According to Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, in the last few weeks, and though Seattle has mostly struggled to play quality defense, coaching and the scheme have not been part of the problem. This implies that Macdonald believes the players are to blame for any failures. His system works and he knows it.
Macdonald should have that kind of belief as well. His defenses with the Baltimore Ravens were among the best in the league in the last two seasons. He was hired by Seattle this offseason to replace Pete Carroll in part because the team thought he could immediately fix the run defense, pass coverage by the linebackers, and tackling. None of those problems have been fixed, though.
Seattle has lost four of their last five games with the only win - versus the Atlanta Falcons in Week 7 - seeming more shocking after the Seahawks were drubbed by the Buffalo Bills in Week 8. The porous defense has been a massive problem. Pundits have discussed scheme fits and alignments, but Macdonald is hearing none of that. He is not the issue.
Mike Macdonald not ready to take blame for recent Seahawks defensive failures
He said as much in a press conference on Friday when asked if pre-snap alignment has been an issue this season. He answered by saying, "I don't think so. Not in the last few games. That might have been a fair assessment Weeks 2-4, maybe, but not in the last few games." In other words, the players are messing up, per the head coach.
Let's assume Macdonald is right. If he is, the problem with the defense will likely not get fixed this season. If the players are to blame for Seattle's 29th-ranked run defense those guys won't change much until next season. 12s might just want to get used to seeing the Seahawks get gashed once again by an opponent's run game. That, sadly, is something 12s have gotten used to over the last several years.
Did Pete Carroll make some excuses about the poor defense as well? Sure. He hardly ever named a singular player who was at fault, and neither does Macdonald. Carroll also never implied the players were at fault instead of the scheme or pre-snap alignment. This is one fundamental difference between Carroll and Macdonald. Maybe that is simply due to the vast difference in head coaching experience.
This is not meant to be a treatise on the poor coaching of Mike Macdonald. He is only eight games into his head coaching career and there is no honest way of saying how good of a head coach he will be. Plus, he might just be spinning one truth to the media and another to the players. The issue with Seattle's defense currently is probably a combination of players adjusting to a new scheme and the new scheme adjusting to new opponents.