Sports

/

ArcaMax

Mike Vorel: The biggest reason Mike Macdonald's Seahawks can reach the Super Bowl

Mike Vorel, The Seattle Times on

Published in Football

SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks have become a cliché in the best possible way.

Minutes after Seattle’s fourth consecutive win, coach Mike Macdonald said Sunday: “We had some guys go down this week, as you guys are well aware. We had guys step up, and nobody flinched. It took all 70 [players on the roster] again. That’s how we roll.”

By embodying the “next man up” mentality, the Seahawks are rolling over everybody.

That’s the biggest reason to believe the Seahawks have a Super Bowl ceiling. Because the results are resilient. They’re not hitched helplessly to one player’s wagon. They’re not trampled under a parade of personnel groups. In a season — and a sport — where injuries are unavoidable and continuity is hard to come by, their bottom line has been printed in permanent ink.

Take Sunday’s 44-22 torching of the Arizona Cardinals. After defensive leader Ernest Jones IV went down last week because of a knee injury, Tyrice Knight made his first start at middle linebacker. The 6-foot, 233-pounder made an immediate impression, turning a pair of blitzes into nearly identical strip sacks that teammate DeMarcus Lawrence returned for first-half touchdowns. Knight finished with eight tackles, three tackles for a loss, two sacks and two forced fumbles, earning a game ball after taking two away.

That undaunted depth has defined the Seahawks’ season.

When Seattle lost standout safety Julian Love to a hamstring injury, Ty Okada — an undrafted 5-11 defensive back out of Montana State — immediately emerged.

When Knight was hampered by an MCL/meniscus injury and a heart issue in training camp, Drake Thomas — an undrafted 5-11 linebacker out of N.C. State — developed into a dependable starter.

When nose tackle Jarran Reed was surprisingly placed on IR on Saturday because of a wrist issue, Brandon Pili — an undrafted third-year nose tackle out of USC — shot a gap and stoned Cardinals running back Bam Knight for a goal-line stand Sunday.

When do-it-all defensive back Devon Witherspoon missed time this season, Derion Kendrick — who the Seahawks claimed in August after he was waived by the Rams — produced a pick in back-to-back games.

When wide receivers Cooper Kupp, Jake Bobo and Dareke Young were all unavailable for “Sunday Night Football” on Nov. 2, Tory Horton (four catches, 48 yards, two TDs) and Cody White (60-yard TD) cooked the Commanders in a 38-14 win. The Seahawks then added former Saints speedster Rashid Shaheed to an already resilient room.

Heck, when Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet needed a breather Sunday, George Holani — an undrafted second-year running back out of Boise State — bounced around the right edge and stiff-armed Cardinals cornerback Denzel Burke en route to a 9-yard score.

The Seahawks’ headliners — quarterback Sam Darnold, wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, defensive end Leonard Williams, Jones, Witherspoon, etc. — have obviously done their part. The point here isn’t to overlook your favorite player. But Seattle’s greatest strength is its comprehensive consistency, its ability to roll through injuries and avoid being exposed. That’s a testament to the system and culture Macdonald has installed.

 

Before the season, who expected Okada, Thomas, Kendrick, White, Holani, etc., to contribute to a 7-2 team?

“It’s not like we’re trying to reward guys [for practicing well]. We’re trying to win,” Macdonald said Sunday. “Guys that show they can go play great football, we’re going to give them opportunities to go do that. I think our actions back that up.

“I’d like to play on a team like that. ‘Why do you want me to come out and work so hard every day? Why do you want me to do all the things you’re asking me to do?’ Well, we want to develop you as a player, and we’re going to need you at some point. So why would you not operate like that? I don’t know. Some people don’t do that.”

Because it’s easier said than done. In the sports journalism world, “next man up” is perhaps the most overused, unoriginal cliché, three words coaches and players cling to after any injury. Like “grit” or “culture,” it’s easier to print on a shirt or repeat in a news conference than enter into evidence.

But the Seahawks’ next men keep stripping quarterbacks and scoring touchdowns.

So why wouldn’t you believe? When the Seahawks successfully overcome injuries to the likes of Jones, Reed, Love and Witherspoon, and do it with the biggest point differential (plus-103) in the NFC, it’s easy to think they can overcome anything. That this weaponized cliché will keep right on rolling. That injuries are opportunities for renewable resiliency.

Their biggest test so far arrives Sunday, when the 7-2 Seahawks travel to Los Angeles to meet the 7-2 Rams. Skeptics might note that Seattle’s seven wins have come against teams with a combined record of 22-34 (.392). It’s true, the Seahawks haven’t really beaten anybody, with their best wins coming against the 5-4 Steelers and 5-4 Jaguars.

But UW fans — whose Huskies just face-planted in a 13-10 loss at 3-6 Wisconsin — know that wins against inferior opponents aren’t guaranteed. Especially in the parity-pocked NFL, amid the injuries. The Seahawks deserve credit for dismantling the Cardinals, Commanders, Saints, etc., and doing so with punishing aplomb.

On Sunday, as it has all season, it’ll take 70 Seahawks — not just the 53 on the roster. Macdonald has dubbed his 17-player practice squad the “ready squad,” which can sound corny.

But it’s undeniable that the Seahawks have been ready.

That’s the biggest reason to believe they’re built for February.

____


©2025 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus