The Seattle Seahawks are finally ready to move on from the Pete Carroll era with the signing of Mike Macdonald from the Baltimore Ravens.
The move is a message of intent to the rest of the NFC West. By acquiring one of the best defensive minds in the NFL, they are standing their ground against the offensive juggernauts Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay set up.
Mike Macdonald has established himself as one of the best coaching talents in the NFL. He started his career with the Ravens and built his reputation for crafting an unbendable defense that helped Baltimore secure the top seed of the AFC.
Baltimore became the first team in NFL history to allow the fewest points (16.5 per game), total the most sacks (60) and record the most takeaways (31) in the same season, per ESPN Stats & Information.
And perhaps most encouraging for the Seahawks is what that defense did to San Francisco in Baltimore’s 33-19 win over the 49ers on Christmas night. The Ravens had five interceptions of Brock Purdy, whose 7.1 QBR in that game was his worst over two NFL seasons.
If Macdonald can replicate what the Ravens did against the Niners with the Seattle Seahawks, it wouldn’t be strange to see them back in Super Bowl contention soon.
