Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Parcells remains the only head coach in NFL history to take four different teams to the playoffs. He achieved this with the New York Giants, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and Dallas Cowboys, respectively. He led Big Blue to the Super Bowl in both 1986 (XXI) and 1990 (XXV), and came away with a pair of Lombardi Trophies. The legendary sideline leader guided the 1996 Patriots to Super Bowl XXXI, albeit the team came up short vs. the Green Bay Packers, 35-21, at the Superdome.
The point here in the case of the Giants and Patriots is that Parcells’ fourth season with each club resulted in a Super Bowl appearance. In regards to the Giants, those were the days prior to NFL free agency. It takes some time to establish a plan, although turnarounds of all kinds are a little more commonplace these days.
Last offseason, the Seattle Seahawks moved off head coach Pete Carroll, then hired John Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator. Mike Macdonald spent two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens from 2022-23, and would eventually leave a mark with the club. He inherited a unit that finished 25th in the league in total yards allowed per game, while giving up the most passing yards per contest. The team surrendered 44 offensive touchdowns, totaled a mediocre 34 sacks, and forced just 15 turnovers in 17 games.
Those numbers would change significantly in 2022. There were 48 sacks and the Ravens forced 25 turnovers as Macdonald’s unit gave up only 31 offensive TDs. One season later, the defense was even more impressive. The Ravens allowed an NFL-low 280 points, and gave up only 24 offensive touchdowns. They led the league in sacks (60). Baltimore also tied for the NFL lead in takeaways (31) with the New York Giants.
Now it will be interesting to see what Macdonald and his staff does in his second season in the Pacific Northwest. A year before he was hired by the Seahawks, Carroll’s club finished 9-8 but gave up more points (402) than it scored (364). Seattle came up with 47 sacks, but forced just 19 turnovers. The most disturbing number was the fact that Carroll’s defender permitted 45 offensive touchdowns, split almost equally on the ground (21) and through the air (24).
Macdonald’s first year with his new team saw only some growth, and that came in the team’s final eight games. The midseason addition of linebacker Ernest Jones IV helped immensely, especially when it came to stopping the run. In their last eight contests, the Seahawks allowed a total of 147 points and just 14 offensive touchdowns. In their six games prior to their 6-2 finish, Seattle gave up 178 points and 20 offensive TDs during a 1-5 showing.
That’s a lot of numbers, but this is also a defensive unit that basically returns much of the defensive personnel that played so well in the final eight contests. Performers such as 2024 Pro Bowlers Devon Witherspoon and Leonard Williams, as well as Jones and Julian Love, are joined by veteran DeMarcus Lawrence and 2025 second-round safety Nick Emmanwori.
All told, the 2024 Seahawks finished with 45 sacks (11.0 by Williams) and a disappointing 18 takeaways, both of those figures fewer than what the team managed the previous year. That’s certainly motivation enough for Macdonald and company. By the way, the last time Seattle led the NFL in takeaways was 2013. The last time the franchise led the league in sacks was back in 2005. Those seasons certainly have some significance in Seahawks’ history.
