The Macdonald Defensive System

[SeaWolv]

Contrary to popular belief, Macdonald's defensive system was not created by Wink Martindale. Martindale was the DC in Baltimore before Macdonald took over in 2022 and that's where the connection ends. Martindale used a blitz heavy scheme whereas Macdonald does not and relies more heavily on the front 4 getting pressure and eliminating the need to blitz as often.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ens-defense-stats-mike-macdonald/71583795007/

In Macdonald's second season back, linebacker Patrick Queen said, the attention to detail has the defense causing more confusion for opposing offenses.

"It’s hard for offenses to pick up on the stuff that we’re doing," Queen said. "If they do pick up on it, it’s still hard to complete passes, because we’re on everything."

Macdonald is considered one of the brightest young minds in the NFL and although we may have been better off with an offensive minded coach like Ben Johnson, once he took himself out of the running, JS got the next best thing. A young innovative coach that isn't stuck in the traditional ways of doing things on the defensive side of the ball and likely won't be on the offensive side either.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Hawks made the right choice out of all the hires, imo. Including Hairball.

 

[olyfan63]

I felt it would be a FAIL to hire Ben Johnson and try to win an arms race on the offensive side. I so totally agree with this approach, to get the only guy whose defense stuffed the 49ers, Rams, Dolphins, Bengals, Lions, Chiefs, and Seahawks in the same season. Yes, the Ravens D stuffed KC in the AFCCG, despite the L on the scoreboard, including holding KC scoreless in the second half. But somehow KC's defense stuffed the Ravens offense even harder. Really, it came down to two dick choke brainless plays by a dick player on the Ravens offense, especially the fumble before crossing the goal line.

Macdonald's defense and in-game adjustments ability will at least give the Seahawks a chance for the offense to win the games against SF and LA.

 

[Jac]

I felt it would be a FAIL to hire Ben Johnson and try to win an arms race on the offensive side. I so totally agree with this approach, to get the only guy whose defense stuffed the 49ers, Rams, Dolphins, Bengals, Lions, Chiefs, and Seahawks in the same season. Yes, the Ravens D stuffed KC in the AFCCG, despite the L on the scoreboard, including holding KC scoreless in the second half. But somehow KC's defense stuffed the Ravens offense even harder. Really, it came down to two dick choke brainless plays by a dick player on the Ravens offense, especially the fumble before crossing the goal line.

Macdonald's defense and in-game adjustments ability will at least give the Seahawks a chance for the offense to win the games against SF and LA.

That’s where I landed when all then went down. I was disappointed with the Ben Johnson development…but then realized that would be going toe to toe with McVay and Shanahan offense v. offense. Instead, we zig instead of zag and get a special defensive mastermind. And in fact, offense is down across the league this year so it’s not a bad bet on building a contender.

 

[IndyHawk]

I felt it would be a FAIL to hire Ben Johnson and try to win an arms race on the offensive side. I so totally agree with this approach, to get the only guy whose defense stuffed the 49ers, Rams, Dolphins, Bengals, Lions, Chiefs, and Seahawks in the same season. Yes, the Ravens D stuffed KC in the AFCCG, despite the L on the scoreboard, including holding KC scoreless in the second half. But somehow KC's defense stuffed the Ravens offense even harder. Really, it came down to two dick choke brainless plays by a dick player on the Ravens offense, especially the fumble before crossing the goal line.

Macdonald's defense and in-game adjustments ability will at least give the Seahawks a chance for the offense to win the games against SF and LA.

You can say that but Lamont had a fumble and a pick himself..
Plenty of blame to go around.

 

[AnimeAmore]

Contrary to popular belief, Macdonald's defensive system was not created by Wink Martindale. Martindale was the DC in Baltimore before Macdonald took over in 2022 and that's where the connection ends. Martindale used a blitz heavy scheme whereas Macdonald does not and relies more heavily on the front 4 getting pressure and eliminating the need to blitz as often.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ens-defense-stats-mike-macdonald/71583795007/



Macdonald is considered one of the brightest young minds in the NFL and although we may have been better off with an offensive minded coach like Ben Johnson, once he took himself out of the running, JS got the next best thing. A young innovative coach that isn't stuck in the traditional ways of doing things on the defensive side of the ball and likely won't be on the offensive side either.

