The Seahawks didn't exactly wrap up their preseason on a high note, settling for a 9-9 tie with the Kanas City Chiefs after a game-winning field goal attempt missed the mark.

That ending left the Seahawks with a 0-2-1 record in three preseason games, but while Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald certainly would have preferred to see his team win its preseason games, he still comes out of the preseason with a positive outlook on where his team is at less than two weeks before its regular-season opener against the Patriots.

"It would have been great to close it out with a win, but as I just told our team, the body of work that they've been able to put together up to this point, I just tip my cap to our guys, our team, our coaches, our staff," Macdonald said. "If you trust the work that I've seen our team do and put in and the practice we've stacked together, and the offseason that we've had, and then you trust the people involved, which we do, I think we're in a great place going into the season."

Macdonald is basing that assessment on what he has seen since his team reported for training camp in late July, rather than on 12 quarters of preseason football in which Seattle's starters did not play at all. And even with starters resting, there have also still been plenty of positives in the preseason despite a lack of wins.

"Some of those things aren't showing in the preseason games, which I understand, and we'll attack those things, but overall, I'm very pleased with our effort, the spirit of our team, the leadership on our team,"

Macdonald said. "It'll be an interesting couple of days here as we figure out how we're going to start the season, but I'm excited to get going and start working on our Week 1 process."

As Macdonald alluded two, the next couple of days are big for teams around the league as they have to reduce rosters to 53 players.  And when it comes to those roster hopefuls, Macdonald liked the effort he saw on display Friday night as second-year quarterback Jalen Milroe led the way with a strong showing, and as the defense kept the Chiefs out of the end zone with a couple of strong goal-line stands.

"We saw a lot of great things out of a lot of guys," Macdonald said. "A lot of great effort plays, a lot of great situational stands defensively. Offensively, it was a sloppy game, straight up, you have that many penalties, that's just the way it goes, it's really choppy, but in some of those series, being able to overcome those things, working through it and staying poised, things like that."

Macdonald and company have not, of course, been able to evaluate starters in these preseason games, but there has been enough on display in practice for Macdonald to feel good about the progress the team has made, while also acknowledging that there will inevitably be some adjustments to be made early, as is the

case every year.

"I think our operation is on its way," Macdonald said. "There's a lot of confidence with our ones. In the padded practices, really every practice, it's been back and forth between our offense and our defense, which from my perspective, that's great. It means both sides are making plays. They've been really competitive. You don't see like a full game's worth of how we're going to operate, but we're doing a ton of tremendous situation work, guys are in lockstep with each other.

"There's still plenty of room for growth. Whether or not our guys played this preseason or not, there's going to be times in the first few games to quarter of the season where we're going to have to do a great job of evaluating where we're at, what we're good at and making decisions on where we go. That happens every year. That happened last year, that happened our first year here, that's just the way life is, and where the league is going, how people are defending you, what you're efficient at, things like that. That's a process we're going to have to navigate as a staff together, and I'm confident we can do that with the people we have."

And if there has been a way to assess the starters in these preseason games, it has come from the energy those players have brought while supporting their teammates. For the second straight week, the Seahawks earned an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when players not in uniform ran onto the field to celebrate a big play, in this case, veteran cornerback Trevon Diggs' interception in his first game with his new team.

"That just goes to show how tight and connected the whole team is," said linebacker Patrick O'Connell, who had a team-high eight tackles. "It's just such a fun environment, such a fun place to go to work. Obviously, (Diggs) just got here, what was it, last week, and he's already tied in with the guys. It's great to see everyone celebrate that. Obviously, it's just a really fun group to be around."

Said Diggs, whose interception came just nine days after he signed with Seattle.

"It was amazing," Diggs said of the way his teammates celebrated with him. "Those guys do a great job of just uplifting everybody. No matter who it is, they do a great job just uplifting, being there for one another and just supporting. You need that on a team, it feels like a brotherhood."