Football coaches — leaders of behemoth men, in the ultra-macho sport — being nervous?
Yeah, right.
Yeah...right.
“I’m always nervous. Have you met me?” new Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said Friday.
The 37-year-old self-described football nerd — described that way by his players, including Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon — was speaking two days before his first game as a head coach. At any level.
“I’m excited to see our guys play. They’ve been working really hard. They’ve earned the opportunity to go out there and showcase the work that they put in,” Macdonald said.
“Me personally? I still got some work to do for between now and the game, so I’m focused on that.
“Then, when the game hits, I’m sure it’ll hit pretty hard.
“But, not time yet.”
Seattle’s opener to the season and an era Sunday against the Denver Broncos at Lumen Field (1:05 p.m., channel 7) is also the first NFL game for Ryan Grubb.
Ryan Grubb’s nervous, too
The Seahawks’ new offensive coordinator, 48, began his coaching career in 2003 calling plays for Kingsley-Pierson High School in his hometown in Iowa.
He was an assistant in college football from 2005 at South Dakota State, then Division-II Sioux Falls (2007-13) through Eastern Michigan (2014-16), Fresno State (2017-21), to the last two years as the offensive coordinator for the University of Washington.
Grubb has been calling Seahawks plays for quarterback Geno Smith in practices since May, and in three preseason games last month.
Yet he also admits to being nervous for Sunday and his first real NFL game.
“I always get nervous,” Grubb said Thursday, “because I want to do great. Absolutely. I play off that.
“I just feel the same way as players, though, to be honest with you.”
Grubb’s first job calling plays was at the University of Sioux Falls. That was in 2010. His second offensive coordinator job was for head coach Jeff Tedford at Fresno State five years ago. The Bulldogs’ 2019 opener was at USC on national television.
This week reminds him of that night inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“I can remember the first time I was calling a game. It had been a while since I was at Sioux Falls,” Grubb said..
“My first game back was in the Coliseum when I was at Fresno State, and we were playing USC. Leading up to the game, I was like, ‘OK, I’ll go through, memorize all my calls, do all this.” And you get there, the ball’s kicked, teed up, and the first third (down) happens, and you’re rolling.
“It’s very similar for players. They get out there. There’s a lot building up to it. But then you just got to do your job, and you got to work into it and play within your bounds.”
Mike Macdonald: Communication
Macdonald has been focused all week on the same thing he emphasized throughout training camp and Seattle’s three preseason games.
Communication on his defense.
Macdonald called the plays for the Baltimore Ravens’ NFL-best defense the last two seasons. But he’s never done what he will Sunday: Call defensive plays inside sold-out Lumen Field. Seahawks fans will be roaring every time Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix lines up to take a snap in his NFL debut — which means each time he calls plays and his players try to change at the snap.
Macdonald will be making his play calls into the helmet speaker of Tyrel Dodson. Seattle’s new middle linebacker from Buffalo on a one-year contract is replacing departed Bobby Wagner as the team’s defensive signal caller on the field.
Dodson asked Macdonald to crank up the music during Seahawks practices this week.
The new coach obliged.
“We did the crowd noise this week and stuff, and tried to go louder with the music just to somewhat simulate what it’s going to be like (Sunday),” Macdonald said.
“I think it’s been good.”
Macdonald is always tinkering, always refining. That’s what has him nervous between now and kickoff of the opener — and beyond.
“We’ve had a couple things we need to change here and there,” he said of the defense’s communication, “but it’s not because we’re not on the same page.”
Macdonald coached with the Ravens playing the Seahawks at Lumen Field during the 2019 season. He was Baltimore’s linebackers coach then.
“Well, I was in the booth, so that was a bummer,” he said, grinning. “It’s good for me, I guess.
“Yes, it’s all the things. We talked about it. It’s an issue. It’s something that you talk about as a team throughout the whole week about noise and what it’s like and the atmosphere and electricity.
“I didn’t necessarily hear it but you still can feel it from being inside the booth.
“I’m glad we’re on this side now.”
Dodson’s never done this, either. Not full time in the NFL as the green-dot helmet wearer with the play-calling speaker.
He spent this week trying out hand signals to communicate with teammates through Lumen Field’s crowd noise.
Yet he’s not worried about his challenge. The fifth-year veteran is counting on what he thinks is his coach’s greatest strength to guide him and the Seahawks defense.
Macdonald’s intelligence.
“He doesn’t know how smart he is. That guy is SO smart,” Dodson said. “I thought I was smart. He blows me out of the water.
The way he coaches, he’s very hands on. He likes getting reps and reps and reps. He’s very smart and he’s very consistent. I like consistent people.
“I keep saying the word consistent because you see the guys, the Kam Chancellors and the Richard Shermans, they were so consistent. That’s why their names keep getting mentioned, because of consistency.”
