Seahawks 'Have A Lot Of Faith' In Sam Darnold & Other Things From Mike Macdonald's Friday Press Conference

Seahawks head coach spoke with the media on Friday, following Seattle’s Thursday night 17-14 loss to the Broncos.

Oct 16, 2026 at 04:32 PM

Seahawks.com Writer

Although he hadn't watched the tape from Thursday's game when he met with the media, because he likes to watch tape with a clear, and not emotional mind, one of head coach Mike Macdonald's focus will be on what he and the team can control.

"Let's identify the things that we can do on our end like on a day-to-day and moment-to-moment basis," he said. "It's actually real that will help us create better results. Otherwise, you're just going to drive yourself crazy just hoping for better results, and it doesn't do our team or our fanbase any justice. One thing that I am proud of with our people is that we're problem solvers. We don't have an ego when it comes to finding solutions. It's just what's best for the team all the time. That's how we're going to choose to operate as long as I get to be the coach here. That's what we plan to do in the next day or two."

The Seahawks will use the long weekend to regroup, refocus and look at the controllables. Along with that, here are four other takeaways from Friday's press conference.

Seahawks "have a lot of faith" in Sam Darnold after rough game.

The day after a rough outing for Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, that included two interceptions and five sacks, as well as 17 quarterback hits, Macdonald said the team is still confident in him.

"There are things that we can all do to help Sam play better football," Macdonald said. "We trust Sam, we believe in him. We feel like he's definitely part of the solution in terms of us playing better football on offense and at quarterback."

In Thursday's game, Darnold led the Seahawks on two scoring drives to help send the game into overtime, but an interception in overtime set the Broncos up to kick a game-winning field goal.

We have a lot of faith in Sam," Macdonald said. "Sam has played great football for us. He's done a lot of great things this year. He's obviously turned the ball over more than we want to. There are things on our end that can help him play better football and he's part of the solution rather than the opposite."

After the game, Darnold addressed the entire locker room, taking ownership for the interceptions.

"I'm glad he [took ownership], Macdonald said. "He's the leader of our offense. If it's not where you want it to be, then it's the leader's job to take responsibility and go. Just as I stand before you today saying, 'Hey, look. Our football team's not where we want it to be right now.' I'm responsible for what happens on the field for our team. We all take responsibility for our area of influence. That's a great example of how we want to operate. Let's own our part and let's figure out a way to find a solution and let's move forward. On the player side, definitely starts with Sam (Darnold), and I'm glad he's the first one to say it."

Rashid Shaheed was more involved in the offense on Thursday.

After a relatively quiet start to the season for receiver Rashid Shaheed, the ball was finding him more often on Thursday night, including a 42-yard reception that helped Seattle get into field goal range, though Jason Myers missed the field goal attempt. Shaheed also had a successful two-point conversion in the fourth quarter.

He finished the game with five receptions for 66 yards and ran the ball once for two yards for the offense.

"We've seen it last year, seen it in spurts this year, him getting over the top of defenses. That's what we expect from him," Macdonald said. "Something that we saw throughout the offseason that we wanted to make come to life more in games are some of those more intermediate cuts. If I was (defending) Rashid Shaheed, I'd be playing off too. Those intermediate cuts, we can expect more to come to try to give him the ball. We've seen him in the run game, we've seen him on the perimeter run game, over the top, all those things. It's his biggest impact on our football team."

Anthony Bradford could return to practice next week.

Since Week 2, Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens have been rotating at right guard filling in for an injured Anthony Bradford who was placed on injured reserve with knee and hip injuries. He is eligible to return after missing four games.

Macdonald didn't say whether or not the rotation at the position will continue though once Bradford returns.

"Haven't had a chance to talk to our offensive staff yet about that specifically, but Anthony Bradford has a good chance of being back this week," he said. "That will be part of our decision making as we go forward."

Seahawks defense showed resolve after giving up two early touchdowns.

Before halftime, the Broncos were able to put together two long touchdown drives on Thursday, going on a 16-play, 74-yard drive and a nine-play, 79-yard drive, which is something the Seahawks defense hasn't let happen often this season. After halftime though, the Broncos only managed 30 total yards on 22 plays and ended regulation with 168 total net yards.

Macdonald said, "It's a great situation or observation of, 'Let's not panic.' If you look at how they got down there in some of those situations, it was an explosive run that we could've played better, it was a third down penalty, it's a couple of third downs that frankly, I could've called better plays. There were things that were within our control of settling down and sticking to the game plan, sticking to the process, staying together, finding more solutions. Our coaches deserve a lot of credit on the communication we've had between me, AD (Aden Durde), the guys upstairs and then the guys on the sideline of finding solutions in that moment and then trusting the work we put in and the preparation and sticking to it."