RENTON — In introducing new Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald on Thursday, general manager John Schneider described the deflating feeling he had leaving Baltimore in the aftermath of the Seahawks’ 37-3 loss to the Ravens on Nov. 5.
Schneider wasn’t alone. It was a familiar feeling for everyone in the NFC West.
It was Macdonald’s defense that helped the Ravens sweep through the NFC West this season, and Baltimore’s 33-19 victory over San Francisco on Christmas Day, no doubt, further buoyed Macdonald’s candidacy as a first-time head coach.
Now as Macdonald builds his team and his schemes, among the many questions facing the 36-year-old coach is this:
How quickly can he get the Seahawks’ defense up to speed in a division featuring the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan and the Rams’ Sean McVay?
It might be the most fascinating subplot of the Macdonald hire. He’s widely regarded as one of the game’s best and brightest young defensive minds, and he’ll now have four chances each season to prove that against two of the league’s best and most innovation offensive coaches.
In his first full day on the job, Macdonald sounded eager to take on the challenge.
“The spirit of how we play and the principles of how we play, what you’ve seen on the tape in Baltimore will be the same,” he said. “But I can’t guarantee you the schematics will be the same here, because, you know, we’re not sure what we’re good at yet.”
The Seahawks, simply, were not good enough against the 49ers and Rams of late.
