There is no question the Seattle Seahawks experienced their golden age during the Pete Carroll era. From 2010-2023, at their best the Seahawks reached brand new heights they’d never been to before, and at “worst” they… were still pretty dang good. At no point was this team ever boring or unwatchable.

However. I think we can all agree they were not always the most discplined team. This was fine – or, at least more forgivable – during the peak Legion of Boom days when the roster was impossibly deep at every position and the team could get away with bad penalties on pure talent alone. However, in more recent years with a roster lacking the historic depth, the same penalties became a lot harder to overcome. Seattle simply did not have the talent to offset terrible tackling, bad penalties and crucial mistakes.

Unfortunately, that particular buck stops with the head coach and his looser style (a style which did bring home a Lombardi, mind you). But now is the time for change. And from the sounds of it, new head coach Mike Macdonald is keeping a tighter leash at practice.

I’ll admit, this is a bit refreshing to hear. When Seattle was at its worse under Carroll (which, again, wasn’t all that bad or even common) the team looked lost. Plenty of games started off where the team looked lost, especially on offense. In the later years, it was the defense that was nonexistent. Too many winnable games were let slipped away.

Football is a sport of repitition. For all the physicality required, there’s plenty of choreograpy needed as well. It is chess. You are only able to truly succeed by getting the little details right. So far, I like what Macdonald is preaching.