Nehemiah Pritchett’s wowing play shows coach Leslie Frazier’s Seahawks work
Mike Macdonald said “I’ve never really seen a play like that before.”
Leave it to wily Leslie Frazier to keep his boss, and the player who made the stupendous pass breakup for the Seahawks last weekend against Arizona, in check.
Frazier, the 66-year-old Super Bowl-champion defensive back from the 1985 Super Bowl-champion Chicago Bears, is right-hand man to the head coach on the Seahawks’ staff. He is Macdonald’s confidant/sounding board/sage.
When Frazier and Macdonald happened upon Nehemiah Pritchett at the start of practice Wednesday, Frazier chided Macdonald and Pritchett. Last weekend, the cornerback left his feet, turned in the air, reached back and punched a touchdown reception away from the mitts of the Cardinals’ Marvin Harrison Jr.
“That’s an elite play right there. Way to finish on the football,” Seahawks two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon said. “It’s just elite. That‘s the only thing I can say about it, it was just an elite play.”
Pritchett’s marvelous awareness and body control kept Seattle ahead by three scores late in the third quarter. Playing as a sixth, dime defensive back in passing situations because cornerback Josh Jobe was out with a concussion, Pritchett essentially sealed the Seahawks’ 44-22 win.
Macdonald raved about Pritchett’s play for days, from Sunday up the start of practice Wednesday for the showdown this weekend between the Seahawks (7-2) and Los Angeles Rams (7-2) for the NFC West lead.
“We showed the TV copy to the guys multiple times. The body control and awareness — I’ve never really seen a play like that before,” the 38-year-old Macdonald said. “I know I sure as heck can’t do that. I can barely run from here to that door over there.
“That play probably ultimately sealed the win for us, because otherwise if they make that touchdown, it’s down to a two-score game with, 20 minutes to go or something. That was a big-time play.”
Wednesday at the start of practice, Frazier turned to Macdonald standing next to him then yelled to Pritchett, who was stretching a few yards away.
“Coach has been braggin’ about you!” the former Minnesota Vikings head coach said to the second-year cornerback.
Macdonald teased back.
“I said, ‘You’re Leslie’s son. You’re his adopted son,” Macdonald told Pritchett.
Frazier has been behind the two most impressively athletic plays from the Seahawks the last two games, consecutive blow-out wins at Washington and against Arizona.
The week before Pritchett’s gem, safety Ty Okada, another injury fill-in, leaped high along the sideline to snare a pass from Washington’s Jayden Daniels, then deftly got the tops of both cleats down just inside the sideline boundary for an interception. It swung the game decisively to Seattle in its breakaway first half.
In the locker room in Landover, Maryland, following that 38-14 win, Okada and locker neighbor Witherspoon shouted their praise for Frazier working with Seahawks defensive backs daily on intercepting passes in improbable fashion.
“Hey, ‘Spoon, what do we call it? The ‘Coach Les’ School of Ball Drills,” Okada said to Witherspoon that Sunday night outside D.C.
“Hell, yeah,” Witherspoon bellowed. “Shout out to ‘Coach Les’! O.G. (Old Gangster) holding it down!’” Okada said: “Every day after practice we are working on different interceptions. You never know when your opportunity is going to come up, or how it’s going to come up.
“Shout-out to Coach Les working day in and day out on that.”
Macdonald and Pritchett said the same thing: that it was Frazier’s preparation that led to Pritchett’s wowing pass breakup on Harrison in the end zone against Arizona.
Macdonald sent a video off the CBS telecast of the Cardinals of Pritchett’s play to Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde Sunday night hours after the game ended. Macdonald wrote “Coach Les’ ball drills!”
“Oh, yeah, Coach Leslie, we are always doin’ ball drills,” Pritchett said Thursday at his locker before practice. “Finding ways to attack the ball and punch the ball out with ‘Les’ after practice.
“That kinda came in play there during (the last game).”
