Mike Macdonald away from Seahawks with wife having a baby -- and sends away Laviska Shenault
The day after the Seahawks’ latest win brought two certifiable truths about their rookie coach.
Mike Macdonald doesn’t mess around with ineptitude.
Mike Macdonald is going to be busier and more tired than he’s ever been in his 37 years this week.
The NFL’s youngest head coach wasted no time Monday correcting the biggest of many blunders the Seahawks overcame the day before to beat the New York Jets. He waived Laviska Shenault following the primary kickoff return man fumbling two returns in the first half Sunday.
The Seahawks fumbled on kickoff returns three times in the game; the other was by rookie Dee Williams, Seattle’s second of two deep men back on kickoffs. Those gaffes gifted New York two of their three touchdowns and put the Seahawks in a 21-7 hole by the second quarter.
Seattle rallied for the final 19 points in its third consecutive victory. The Seahawks (7-5) remain first in the NFC West entering their rematch with the second-place Arizona Cardinals (6-6) in the desert on Sunday (1:05 p.m., channel 7).
Seattle’s latest don’t-perform-you’re-gone move came on the day Shenault, signed as a free agent before this season, was one of only two Seahawks in the top 10 at their position in the league’s early Pro Bowl voting by fans.
Apparently most of that ballot count happened before Sunday’s game.
Assistant head coach Leslie Frazier said Monday “we’re working through” who is going to replace Shenault, and perhaps Williams, returning kickoffs at Arizona.
“We’ll have a better idea over the next probably 24-48 hours,” Frazier said.
Why was Frazier speaking in Macdonald’s place during the weekly day-after press conference?
Macdonald was with his wife Stephanie. She apparently had gone into labor earlier Monday. Mom and Dad are expecting their first baby at any time.
Film study is about to become a whole ‘nother challenge for the first-time head coach leading into the Cardinals game.
“Really excited for Mike and Stephanie for what they’re experiencing,” the 65-year-old Frazier, the former Minnesota Vikings head coach, said. “My wife (Gale) and I, we have three kids. So I remember those days. So I’m really excited for him.
“But for me, I mean, Mike has put together a great foundation. It’s just a matter of getting out of the way and let the coaches do what they do and let the players do what they do, and we’ve got a good infrastructure set and it should bode well for us as we go forward.”
Mike Macdonald’s return?
Asked if he had an idea when Macdonald would return to the team or if there’s a chance Frazier might lead the Seahawks into Arizona this weekend, Macdonald’s mentor from their days on the same Baltimore Ravens staff in 2016 sounded like the experienced father he is.
“I don’t know how many of you are parents on the call, but when you get that call, and you’re told that you’re getting close, close can mean a lot of things,” Frazier said. “It’s such an unknown right now. So we’ll kind of play it by ear and just see what happens day-to-day. But it could be as soon as (Monday night). We could get a word (Monday night) that the baby is here. It could be tomorrow. Could even be two or three days from now. But we’ll be on guard.
“We’re just praying that everything goes well, and we look forward to hearing the good news. And we’ll adjust when we need to.”
Seahawks’ special-teams issues
Before he left for new-dad duty, Macdonald voiced his displeasure for Shenault’s and Williams’ kickoff fumbles that nearly cost the Seahawks Sunday’s game and first place.
The coach called his special teams against the Jets a “comedy.”
A dark one.
“We have to protect the ball better (in) the kicking game, for sure,” Macdonald said. “So, we’ll definitely review that.”
The Seahawks also allowed Kene Nwangwu, a Jets practice-squad player, to return one of Jason Myers’ kickoffs’ 99 yards through three whiffed tackle attempts for New York’s second touchdown of the first half. That was just before Shenault lost the ball on a kickoff return to hand the Jets a third touchdown.
New York’s Xavier Gipson returned the next Myers kickoff 45 yards to midfield.
“Yeah, it seemed like it’s just kind of a comedy of things on each one. I’m talking about our kickoff, right?” Macdonald said, having to clarify which of the many special-teams mishaps he was referring to. “Yeah, a couple missed tackles here, and then we had a miscommunication on another one.
“We got to take a look at that and make sure we’re on the same page and we’re going in the right direction.”
Former Seahawk DeeJay Dallas, whom Seattle let go of before this season, had a 35-yard kickoff return for Arizona against the Seahawks two games ago.
The interior blockers on Seattle’s field-goal unit allowed the Jets to block one of Myers’ extra-point attempts Sunday.
On top of all that on Seattle’s special teams at New York, Michael Dickson couldn’t punt in the fourth quarter. Back spasms took him out of the game.
That’s why Macdonald had Geno Smith and the offense go for it on fourth and 6 from their own 33 down 21-19 with 9 1/2 minutes left. The 3-9 Jets then Jets-ed, committed a penalty for too many men on the field and then on the ensuing fourth and 1 a 20-yard pass-interference penalty to extend the Seahawks’ drive. Zach Charbonnet’s 8-yard run to the go-ahead and eventual winning touchdown followed.
Macdonald joked following the game the team was giving Dickson a game ball for not being available, because that led to the drive extending and the winning points.
Frazier said Seahawks special-teams coach Jay Harbaugh, the 35-year old whom Macdonald hired from the University of Michigan in February, may have a week nearly as busy as Macdonald’s trying to fix all that went wrong at New York.
OK, not nearly as busy as the new dad’s week.
“Yeah, we’ve had some moments that have been challenging, for sure, throughout this season,” Frazier said of special teams.
“(Sunday) was definitely a challenge in a lot of ways. You don’t like to see a kickoff return for a touchdown. You don’t want to see blocked field goals or extra points. That always kind of gets under your skin, especially if you’re putting the ball on the ground.
“We’ve got some things that we have to get cleaned up in order for us to get to where we want to be as a team. And I know Jay Harbaugh and our players are working on that extremely hard. But we’ve had some challenges, for sure.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2024 at 6:47 PM.
