Mike Macdonald can be, at times, a man of few words. In fact, he tends to communicate the way he designs blitzes: with precision. Little wasted movement.
But when it comes to ideals and philosophies set to language, he’s a treasure trove. A nearly endless supply of one-liners led the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Not throwaway comments, not empty platitudes like….a brand-oriented quarterback.
These were goals and philosophies, and they defined the 2025 Seahawks.
And believe it or not, there were 12 of them.
To fans of Seattle since they hired Mike Macdonald, none of these will be unfamiliar. To those just now discovering there’s a team north of the San Francisco 49ers, we welcome you. Let’s journey through time from Macdonald’s first spring til today. Allow me to introduce you to one of the first phrases ever uttered by the now Super Bowl winning head coach: “Chasing Edges.”
Chasing Edges
Chasing edges means attention to detail in such a way that any available advantage one might gain, is gained. It’s everything from the relentless observation of tells and tendencies in opponents, all the way to the belief that becoming the NFL leader in special teams is worth pursuing.
Stacking Plays
This was the first one I remember from Macdonald’s first training camp. Back then it was “stacking reps,” but to be fair the man had never head-coached an NFL snap before. Once the season started it morphed into stacking plays, and eventually “stacking wins.” Having the background with “reps” helps put the shape to this one. It’s like momentum, but really on an individual level before it translates to the team. Do the thing right, and then do it right again, until doing the right thing the right way becomes the norm. There’s no shortcut to greatness.
Operation
After we stacked some stuff, the next thing that stood out that summer was the word “operation”. He said it throughout camp, and it seemed a special interest after the team’s – and his – first preseason game.
“Great first start,” Macdonald said. “I’m just proud of the mentality, the focus that we had, the intent, it felt like the guys played really hard, felt like they were focused. It’s a first game, so the first time doing all the operation stuff for real, and I thought our operation was clean for the most part.
Macdonald is highly process-oriented, and this is the phrase. Every football coach knows about the operations of football, but Macdonald lives here. To him, it is absolutely not better to be lucky than good. It is better to be foundationally solid, so that his team is the most likely team to produce the best result, because their preparation has been the best.
Shocking Effort
I’m not sure if Macdonald walked in the door with this one or not. We didn’t hear it right away. But it’s how the staff describes what they want to see on tape. Your high school coach probably yelled ‘hustle’ or such at you; Macdonald calls his guys to shocking effort.
The New England Patriots felt the full force of shocking effort on Sunday. They were not able to replicate.
Twelve As One
Obviously not something he picked up in Baltimore or Michigan. A move that endeared Macdonald far more to the city of Seattle, it’s both a nod to the home field advantage the Seahawks have reclaimed and the synergy of the team, primarily on defense. He describes it:
“When you play together and you really try to create it like you’re playing against more than 11 guys – that’s what we want our fingerprint to be. That’s our identity.” “The guys have bought in on that. It’s about really playing for the guy next to you.”
Vulnerability
This is the one that I don’t believe Macdonald would claim as any sort of team mantra, but I’d push back on that. This was felt first, because, among other things, Macdonald is a terrible liar. Stick a microphone up there and he acts like he’s incapable of it. The result is at times awkward pauses and grasping for words, but it’s because he’s always looking for the true words. There are times when he speaks after a 10-point win and he’s openly upset about a bad call he made that put his safety in a bad position.
It was felt in 2024, and in 2025 it became a mindset. Leonard Williams led the way this year talking about “brotherhood” and “love,” and a team atmosphere that is just so starkly different than the 2013 champs.
Ready Squad
Now we’re changing institutionalized titles? Apparently. It came out that Macdonald doesn’t use the term practice squad. Those extra 16 guys are the “ready squad.” They even made shirts.
The result? A guy like Ty Okada started 11 games this year and made 65 tackles.
Loose and Focused
You might not have heard this one as much until Super Bowl week. They don’t bring it out as often, it seems like more of a locker room thing than a public philosophy.
I do love the way Macdonald talks about the idea, however. He’s said it should be fun to go to work. But not to go to have fun, but because it’s fun to be great at what you do alongside others who are great at what they do. It’s kinda like word hard play hard, but with less letters. The Macdonald way.
M.O.B. Ties
This is when leadership created the culture that creates itself. Coach didn’t come up with this one, the players did.
It’s Mission Over Bullsh-t, and it’s particularly interesting when you hear Jaxon Smith-Njigba talk about liking the phrase. Seattle employs the absolute unicorn of best wide receiver in the league that’s also not a diva. Let the play do the talking.
The Dark Side
Speaking of team-generated, how about their own nickname?
And then finally, a two-for-one special. In the NFC championship game interview, Mike Macdonald dropped a line that instantly became a classic, shirt, hat, probably a tattoo somewhere, and a follow-up that’s embodied the team since day one.
We. Did. Not. Care
Lovable, overthinker-of-things Mike Macdonald. Never change, coach.
It’s About Us
Both lines were in response to Michael Strahan asking about the Seahawks preseason rankings. We did not care became the meme, but “it’s about us” is just as powerful of a follow-up. This team is internally motivated.
That’s rare for pro sports.
Motivation’s got to come from somewhere to compete at the highest level. In a lot of instances, external motivation can appear easier. You’d be hard-pressed to find a member of the 2013 Seahawks that wasn’t more externally motivated than internally. Every dude on that team except Tyler Lockett seemed to have it out for somebody, some player, some former coach, Michael Crabtree, Skip Bayless, Jim Harbaugh, Russell Wilson – I’m sorry I just started listing Richard Sherman enemies again didn’t I?
That’s just not how this team worked. It’s about “us” (them). External motivation isn’t bad, but I would argue Macdonald found the more powerful path. These guys didn’t do it to prove others wrong, they did it for each other. The Seahawks are world champions because they believed they were this good, and they wanted to prove that and achieve that for their brothers.
Pretty cool stuff this year, 12s. What an unbelievable ride and a privilege to experience the culture that Mike built.