I felt we should go offense with our new coach, but the only acceptable approach to a defensive coach is one who is younger, smart, and not afraid to be different, so in that regard the Hawks made a good choice.
IMO the worst thing we could've done is gone with a retread in his 50s who would just try to re-do the $h!t he did in his 40s. The old coaches are getting trounced just like old veterans eventually get replaced by younger players. I have felt for a very long time that NFL coaches are mostly bad/mediocre and that NFL owners were too stupid/weak to realize it and take action.
Compare the number of times you've seen a coach do something *really smart* with the number of times they do something really stupid. NFL coaches are like the stupid class in school where the C- students rule over the Ds and Fs. Before we got this new wave of young coaches the NFL only had maybe 3 or 4 good coaches. Head Coaching is the weakest link in the NFL

 

[SeaWolv]

I felt we should go offense with our new coach, but the only acceptable approach to a defensive coach is one who is younger, smart, and not afraid to be different, so in that regard the Hawks made a good choice.
IMO the worst thing we could've done is gone with a retread in his 50s who would just try to re-do the $h!t he did in his 40s. The old coaches are getting trounced just like old veterans eventually get replaced by younger players. I have felt for a very long time that NFL coaches are mostly bad/mediocre and that NFL owners were too stupid/weak to realize it and take action.
Compare the number of times you've seen a coach do something *really smart* with the number of times they do something really stupid. NFL coaches are like the stupid class in school where the C- students rule over the Ds and Fs. Before we got this new wave of young coaches the NFL only had maybe 3 or 4 good coaches. Head Coaching is the weakest link in the NFL

​

The NFL trend is offensive head coaches. JS said as much in his presser last week. The thinking is that it provides more continuity for the most important position, QB.

Some coaches can get stuck in their ways as they get older. Clinging to the ideas that made them successful instead of evolving, but not all. The NFL is different today and younger coaches seem better prepared to embrace that.

JS was trying to hire Ben Johnson but when Ben said he was staying in Detroit the next best option was Macdonald. I think JS made a very good hire and we should all be excited for the future of Seahawk football. In a few short years our defense will once again be feared and that means our offense doesn't have to be phenomenal just good and we will see another Lombardi in SoDo

 

[olyfan63]

I remember the Holmgren years just before the breakout 2005 season and SBXL, that the Holmgren offense, could move the ball on ANYBODY, with Hasselbeck at the controls, throwing to DJack, Bobby Engram, Joe Jurevicius and others, and all it took was to finally have an "average" defense in 2005 for that offense to make it to the Super Bowl.

By all rights Macdonald's defense should have made it to the Owl this year, but the offense let them down. If Macdonald can recreate that killer defense, there is enough talent on offense to make a deep playoff run by the 2nd or 3rd year.

 

[Jville]

Humm,

The recently announced retention of Karl Scott suggests to me that they might work toward a much improved variation of what Hurtt's 2023 defense attempted and failed to execute. Facilitated via better detail and communication. And hopefully ..... better health.

I'm anticipating reactionary protests over linemen dropping in to short area coverage ...... triggering comical fan reactions.

 

[therealjohncarlson]

Contrary to popular belief, Macdonald's defensive system was not created by Wink Martindale. Martindale was the DC in Baltimore before Macdonald took over in 2022 and that's where the connection ends. Martindale used a blitz heavy scheme whereas Macdonald does not and relies more heavily on the front 4 getting pressure and eliminating the need to blitz as often.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ens-defense-stats-mike-macdonald/71583795007/



Macdonald is considered one of the brightest young minds in the NFL and although we may have been better off with an offensive minded coach like Ben Johnson, once he took himself out of the running, JS got the next best thing. A young innovative coach that isn't stuck in the traditional ways of doing things on the defensive side of the ball and likely won't be on the offensive side either.

I agree with everything you’re saying although I do find it funny people are still thinking that Ben Johnson took himself out of the running. That’s like saying Pete didn’t get fired

 

[bigcc]

I agree with everything you’re saying although I do find it funny people are still thinking that Ben Johnson took himself out of the running. That’s like saying Pete didn’t get fired

You're nuts if you think the commanders wanted Quinn over Johnson lmao.