Wait, Frazier has a drill to dive parallel to the ground in a Superman pose, then reach back and punch the ball from a receiver about to secure a touchdown?
“Nah,” Pritchett said, laughing. “We’ve never had a drill like that.”
Pritchett said he could feel Harrison against him as they both dived. That gave him the awareness the receiver, and thus the ball, were in arm’s reach — if he could turn and punch exactly to the right place, that is.
“I felt him on my side as we were going down, so I kinda knew I had enough time to try to get a hand through,” Pritchett said.
“But I really just punched. I didn’t see the ball. I really just shot my hand through.
“Nah, that’s my first one like that.”
Seahawks more dime in L.A.?
Seattle’s fifth-round selection from Auburn in the 2024 NFL draft, Pritchett played a season-high 23 snaps on defense last weekend against the Cardinals with Jobe out.
Jobe was full go in practice Thursday. That’s a good sign for him and his team in response to him practicing Wednesday. Jobe is progressing through the league’s concussion protocol this week to play at the Rams.
If Jobe plays, he is likely to start at cornerback again, and recently improved Riq Woolen could go from starter to dime defensive back against Los Angeles. That would slide Pritchett back to primarily being on Seattle’s special-teams units.
But Macdonald said the way Pritchett played against Arizona plus how he’s practiced recently to earn that shot has the coach considering more dime with only one off-the-linebacker and with Pritchett in against the Rams’ many extra-receiver formations.
“Well yeah, when he’s playing like that, it’s easy to say ‘dime’ and have everybody run out there,” Macdonald said this week. “But it’s a good problem to have. We can go in our two-linebacker package (with five defensive backs, nickel) and play good football, and we can go to one linebacker and still play good football.”
Coach Sean McVay has his Rams in “13” personnel — one running back with three tight ends — more than any other NFL team. Over the last four games, while the Rams have blown out Baltimore (17-3), Jacksonville (35-7), New Orleans (34-10) and San Francisco (42-26), L.A. has been in “13” personnel a whopping 40% of its offensive plays.
When the Rams have been in 13, their foes have been in base defense 93% of the time.
That’s where Macdonald is different.
When the Seahawks have seen “13” and “12” (one back, two tight ends) personnel this season they have been in dime and nickel with extra defensive backs more than any other NFL team. It’s 58% sub packages opposite “13” personnel and 81% against “12” personnel.
That explains why Seattle is number one in the league in using nickel defense, at 86% of the time.
Macdonald rewards performance
Macdonald sees his defensive backs as his best players. And they are getting healthier to be back together soon.
If Jobe plays in L.A. the only regular defensive back still out injured will be safety Julian Love. Love will be on injured reserve through at least the next two games.
The Seahawks’ secondary hasn’t been whole with all its regular starters since the fifth play of the season. That’s when rookie safety Nick Emmanwori sprained his ankle Sept. 7 in the opener against San Francisco.
And that began a parade of injury fill-ins, starting with Okada and now including Pritchett, that have improved to the point of excelling during Seattle’s seven wins in its last eight games.
Pritchett has been motivated since training camp to excel in practices. He and other Seahawks have seen Macdonald give new playing time to guys who perform well in practices. It’s how Drake Thomas became the team’s new starting weakside linebacker this season.
“That’s definitely a good feeling, just knowing that your hard work is not going to waste,” Pritchett said. “You know you are coming out here each and every day getting better at practice, putting it in front of the coaches and putting it on tape, just showing them you can play.
“That’s definitely a plus.”
Macdonald sees it as a fundamental of true competition, “iron sharpening iron” as he and his players love to say.
The head coach and former high-school baseball player also likens his approach to that sport.
“If you’re a baseball player and you go up there and you get hits, you get on base, you’re going to be in a lineup,” Macdonald said.
“You go out there and play good football, you do what you’re supposed to do, you’re going to be in the line(up).
“That’s how it works.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM.
