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Elegant Simplicity, Obnoxious Communication & Other Takeaways From Day 2 Of Seahawks Training Camp

News, notes and observations from the second day of Seahawks training camp.

Training Camp Observations - 072524

After a first day of training camp that was, "Like Christmas, man," as Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald put it on Wednesday, Day 2 of camp came with a bit less pageantry. Thursday's practice was not open to fans, and there wasn't the same first-day buzz surrounding the event, but the actual action on the field ramped up a bit in terms of intensity as the Seahawks continued the long process of preparing for the upcoming season.

"Great day again," Macdonald said. "A little different vibe without the 12s out here, but just stacking days is the message right now. Guys practiced a little faster, I think they're getting back to the tempo that we're expecting. Day 2, still chasing it, but I think we made some strides."

Here are six takeaways from Day 2 of Seahawks camp:

1. The offense is striving for "elegant simplicity."

Throughout his career, Mike Macdonald has coached defense, and in Seattle he'll continue to run things on that side of the ball along with defensive coordinator Aden Durde. But as a head coach, Macdonald also has plenty of say in what things look like on offense and special teams as well. Offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, of course will have his fingerprints all over Seattle's offense, but Macdonald will also offer his input, and on Thursday he talked a bit about what he wants to see from an offense.

"I think you go back to the identity of our football team," Macdonald said. "We want to be physical, we want to dictate terms, we want to be efficient, we want to operate fast for the quarterback and keep it consistent for him. We want to be able to get to a lot of things, elegant simplicity. We're not just going to run inside zone 70 times a game, we're going to try to have answers and really attack what defense do.

Asked about that term, elegant simplicity, Macdonald said, "That's been around for a minute, but I think it paints a pretty good picture of what we're trying to create."

When it comes to dictating terms, as Macdonald explained how he hopes to get that done.

"Well first it comes with the mindset in how you want to play and everyone deciding on the style you're going to play," he said. "Some of those things that we're talking about, that's our language that we're going to speak in-house, but you talk about schematically having answers and being able to identify certain things what the defense is doing, and being able to get to those things simply and consistently so you're not just chasing your tail. Also, there is going to be plenty of times when you're going to want to run your bread-and-butter stuff and be able to do that every defensive look they can give you, so defenses aren't making you get in and out of stuff based off what they show and you're really flipping the page around that and those terms."

2. Geno Smith and the offense are challenging the defense.

As Macdonald noted on Thursday, the offense has been keeping things pretty vanilla thus far, but even vanilla can be pretty dangerous with Geno Smith running offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb's offense. Through two days, there have been plenty of positive moments for the defense, including interceptions by Julian Love and Artie Burns on Thursday, but overall, it has been a very strong two days for Smith and his weapons.

"Man, they've been getting after it," Love said. "Grubb has them dialed in, and Geno, he has looked really good these first two days coming out, which is always good. Usually you see the defense starting fast in camp, traditionally, and we have been doing well, but Geno has been throwing that thing. I give a lot of respect to what we have going on (on offense). I'm super excited for what we have, everyone's being utilized, we have so much balance. Offensively, I'm excited to see what we have."

3. The defense is looking for "obnoxious communication."

As Macdonald and his players have noted on a number of occasions, the Seahawks plan to do some fairly complex things at times on defense to keep offenses off balance. And while changing things up to confuse an offense are great if the defense is all on the same page, it can lead to disaster if all 11 defensive players aren't on the same page. So for Macdonald's defense to work, he and his players know that communication will be a huge factor, and considering how loud things are at Lumen Field when Seattle's defense is on the field, defensive players don't just need to communicate, they need to do it loudly and frequently.

"We want to be a loud defense," Macdonald said. "I haven't heard a lot of good defenses in this league that don't say anything. We talk about having obnoxious communication, just calling everything we see. You just never know when what you say is going to click in with a guy you're playing with to let them play faster. We talk about pre-snap alerts, post-snap alerts, signing and co-signing. If you have a team that's playing on one accord, that's a powerful thing."

Macdonald later said of defensive communication, "You want to be able to create a defense where you can close your eyes as a coach and envision the play happening based off how we communicate. That's what we're chasing."

4. Julian Love celebrated his new contract with the play of the day.

It was only fitting that on the day safety Julian Love signed a three-year contract extension, he punctuated his big day with what might have been the best play of practice—DK Metcalf had a diving catch on a deep ball that would also be in the conversation.

In a third-down situation, Love was able to get a good jump on a Smith pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and undercut the second-year receiver to make a diving grab.

"Geno ID'd what we had going on, I got a good bead on it, obviously playing at the sticks," Love explained. "Good break, the ball's right there for me, I was able to grab it and we got off the field."

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5. Laken Tomlison provides a valuable veteran presence on the offensive line.

The Seahawks added Laken Tomlinson because he's been a very good and very durable guard throughout his career, but what they're also getting out of the veteran left guard is a player who can help what is a pretty young offensive line around him. Both of the Seahawks' starting tackles, when healthy, are third-year players in Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, while Olu Oluwatimi, who is in his second season, is the leading candidate to start at center. At right guard, the competition will likely come down to second-year lineman Anthony Bradford and rookie Christian Haynes. So with so much youth on the line, there's a lot of value in having a nine-year veteran with 138 starts under his belt to help settle the group.

"I think he can give them poise and some wisdom on some things that are going on, and staying in the moment on some things so things don't get out of control," Macdonald said. "He's done a great job of that. He's just a pro, he's steady. Again, it's tough to tell right now on where our offensive line is at without the pads on, but we're excited to see what he brings to the unit."

6. Macdonald is settling into life in the Pacific Northwest.

Macdonald and his wife, Stephanie, have called the Seattle area home for only a matter of months, but they are already starting to feel at home in the Northwest, especially when it comes to enjoying the outdoors in the summer.

And for all the fans of sophomoric humor out there, take solace in knowing Macdonald is on your side.

"It was awesome," he said of enjoying some time off before training camp. "We went to Poo Poo Point a couple times. There's a joke that 12-year-old me named that place. We've been on Lake Washington a couple times, got out of state and kind of got away for a minute, but I mean, you can't beat this weather and the beauty. You could take a different hike once a day and find a new place into eternity, so we're blessed to have that opportunity."

The Seahawks held their second practice of training camp on July 25, 2024 at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.

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