 

[therealjohncarlson]

You're nuts if you think the commanders wanted Quinn over Johnson lmao.

I didn’t say he did. Let me break down on what I think happened.

Johnson wanted hawks. Johnson wanted to use them as leverage with us. When hawks told him no he “chose to stay with Detroit” before even interviewing with Washington again.

 

[bigcc]

Humm,

The recently announced retention of Karl Scott suggests to me that they might work toward a much improved variation of what Hurtt's 2023 defense attempted and failed to execute. Facilitated via better detail and communication. And hopefully ..... better health.

I'm anticipating reactionary protests over linemen dropping in to short area coverage ...... triggering comical fan reactions.

Macdonald apparently doesn't blitz much, and regardless of what he's doing the only coverage I want to see from dl is sliding out on screens

QB's don't give a flying **** about a dt in the middle of the field, especially when the pocket is so ample with all the time in the world because nobody is pushing up the middle

 

[bigcc]

I didn’t say he did. Let me break down on what I think happened.

Johnson wanted hawks. Johnson wanted to use them as leverage with us. When hawks told him no he “chose to stay with Detroit” before even interviewing with Washington again.

Didn't he pull himself out before we even interviewed Macdonald?

I really think Detroit just talked him out of leaving and he can have another go next year.

I wouldn't really want to go to Washington either tbh

Even if what you said happened, he still took himself out of the running by shading Washington

 

[WarHawks]

I remember the Holmgren years just before the breakout 2005 season and SBXL, that the Holmgren offense, could move the ball on ANYBODY, with Hasselbeck at the controls, throwing to DJack, Bobby Engram, Joe Jurevicius and others, and all it took was to finally have an "average" defense in 2005 for that offense to make it to the Super Bowl.

By all rights Macdonald's defense should have made it to the Owl this year, but the offense let them down. If Macdonald can recreate that killer defense, there is enough talent on offense to make a deep playoff run by the 2nd or 3rd year.

If they get a better qb, yes.

 

[WarHawks]

I'm curious what 9'er and Ram fans are saying about us hiring MM.

 

[bigcc]

I'm curious what 9'er and Ram fans are saying about us hiring MM.

https://www.reddit.com/r/49ers/s/ghERojqIJy

They aren't happy

EDIT: sneak preview: Worst case scenario. Dan Quinn would have been a perfect mediocre coach, they could have tried any of the OC candidates and those guys would never be better than Shanahan. Instead they hired the guy who clearly showed he can beat Shanahan and Purdy

 

[WarHawks]

I just took a peek at a 9'er forum. They are of course hoping we crash in the ditch like they did under Nolan, who was previously the DC of the Ravens prior to becoming HC of SF. They churned through OC's under Nolan, which stunted Alex Smith. Interesting parallel. Hope MM learns from them and that our results are much better.

 

[bigcc]

I just took a peek at a 9'er forum. They are of course hoping we crash in the ditch like they did under Nolan, who was previously the DC of the Ravens prior to becoming HC of SF. Interesting parallel. Hope our results are much better.

2002 under Nolan
Baltimore's defense took a large step back from its normally high level of play in 2002. Star linebacker Ray Lewis suffered a shoulder injury which limited him to playing in only five games during the season, and the team finished 19th in scoring defense after finishing 4th in the NFL the previous year.

2003 and 2004 they finished 6th in scoring defense


Macdonald crushed those numbers, including fielding the only nfl team in history to lead the league in fewest points allowed, sacks, and turnovers.

The Ravens defense is obviously talented, but it's not ray/reed/suggs talented by any stretch.

Keep dreaming 9ers fans

 

[WarHawks]

2002 under Nolan
Baltimore's defense took a large step back from its normally high level of play in 2002. Star linebacker Ray Lewis suffered a shoulder injury which limited him to playing in only five games during the season, and the team finished 19th in scoring defense after finishing 4th in the NFL the previous year.

2003 and 2004 they finished 6th in scoring defense


Macdonald crushed those numbers, including fielding the only nfl team in history to lead the league in fewest points allowed, sacks, and turnovers.

The Ravens defense is obviously talented, but it's not ray/reed/suggs talented by any stretch.

Keep dreaming 9ers fans

Good points all. The concern about keeping OC's is a valid one though. Not sure how they overcome that.