Mike Macdonald's defense shined in Seahawks victory

When the Seattle Seahawks decided to hire Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to be their head coach this offseason, the message was clear: it is time to fix the defense. For the last two years, Seattle’s defense has been quite literally one of the worst in the entire league. Hiring Macdonald was a sign they wanted to go in a drastic direction to finally address this issue.

If the first preseason game was any indication, then the Seahawks are trending in the right direction. Yes, it was only an exhibition game, and Chargers star quarterback Justin Herbert was not on the field. but plenty of Seattle starters did play in the first few series and they proved stout.

Here were the first six possessions for Los Angeles facing the Seahawks last night:

• three plays, seven yards, punt
• three plays, zero yards, punt
• three plays, eight yards, punt
• one play, zero yards, interception
• three plays, zero yards, punt
• three plays, six yards, punt

It was not until Los Angeles’ seventh drive of the game with only 3:29 left in the half that they scored. And even then it was a 58-yard field goal, which would have been kicker Cameron Dicker’s career best if this were a regular season game.

Seattle stymied LA’s offense all night long. Chargers quarterbacks had a frustrating evening. Starter Easton Stick was limited to 5-of-13 passing for 31 yards and an interception. Former TCU starter Max Duggan had the best night going only 4-of-7 for 41 yards, and the final quarterback of the night, Luis Perez was 5-of-12 for 61 yards, 36 of which came on one pass.

The closest LA got to threatening the Seahawks was making all the way to Seattle’s 17-yard line, but eventually turned the ball over on downs taking shots at the endzone for quick scores.

Macdonald called the victory a “foundational” start. While there is still plenty of work to be done, it is hard to not be a little excited about the potential for this unit.

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