was more teaching on the field—Carroll always preferred to go fast on the field, and make corrections in the classroom.”

This could be recency bias talking, but it sounds like what Macdonald is doing is the better way to teach players - you only learn by doing, after all.

While so far everything he's doing sounds good, Carroll has set an incredibly high standard for the organization - and it will take some special ability for Macdonald to even come close to matching it. In any case, NFL coaches are judged based on their results, not their process.

Macdonald will get his first test as a head coach at this level against his former boss Jim Harbaugh in Saturday's preseason game against the Chargers.

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