RENTON – After the celebration lasted long into the night on Sunday, the Seahawks spent Monday focused on logistics and organizational planning for the Super Bowl on Feb. 8 against the New England Patriots.
Players were scheduled to get Tuesday and Wednesday off before returning on Thursday for a normal game week of practice through Saturday before the team heads to the Bay Area to begin their week of Super Bowl activities.
The Seahawks are likely leaving Sunday with Super Bowl Opening Night set for Monday at the San Jose Convention Center.
While the players were enjoying their days off, the coaches were hard at work on preparing the game plan for the Patriots.
Asked Monday afternoon how much Pats film he had a chance to review, Macdonald said: “I think I’ve watched like five plays.”
He expected to get well-versed soon on a team that was the biggest surprise of the 2025 NFL season, going from 4-13 in 2024 under rookie head coach Jerod Mayo, to 14-3 this season under Mike Vrabel, a former Patriot player who returned after being fired in Tennessee with the hope he could revive the glory days of Bill Belichick era.
Macdonald said he was “still working through” some of the details on how much of the game plan will be installed during the practices in Seattle this week, or if some of it will be done next week when the team practices at San Jose State University.
“Frankly I think it’s going to be something we’ll have to navigate as these two weeks present itself, too,’’ he said. “So the bulk of the work will happen this week and then go from there.’’
Here are three quick thoughts on the matchup with the Patriots as the Seahawks begin their preparations.
Don’t count on 2024 game revealing much
Macdonald is 1-0 against the Patriots as a head coach with the Seahawks winning a 23-20 overtime game in Foxborough in the second game of the 2024 season.
Much has changed about the two teams from that game, notably that Vrabel is New England’s coach.
Both starting quarterbacks from that game are also gone – Seattle’s Geno Smith and New England’s Jacoby Brissett.
And of the Seahawks’ starting 22 players that day, only nine are on the current active roster.
That includes three on offense – receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, left tackle Charles Cross and right guard Anthony Bradford, with Zach Charbonnet, who started that day at running back because Kenneth Walker III was inactive because of an injury, injured and out for the Super Bowl. As a reminder of how quickly things can change, the Seahawks’ other starting offensive linemen that day were center Connor Williams, right tackle Stone Forsythe and left guard Laken Tomlinson.
Their six defensive starters remaining from that game are defensive linemen Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed, rush end Boye Mafe, safety Julian Love and cornerbacks Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen.
Some key Patriots remain such as tight end Hunter Henry, who led New England with eight receptions for 109 yards, and running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who had 81 yards and a TD that day.
The complete makeover of the coaching staff means the 2024 game may be a tape neither team hardly reviews.
Macdonald has some familiarity with Pats’ offense
Vrabel is a defensive-minded coach but does not call the plays on that side of the ball, unlike Macdonald.
That is left to inside linebackers coach Zak Kuhr, who is New England’s de facto defensive coordinator after Terrell Williams announced he was stepping away from those duties following the first game of the regular season after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Macdonald said Monday he doesn’t know Vrabel much, and he hasn’t faced him as a head coach.
As defensive coordinator with Baltimore in 2023, Macdonald did coach against Vrabel during his last season as Tennessee’s head coach, a 24-16 Ravens win in Nashville.
Macdonald does have some familiarity with Josh McDaniels, a former head coach of the Broncos and Raiders who is the offensive coordinator for the Patriots.
McDaniels also held that role with New England from 2012-21 – a tenure including New England’s win over Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX – and the Patriots played the Ravens four times while Macdonald worked with Baltimore in varying defensive assistant roles from 2014-20.
McDaniels has incorporated a lot of outside zone run schemes into the Pats offense this season, the same scheme the Seahawks went to this year under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
Seahawks run-game coordinator Rick Dennison was the offensive-line coach in Denver in 2009 when McDaniels was the coach there.
Injury questions for both QBs
While Sam Darnold has battled an oblique injury to play the last two games, New England’s Drake Maye has been dealing with an injury of his own. He said Tuesday he had some right shoulder soreness from the grind of the season.
Darnold has obviously shown with his play against the 49ers and the Rams that the injury isn’t much of a hindrance and the extra week between the NFC title game and Super Bowl will give it that much more time to heal.
Asked if Darnold will be able to do more in practices in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, Macdonald said: “I honestly don’t. I don’t know what the trajectory is with how many reps he will need or how many he will want to take.”
As for Maye, he clarified during an appearance on Boston radio station WEEI Tuesday that he didn’t suffer a specific shoulder injury in the AFC title game win over Denver on Sunday but is dealing with some lingering discomfort.
“I’m feeling good,’’ Maye said. “I’m feeling good. We’re gonna get some extra rest and really don’t think it’s from the game, it’s just the buildup of throwing for, this is what including training camp, 30 weeks straight of throwing? Four days a week? It can add up. But I think we’ve got some extra rest and I’m feeling good.”
Asked if he might be limited when practices begin, he said, “I think it’s too early to say.”
Since the nature of the Super Bowl is for breathless coverage of everything, prepare to hear a lot about the status of each player over the next two weeks.
Each team will have to release an injury report Wednesday which will give an initial indication of where things stand. The teams will also have to do injury reports through Friday of this week and again on a usual game-week schedule next week.