Even after rout, Seattle Seahawks not 'satisfied'

There were no shortage of positives from the Seattle Seahawks’ 44-13 rout of the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon.

Special teams were ‘story of the day’ for Seahawks

The offense opened touchdowns on each of its first four drives and field goals on each of its next three, which marked the first time in franchise history that the Seahawks had scored on each of their first seven possessions.

The defense allowed held an opponent to 17 points or fewer for the third straight week.

And on special teams, it was an all-time performance. Rookie Tory Horton delivered a franchise-record 95-yard punt return touchdown, D’Anthony Bell blocked a punt and Dareke Young added a 60-yard kick return – all over a 10-minute span in the first half.

The result was a 38-6 halftime lead, which was the largest halftime margin of any NFL team since Week 15 of the 2023 season, according to Pro Football Talk.

But on Monday morning – with a Thursday night divisional matchup against the Arizona Cardinals on the horizon – head coach Mike Macdonald emphasized on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk that there’s still a lot of room for growth.

“I’d say it’s probably the most complete win we’ve had in the last year or so,” Macdonald said. “I mean, look, it was a great win. It was awesome. It’s also Week 3, and we’ve gotten to this point by abiding by our process and staying true to that. When you watch the tape, I’m not saying this because you’re doing the whole head coach doing the opposite thing, but there’s plenty of stuff that we’ve gotta get cleaned up, and we’ve gotta do it in a hurry, in all three phases.

“So it’s great to win like that and start the game like that, but, one, there’s a sense of urgency because … we’re in the middle of game-planning for Arizona. And two, I think the guys will see that there’s a lot of room for growth too.”

One obvious area the Seahawks need to improve is their ground attack, which is tied 21st in rushing yards per game (96.0) and tied for 28th in yards per carry (3.3).

Seattle rushed for 117 yards and 4.0 yards per carry in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, led by a 105-yard performance from Kenneth Walker III. But in the Seahawks’ other two games, they ran for just 84 yards and 3.2 yards per carry against the San Francisco 49ers, and just 87 yards and 2.6 yards per carry against the Saints.

“Yeah, it’s not good enough,” Macdonald said when asked about his team’s 3.3-yard average on the ground. “It’s not even close to being good enough. It’s not what we saw throughout camp. It’s not what we saw in the preseason. You’ve gotta give the other teams credit too. They’re designing some good things and playing hard and tackling well. But we’ve gotta be better. We need to be better.”

“We need to target it right. We need to hit our targets. We’ve gotta run off the ball better. We’ve gotta hit our combinations better. We’ve gotta run it better. So it’s truly all 11. We need to step up our game. Nothing that’s not fixable, which is great.”

Macdonald knows that much tougher tests lie ahead, starting with Thursday’s primetime clash in Arizona.

“It’s great that we won in that fashion,” Macdonald said. “But when you watch it, no one on our football team is gonna be satisfied – really on all three phases of the things that we fell short on. We understand where we need to improve, and the run game’s right there at the front.”

Mike Macdonald joins Brock and Salk om Mondays after Seahawks games at 9:30 a.m. for The Mike Macdonald Show. Listen to the full conversation at this link or watch the video in this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

Even after rout, Seattle Seahawks not ‘satisfied’

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