The Seattle Seahawks are hurtling towards their impending Week 1 game against the Denver Broncos. Although it may not be the historic matchup we saw in Super Bowl XLVIII, Sunday will feature a showdown between Seattle’s defense and Denver’s offense. This is of course a reflection of the teams’ head coaches, Mike Macdonald and Sean Payton.
Payton, thanks in large part to the play of his former quarterback Drew Brees, has built a reputation of being one of the better offensive coaches in football. Meanwhile, Mike Macdonald earned his first head coaching gig thanks to the stout Ravens defenses he led in Baltimore. The Seahawks are clearly trying to improve their abysmal unit from the last few seasons, and they’ll have to do so against Payton’s unit of specialty.
Following Broncos practice on Wednesday, Payton was asked specifically about Macdonald’s defense. The veteran head coach gave an extensive and thoughtful answer on the topic.
“They give you a lot of looks. They’ll play their odd front, and they’ll move that around. They’ve done a great job,” Payton stated. “I think in his last two years, [his defenses] have been second in the league in takeaways. So they’re an opportunistic, aggressive defense. The challenge this week is you have the Ravens element when we’re looking at defensive film and yet looking at the Seattle personnel. So you’re kind of going back and forth from a cut-up standpoint. It’s not unusual when you have a new staff.”
Payton continued by commenting on the other side of the ball for the Seahawks, mentioning how he will need to pay attention to what Seattle did in the preseason as well as previous trends from offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.
“Obviously with Mike, there’s a lot of Baltimore in the cut-ups that we’re studying, and yet how much makes it in Year 1 into Seattle’s package? Only they would know that—not us. They do a good job with disguise. They hold their disguises well. They create some challenges.”
Payton did mention he did watch tape of Macdonald’s defenses in Michigan, when he was the Wolverines defensive coordinator.
Sunday will be the start of a new era for both teams. The Broncos with Payton untethered to Russell Wilson and the start of Bo Nix’ NFL career, and the Seahawks with a new head coach for the first time in 14 years. Regardless of how it plays out, Seattle versus Denver looks to be one of the more intriguing matchups in Week 1.
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